Personally I always thought building a car was a stupid idea.
Risks are massive. Margins are slim.
Just look at the 'success' story of Tesla who is losing $30k on every car they sell. There isn't much profit to make in the industry.
Apple should just concentrate on making CarPlay much better. Or team up with a specific car company or several and build a better CarOS.
Right now CarPlay is not even close to perfect.
And yet, Tesla just sold more Model S cars than BMW and Mercedes combined in the same segment. Tesla is doing just fine.
but Tesla is bleeding money. BMW & Mercedes are not.
Musk at this point doesn't care about profits and is helping spur innovative solutions throughout the industry. Every single car manufacturer is now coming out with whole lines of electric vehicles. Musks vision is beyond profits right now.
How convenient.
It's hilarious. "Beyond profits right now". Image the red ink without government support*. Must be a child, an academic, or some sort of communist**. But I repeat myself.
*had to laugh at an article I read a few months ago claiming Tesla did not benefit from Government support, and to support their argument outlined all the ways it is supported. Apparently they don't count as these support measures are also available to other low emission vehicles.
tesla is a visionary company and I am happy for them to make cars that accelerate new developments and act as a disruptor to the dinosaur car industry. But eventually it will have to make a profit or die when Musk runs out of money. Watch the the usual suspects demand bigger handouts of future OPM then.
** hope the his doesn't need a /joke Tag. Or havent triggered anyone so they have to run to their safe place.
sooo... I have not seen Tesla's books or even there annual report, so perhaps a couple of questions perhaps the wise that have seen these (or internal accounting docs) could help me out with---
1) if Tesla had not invested in the Model 3(or even perhaps model X).. what would their profit level be? (note -- Musk says in interview- the margin in model 3 is about 25%)
2) Given above-- What is the known prove-able effect on Tesla Model S/X sales because the government subsidies? (zero, 100%? what? source please)
3) Given above--- Does Tesla not showing much profit in recent years (ala Amazon) while experiencing massive capital infrastructure cost for model 3 really mean anything?
BTW off topic - when I see that dash screen interface in model X/S, I swear that has to be Apple... but alas.. .sounds like not to be.
Look I hope Tesla becomes profitable. Because that is the only way it will survive in the long run, even if dreamers force the government to provide subsidies, incentives, tariffs on competitors etc to help it and similar companies be artificially profitable. No different to any other company. I just laughed my head off at "beyond profits right now." Seriously.
I think its wonderful that Tesla has inspired the EV buying public, but that's a long way from being able to compete head on with entrenched, and large, automakers who have the ability to build at a lower cost/higher volume and even lower volumes than Tesla and make a profit. What proponents get wrong, and even wrong about Apple's potential entry into the market, is that EV's sales hover around a single percent or less of all automotive output worldwide.
There's still plenty of growth in the market to accommodate builders other than Tesla, and some of those are going to be aggressive competitors that know how to earn a profit.
Apple needs to kill this project. Existing automakers aren't going to abandon their autonomy efforts to partner with Apple and CarPlay shows us what happens when Apple doesn't control the entire experience.
No doubt Elon Musk is feeling quite smug right now.
As he pushes out prototype incomplete self driving cars, for users to risk their lives trying them.
Comments
I think its wonderful that Tesla has inspired the EV buying public, but that's a long way from being able to compete head on with entrenched, and large, automakers who have the ability to build at a lower cost/higher volume and even lower volumes than Tesla and make a profit. What proponents get wrong, and even wrong about Apple's potential entry into the market, is that EV's sales hover around a single percent or less of all automotive output worldwide.
There's still plenty of growth in the market to accommodate builders other than Tesla, and some of those are going to be aggressive competitors that know how to earn a profit.