[JRRF]

It's one thing to raise prices when you do a model refresh. But for the same old ugly car, who would pay more?

 

[JRRF]

Decreasing? When?

They have definitely gone up and down over the years, seemingly for no special reason. Other than maybe Musk's daily whim.

 

[JRRF]

I am really wondering about this too .. I think the clue is often who are the drivers often … me and my wife, we noticed really a lot of strange Tesla driving around over cautiously, to the point they become liability if you stick around them … just like Toyota Corolla drivers, sort of. Unpredictable. Sometimes, they drive slow in left lane of hwy, right next to HOV, yet they prefer to be stuck going slower there while they could use their green plate advantage …

Well, there's something to be said about this. The average person who's interested in climate change (cost doesn't come into play since less wealthy people are still going to buy cheaper ICE cars) and decides on an EV only knows one name -- Tesla. So that's what they buy. These are a lot of former Prius owners for instance.

 

[JRRF]

Tesla doesn’t care what the others are selling and when and how many …all they are watching is their backlog index…if it’s growing, the price goes up, until it stops at some point. You would think, people would know better at this point to order a car +10k more expensive than P2….but don’t forget, most people don’t research cars the way we have here…. They heard Tesla in news, so they order one when they get pissed paying for gas….

But I will bet you a lot that things will change once it settles down and Tesla is no longer the go-to for electric cars.

The issue remains that the average car buyer knows almost zero about cars, and when they decide on an EV, the only name they know is Tesla. But I agree that once the EV market really gets going, Tesla will eventually be at a disadvantage. I'm not shorting their stock, but I've claimed for a long time that their rein will eventually be over. An advantage for Polestar/Rivian/Lucid/etc. is that once their names become common place, they will never have been associated with ICEs. Whereas Ford/GM might have a harder time getting people to think about them when they think about EVs. This is one of the reasons Ford is creating a separate division (essentially splitting the company in two) to have a unique brand identity for their EVs.

 

[JRRF]

Once they know about a Skoda, I agree. But (at least in the US) getting that buyer to know there are other EV options is the hurdle companies have to cross.

Few people go to a Skoda dealer looking for a car (likely an ICE) and then says: oh look, they have EVs, let's get one of those instead. Rather, if they want an EV they would go straight to the Tesla dealer because people think that's where EVs are sold. Heck, just the other day I told someone my car was an EV and they said: "it looks like the new Tesla". I thought they were from Mars since it looks nothing like a Tesla 😆. And they likely had no idea whether or not Tesla had a new model out, but they still equated EV with Tesla.

 

[JRRF]

Skoda drivers seem very loyal to the brand and several models over the years (Yeti, Octavia, Superb) have attracted buyers from other marques. On the whole they are a sensible choice for sensible people. Perhaps that's why I'll never buy one.

While some are attracted to EV designs that depart from the norm (i3, i8, Polestar 2) there are many buyers who prefer their EV to appear more conventional. So I believe that the likes of Peugeot, Vauxhall and Skoda will be attracting buyers across to their EV ranges with traditional designs that make them feel more comfortable in doing so. We're not those people therefore this might not be obvious to us.

I think some of the difference is that EVs have caught on a lot more in Europe.

 

[JRRF]

Will be a very interesting world in many ways come 2025, but particularly in the EV space. So many companies aiming to launch products by then. I’m opting to wait til then to replace our SUV with an EV, hopefully there will be more reasonably priced and better options (like the P*4!). Even more wishful thinking, but hopefully here in Canada they’ll actually be available in a reasonable amount of time too 😆

Chevy is due to have their EV Equinox out by 2023/4. And it will definitely be reasonably priced.

 

[JRRF]

I have high hopes for the Equinox. It will be successful if they can actually produce them in volume from the get go. EVs seem to have ridiculously long ramp ups, so hopefully all this time GM has been talking big, they’ve been preparing to produce high volumes from day one. They also need to stick with their original pricing announcements, though with inflation and material costs, I’m skeptical. If they can manage it, that will hopefully give Tesla a wake up call.

The Blazer they just teased though, not a fan. Maybe it’s just the angle, but the proportions seem off.

The Equinox could definitely be a high volume car. All they really have to do is stretch the Bolt EUV

 

[JRRF]

Once they know about a Skoda, I agree. But (at least in the US) getting that buyer to know there are other EV options is the hurdle companies have to cross.

Few people go to a Skoda dealer looking for a car (likely an ICE) and then says: oh look, they have EVs, let's get one of those instead. Rather, if they want an EV they would go straight to the Tesla dealer because people think that's where EVs are sold. Heck, just the other day I told someone my car was an EV and they said: "it looks like the new Tesla". I thought they were from Mars since it looks nothing like a Tesla 😆. And they likely had no idea whether or not Tesla had a new model out, but they still equated EV with Tesla.

Tesla may very well be in even more trouble than we realize. Today Musk said that the company is worth "zero" unless they can get self-driving to work. Considering I think that's a long way off (Musk said it would be 2019🤣), and GM and Ford's systems are currently better, they may really have no other plans to grow and innovate. And the ridiculous cyber truck is not going to save them.

 

[JRRF]

I think the software and FSD was always the wholly grail on his mind … to get there, he knew the car cannot be another Prius or something as uninspiring and slow, as he would not sell many. So the cars are a byproduct of the software and FSD effort, which he really needs and wants to win ….

Agreed. As a matter of fact, the TM3/Y didn't have a driver pod because the driver was supposed to become irrelevant.

 

[JRRF]

By pod, you mean the display cluster in front a driver, right?

Yes.