GM Scrambling to Get a Competing Product to Tesla

[GHook93]

GM is trying to roll out an electric car that goes 200 miles per charge (like the Model S) for $30K. They claim they are close, but not quite there.

VW claims they will soon be the leaders in the electric car industry. While Tesla states they will have a mass market model within 4 yrs.

The future is looking bright for electric car. Tesla got the first gen the jump start it needed. The second gen will have some of the bugs worked out, but the 3rd gen (about 4-5 yrs) will see the electric car go mainstream and the slow extinction of the gas fueled engine will begin.

GM Floats Plan for Vehicle that Rivals Tesla - WSJ.com

 

[whitehall]

Maybe GM is scrambling because the Volt was such a failure but it doesn't make much sense to try to compete with a luxury priced car that only sold 10,000 units in two quarters. For perspective Ford's most laughable failure in history , the Edsel, sold 116,000 units during the same time span.

 

[Mr. H.]

There was a time when marketing decisions were based on economics and demographics.

Now, like everything else, it's politics and public relations.

 

[Old Rocks]

Tesla has sold every auto it has produced, and has orders for all that it can produce this year. For a startup, in the luxury market, that is pretty spectactular. And they have just patented a battery that will increase the range to 400 miles.

 

[jan]

Tesla has a long road to travel before they generate a profit on their inventions. Not to mention the politics they may need to overcome as well. Do we really think in todays political climate that Tesla really even has a chance for success when the government is backing General Motors over Tesla? Please...what the government endorses, the government will make sure is a success. Don't you think so?

My question would be "how can Tesla compete given the odds of success against them"?

 

[Old Rocks]

Given what Elon Musk has already done with rockets, distributed solar, and Tesla, yes.

 

[jan]

If ya can't beat them...swallow them up! Buy them out.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcywiwe9ow8]It's A Wonderful Life...If You Want It To Be - YouTube[/ame]

Afterall...that's what Billy Durant did in the early days of GM. He bought other car companies out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Durant

 

[Old Rocks]

Well, I don't see Musk buying out GM or Ford untill at least 2020.

 

[jan]

Ok...lets think about what's required of Tesla in order to mass market their car, shall we?

The first hurdle they're going to have to overcome is consumer confidence...in other words, they're going to have to find customers who trust them to have true staying power in the competitive world of automobiles. Ok...out of generosity...let's just go ahead and give that to Tesla...let's say they have customers lined up out the whazoo ready to put 70 grand down for their model S.

Ok...now we have to fill those orders, right? Right! So let's think about the logistics of that prospect.

There is only so much lithium ion battery production going on world wide. Does Tesla have enough clout to successfully hijack that industry so that they would be the only client of those producers? I think not. They're a small company...a new upstart that actually has no long term history of keeping up with the supply and demand of the automobile market.

Consider the following:

by next year the Model S alone will soak up almost 40 percent of global cylindrical battery production.

By the beginning of 2015 Tesla will have started production of the Model X, which could add another 20,000 cars to the total--or more.

Credible estimates already exist that point to a need for double or triple the global battery production over the next few years, solely to satisfy Tesla's growing appetite for lithium-ion cells.

Tesla would need to engineer almost a doubling of global cell-fabrication capacity over the next few years.

That's not something that can be done in six months. It took Nissan three years to build its latest lithium-ion cell production plant in Smyrna, Tennessee; funds were committed in June 2009, and the plant went into production late in 2012.

Will Tesla Alone Double Global Demand For Its Battery Cells? (Page 2)

Ok...so lets say that by some miracle, Tesla is able to secure the worlds supply of lithium ion batteries and continue it's growth patterns. The next step they will have to overcome is their refueling supply chain which they are currently struggling with to keep projections on target.

See, originally, Tesla said 18 new Superchargers would be opened by the end of this summer, but just nine are now operational, Green Car Reports says. GCR asked a Tesla spokesperson, who said that another five Superchargers will be open by the end of the week of September 19 (just in time for summer to end). Tesla's own map shows Superchargers coming soon to Waco, TX, and Rockford, IL. GCR also notes that the working stations are concentrated on the West Coast, and that Superchargers earmarked for Rhode Island, Virginia and New Jersey haven't yet seen the light of day. Tesla's official map says 21 Superchargers are open today.

Tesla Supercharger deployment lagging

And...what about when these cars need to be worked on? Do they have infrastructure in place to take care of that little tidbit, or are they going to have to inconvenience their customers requiring them to ship the car back to the original manufacturer for mechanical repairs? Musk currently wants to change the way the entire U.S. sells cars. He wants a model of sale based on the direct sale from the manufacturer, rather than a dealership. While that may sound fine in theory, it's impractical for the consumer when they have mechanical or technical issues arise!


In short...I submit that Tesla's stock is a bubble that is ripe to burst! They can't keep their growth at what it is today unless they get their infrastructure and suppliers in place...just a little bitty tidbit that they seemed to have overlooked!

Now...don't get me wrong...I applaud what they've done up to this point! But the bottom line is that what they've done has it's limitations in the real market. Investors have made a lot of money off of Tesla, but I really don't think that continued profit is in the sector of sustainable consumerism...the profit is located in the arena of speculation for investors.

Musk's previous success in the business world involved extremely limited markets without a lot of competition. He started PayPal...now how much competition was there on that little endeavor? Probably not much since the internet was relatively new at the time. His other upstart is SpaceX...a private company that will supply the space station in the future. Impressive, but again...little competition existed within these arenas. The automobile sector is quite different...the competition abounds!

My prediction? Tesla is headed the way of Fisker Motors...down the tubes!

"The Department of Energy plans to sell by competitive auction, to be held on October 11, 2013, the future advance promissory notes issued by Fisker Automotive, Inc. in connection with a secured loan under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Program in respect of which approximately $168,000,000 is outstanding.

"The loan is presently not performing. Persons interested in purchasing the notes should promptly contact the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Program at [email protected] to learn how qualified prospective purchasers may obtain additional information about the auction, including requirements for submitting an initial bid... The deadline for submitting initial bids is October 7, 2013 at 5:00 PM EDT.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/...ic-car-loan-for-sale.html#sMdC1YEG4Py5oDtI.99

 

[Sallow]

There was a time when marketing decisions were based on economics and demographics.

Now, like everything else, it's politics and public relations.

Naw, H..it's always been a combination of all those factors. Economics, Demographics, Politics and Public Relations.

 

[Mr. H.]

There was a time when marketing decisions were based on economics and demographics.

Now, like everything else, it's politics and public relations.

Naw, H..it's always been a combination of all those factors. Economics, Demographics, Politics and Public Relations.

That's MISTER H. to you, bub.

And quit confounding the issue.

 

[OnePercenter]

Maybe GM is scrambling because the Volt was such a failure but it doesn't make much sense to try to compete with a luxury priced car that only sold 10,000 units in two quarters. For perspective Ford's most laughable failure in history , the Edsel, sold 116,000 units during the same time span.

The Tesla S was manufactured to compete with the Cadillac CTS/XTS and the BMW M-5, which BTW it beat.

Tesla will be manufacturing a lower priced vehicle for the 2015 model year, the reason GM is scrambling.

The Edsel was the most advance car of it's time. The failure was that Ford didn't educate it's buyers.

 

[OnePercenter]

Tesla has a long road to travel before they generate a profit on their inventions. Not to mention the politics they may need to overcome as well. Do we really think in todays political climate that Tesla really even has a chance for success when the government is backing General Motors over Tesla? Please...what the government endorses, the government will make sure is a success. Don't you think so?

My question would be "how can Tesla compete given the odds of success against them"?

Education of buyers. I own two, everyone that rides with me wants one. Then I let them drive it. Then they order one.

 

[Mr. H.]

Maybe GM is scrambling because the Volt was such a failure but it doesn't make much sense to try to compete with a luxury priced car that only sold 10,000 units in two quarters. For perspective Ford's most laughable failure in history , the Edsel, sold 116,000 units during the same time span.

The Tesla S was manufactured to compete with the Cadillac CTS/XTS and the BMW M-5, which BTW it beat.

Tesla will be manufacturing a lower priced vehicle for the 2015 model year, the reason GM is scrambling.

The Edsel was the most advance car of it's time. The failure was that Ford didn't educate it's buyers.

With $165 million in the bank, what the fuck do you care?

 

[Moonglow]

When internal combustion autos were first being produced, sales were very slow, and it was that way for decades until Ford created the assembly line and made them cheaper. Tesla and et al others are doing what all the other internal combustion motor cars went through in the later 19th century. Before you know it they will be a better buy than an internal combustion engine because of economics.

 

[OnePercenter]

Maybe GM is scrambling because the Volt was such a failure but it doesn't make much sense to try to compete with a luxury priced car that only sold 10,000 units in two quarters. For perspective Ford's most laughable failure in history , the Edsel, sold 116,000 units during the same time span.

The Tesla S was manufactured to compete with the Cadillac CTS/XTS and the BMW M-5, which BTW it beat.

Tesla will be manufacturing a lower priced vehicle for the 2015 model year, the reason GM is scrambling.

The Edsel was the most advance car of it's time. The failure was that Ford didn't educate it's buyers.

With $165 million in the bank, what the fuck do you care?

I'm a holder of 50k shares which was purchased IPO. Wish I bought 100k, but then I said the same about Amazon.

 

[Sallow]

There was a time when marketing decisions were based on economics and demographics.

Now, like everything else, it's politics and public relations.

Naw, H..it's always been a combination of all those factors. Economics, Demographics, Politics and Public Relations.

That's MISTER H. to you, bub.

And quit confounding the issue.

You got it!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zklu9zyFlv4]They Call Me Mister Tibbs - YouTube[/ame]

 

[whitehall]

Tesla is scrambling. All the green junk is scrambling to stay alive without help from taxpayer dollars. Another company which produced electric car equipment that had close to 100 million injected into it by Hussein stimulus has recently gone bankrupt.

 

[OnePercenter]

Tesla is scrambling. All the green junk is scrambling to stay alive without help from taxpayer dollars. Another company which produced electric car equipment that had close to 100 million injected into it by Hussein stimulus has recently gone bankrupt.

Tesla is doing just fine.

 

[Moonglow]

The Tesla S was manufactured to compete with the Cadillac CTS/XTS and the BMW M-5, which BTW it beat.

Tesla will be manufacturing a lower priced vehicle for the 2015 model year, the reason GM is scrambling.

The Edsel was the most advance car of it's time. The failure was that Ford didn't educate it's buyers.

With $165 million in the bank, what the fuck do you care?

I'm a holder of 50k shares which was purchased IPO. Wish I bought 100k, but then I said the same about Amazon.

get another broker.