There is always a market for quality and Tesla will do fine as long as they build the best product on the Market.
________________________________ From: tomw via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> To: ev@lists.evdl.org Sent: Monday, April 6, 2015 10:10 AM Subject: Re: [EVDL] The Tesla Factor: Elon Musk Will Force Auto Industry To Roll Out Self-Driving Cars Sooner Than You Think - Forbes I think the article is rubbish. As far as seeing that Tesla was addressing a small market with the S...well duh, but they have ameliorated that effect somewhat by selling globally. No other company is pushing a product competitive with the S yet, but it looks like that may change in a year or two. I think Tesla's survival depends on their ability to lower costs and develop competitive products in a wider market, which means lower priced products. That largely means competing with the existing car manufacturers on their own turf, tough going. Or, they just shrink and become a supplier of niche vehicles in the future, not what Elon has in mind with the gigafactory. One factor the article doesn't mention is psychological, how well accepted that new technology will be by the majority of Americans. I'm guessing it will be a niche market too, mainly the tech savvy, and will take quite a few years to become more widely accepted, so best for Tesla's success not to hinge on that. Don't know if this is the actual case, but I think it would be easy for the management at Tesla to develop group think, forgetting that most U.S. citizens don't live in silicon valley and work in high tech, and overestimating the appeal and acceptance of such features as self-driving as a result. Know your market. The vehicle market is shrinking with the increasing polarization of wealth in the U.S.. Many cannot afford to purchase a new vehicle, so maybe you mainly have to target those in the upper quintile or so income bracket. There will be a furious fight for market share in that smaller market in the future. -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/The-Tesla-Factor-Elon-Musk-Will-Force-Auto-Industry-To-Roll-Out-Self-Driving-Cars-Sooner-Than-You-Ths-tp4674777p4674791.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150406/277160e2/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
