Ok, I already wasted a lot of time replying to this thread, but you still raised some pertinent questions, so here goes:
Regarding debt, thanks for enlightening me, I wasn't aware of their current situation. Last time I had heard about their massive debt was during the last bailouts after the economic crash, all the way back in… 2008? 2011? It's almost as if I erased those years from my memory, they were pretty traumatic here in Europe, especially with all the nation-wide IMF bailouts and interventions. However, you are aware that some of that debt is related to the pandemic and the war, and that there are massive recovery plans in place that will likely also revert towards automakers, right?
Yay, good on you and your free updates. And good luck on Musk keeping them free. 🤦♂️
As for licensing, sure, some automakers won't have the resources to come up with their own tech, and they'll either license them from Tesla, or… Apple? Google? Tesla isn't immune from competition from the tech sector, I'm afraid, and Apple in particular is reportedly investing not just on CarPlay, but on tech that may rival Tesla's own (and if the quality of the Vision Pro, a v.0 product that came out of nowhere seemingly fully formed from the hands of a semi-independent internal group like the rumoured car division, is any indication, oof…).
Regarding Musk being full of crap and failing to deliver on promises… I said what I said. Even if he makes 100 promises and delivers on 70 of them, that still makes him flaky as hell (especially if some of the missing ones are among the loftiest and more strategically important of the bunch). I obviously pulled those numbers from my behind, as most statistics on the internet, but hey, that's an increasingly common public perception of the guy, and it's not up to you to magically wave it away. You can try to word-of-mouth your experience as a Tesla owner all you want, but the company and its wares will be tarnished by all his shenanigans until they sack him. 🤷♂️
When it comes to the Supercharger network, I'm not bringing your assertions into contention, or at least not in their context; I'm pretty sure it's great in the US, as I've seen the maps and did all the back-of-the-napkin math back at a point – say, five years ago? – when it likely wasn't even close to what it is now, and still came away convinced. Yes, it's impressive, and yes, it's a strong asset. Except that's a very US-centric view. I've also seen a crapload of Teslas around these parts since they entered our local market not that long ago – those same five years, I reckon –, but Superchargers? **crickets** (8 Superchargers for a 10M population, 35 580 mi² country, and I can assure you that Teslas are indeed
very common already 😂). People here use them mostly as glorified city cars (and, indeed, in Europe it's very normal to use your personal vehicle for certain daily usage and mid-range trips, and just take public transportation instead for larger distances; despite our decent highway network, we don't have that obsession of taking to the “interstate” and making 8-hour or even multi-day trips unless we have a really good reason for that – like, say, doing winter sports, helping someone else move, etc., while cheaping out on gear/vehicle rentals), so the whole Supercharger network point is kinda moot across the pond…
And last time I've checked, we're far from a small market (here I'm referring to Europe as a whole, and not to our puny little country); as for other big ones, like China and Japan, guess what, they also have very advanced high-speed train networks… The US, with its congested interstates and airports, is the outlier there, sorry. Also, my understanding is that the Tesla connector standard
was either open-sourced or is going to be licensed on FRAND terms, which further diminishes the importance of the Supercharger network once, duh, new networks are built up and existing ones adapted to work with it (and if and once cars start popping up with Tesla connectors, you can bet those compatible charging stations will become widespread and even compete against Tesla on their own turf, as they will likewise be compatible with Tesla vehicles). Ever heard of this little thing called… the free market?
Regarding the CT, you're just agreeing with my assertion, thanks. Of course it would be a regular truck, and it would likely be more profitable, just like the OG iPhone was, in hindsight, just a nicer smartphone with better materials than average (and a killer OS and interaction model, which were, of course, the key differentiators), and not a “wow” piece of design like the iPhone 4. Heck, the 3GS was even a physical downgrade just to accommodate 3G connectivity, at that… And had Apple attempted to manufacture something akin to the iPhone 4 in 2007, it would've ended up as an overly complex, thicc and heavy boi which would completely bog down their supply and manufacturing chain, because Apple had never worked with milled blocks of stainless steel – or aluminium, for that matter – and was more worried with getting the damned thing to work in the first place. Which is, incidentally, what seems to be happening with the CT, down to the materials and even the design language they picked. See my point?
Exactly, fit and finish issues have been pointed out, and some people – interestingly, a big chunk of Tesla's current target audience,
Apple users – really care about that kind of stuff and may have been giving those issues a pass because the other differentiators more than made up for them. Remove the differentiators and what do you get? A slightly shoddy-looking product packed with cool tech. If that top segment of the market starts pivoting towards electric Audis, BMWs, Mercedes, etc., Tesla may be in for a rough ride. Add to that the fact that the CEO is patently unpalatable as a person (and that is very much on topic, as his stint at Twitter is the strongest expression of it), and… yep, we have a problem. The dude manages to be even nastier than Bezos, yikes!
Finally, did I divert away from… the original topic of my post? Or from the original topic of the thread… only in the last paragraph? 😂 Anyway, you people clearly want to have your cake and eat it too, don't you? When it comes to praising the guy, sure, Elon is the mOdErN rEnAiSsAnCe mAn (and he does play to that perception, unlike, say, OH, STEVE JOBS, who was pretty mum about his also wildly successful dealings in Pixar)… But when someone points out that Musk's failings have to be systemic, and not just random (what seems to be a bit random is the degree of freedom and power his subordinates have, and it appears that the more they have, the more successful his companies are), nah, it's not fair game to bring his other ventures up anymore. 🙄 Tsk tsk…
