We all owe Elon a debt of gratitude for single handedly murdering the "billionaire genius" myth.
Oh you'd be surprised how many nuthuggers he still has.
At least he didn't pay 44 billion dollars to acquire it before killing it. Looks like he learned something from the last.
He bought Tesla for $6.5 million.
Daihatsu 1930
Kia 1944
Hyundai 1967
Lotus 1948
Lamgorghini 1963
Ferrari 1939
Saab 1945
McLaren 1985
Koenigsegg 1994
BMW 1928
Porsche 1931
Holden 1948
Mazda 1960
Lada 1970 (AvtoVAZ 1966)
Dongfeng 1969
SAIC 2000
FAW Group 1953
Changan 1959
Suzuki 1955
Tata 1954 (commercial) 1991 (passenger)
SsangYong 1954 (Ha Dong-hwan) and 1962 (Dongbang)
GAZ 1932
Geely 1998
Škoda 1930
Isuzu 1933
Subaru 1954
Proton 1983
Daewoo 1937 (as "National Motor")
Jaguar 1935
I mean, Holden at least is dead so idk if that still counts as successful
Likewise Saab really but also fuckEM and Tesla motors can also fuck all the way off
Don't forget his direct competition in China: electrical vehicle manufacturers BYD Auto (2003) and XPeng (2014). BYD outsells all of Tesla's worldwide sales and XPeng is an up-and-comer that will likely exceed Tesla's domestic sales by the end of 2024.
There's so many companies in China building cars, I don't know enough about that market to really speak to that. I tried to hit some big Chinese players with some history, though.
BYD and XPeng, however, are especially relevant because the former is kicking Tesla's ass in EV space and the latter is about to. (And BYD makes some kick-ass public buses too. Glorious vehicles!)
Chinese manufacturers are doing well in the European market too. It's a genuine worry for traditional manufacturers who have failed to innovate for too long.
Geely's another big one. They own Volvo but also produce cars under the Lynk and Co brand. Have good lease deals in the Benelux. Then there's Nanjing Automobile. Own MG and make a quite good (and very affordable) range of electric cars.
Honestly, I'm also sceptical, but if I buy a new car it's likely to be an MG 4 based on glowing reviews and affordability.
It’s a genuine worry for traditional manufacturers who have failed to innovate for too long.
Oh, don't worry. European governments will take a page from the American playbook and find a "national security" reason to ban Chinese cars.
Same for me. I'm moving back to France next year and I need to buy a car, there is a good chance it will be a MG4
If nothing else, you'd think he'd know about Volkswagen considering his hero came up with the Beetle.
Honda started making cars in 1963, but the company started building motorized bicycles in October 1946. The first vehicle with a frame and engine made by Honda was the Dream motorcycle, in 1949.
In 1958, Honda began producing the Super Cub, which is still being produced today, and is the most produced motor vehicle in history.
Those are polite ways of saying stainless steel is hard to work with, and flat expanses of bodywork are unforgiving when it comes to gaps, fit, and finish.
Why would stainless steel be any harder to work with than normal steel?
Stainless steel is alloyed with chromium nickel and other stuff. It's harder to cut, shape and weld. The wear on tools is also higher and it work hardens faster (it loses its plasticity faster as it's deformed).
It's unpainted. On a painted vehicle, a dent or a scratch is a sanding, cleaning and a painting away. Paint can fill scratches and voids. If the entire surface is bare metal, you can't bodyfill it if it gets a dent and you can't weld metal into it or onto it to fill a void without marring the finish.
These are going to age like bananas.
It was a concept car.
I don't get why they can't just make the thing out of aluminium and paint it a metallic silver. It'll look just as nice if not better, be cheaper to make, weigh far less, and consequently have a longer range and/or require a smaller battery.
It's such a dumb hill to die on.
It was a concept car that he doubled down on and promised to deliver it as designed.
As soon as they unveiled it, anyone with a brain could tell you it was never going to make it to market like that.
Are you talking during production or after it's been sold? On the latter, lack of rusting will go a long way.
After it's been sold, or even on the lot surrounded by other vehicles coming and going all day. Even if it's driven down the road once, the front bumper will be pitted with rock marks.
Lack of rusting is great. Just hope you don't need any other sort of body work.
I highly, highly doubt it will be made entirely of ss. The dissimilar metals problem will be real. But it'll be branded 'electrolysis' which sounds more high tech than 'rust'
A lesson that was already known from the history of the Delorean.
Stainless work hardens quickly. So if there's a dent, it's now "harder" than anything around it. Most steel can be moved around quite a bit before it starts to harden in any useful fashion. It's also, generally, harder. So it wears out tools and tooling faster.
I read a comment recently that the flat shape of the panels are going to have a tendency to want to buckle inward or outward as they flex/torque. Similar to how metal sheets behave when used to make “thunder” sound effects on old radio shows. They didn’t put any curve or arc into the panel design to prevent this from happening. Wish I could find the link to share here.
Sounds like they ran into the oil canning problem.
And whose fault is that?
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