BMW CFO says he sleeps 'very peacefully' in face of Apple Car threat

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 36
    tedz98tedz98 Posts: 80member
    1. Tesla doesn’t generate profit from building cars. Their recent Bitcoin investment has yielded more profit than selling EVs. 2. Each car Tesla sells is a money looser. They are however making money selling carbon offsets. How long that can last I don’t know. 3. Tesla is as much a software company as they are a mechanical car manufacturer. Their software is their secret sauce that no one is even close to competing with. Integration of AI in the car as well as in super computers behind the scenes is unique and powerful and gives them great advantage. 4. Tesla should have outsourced physical production to a manufacturer who has been building cars for decades. Design the car, build and integrate the software but leave manufacturing to others. Even Elon Musk admits “production is hard.” I don’t see the advantage of vertical integration at Tesla. 5. Apple is as much in love with the physical design of their products as they are with their software. How many times do you hear the word “beautiful” at one of their events? They want their own physical platform. Just have someone else build it. And don’t fool yourself (Apple) into thinking the auto industry is as straightforward as you think it is.
  • Reply 22 of 36
    You’re not thinking about dinner when someone is eating your lunch.  
  • Reply 23 of 36
    michelb76michelb76 Posts: 612member
    Really dumb thing to say. There is no Apple Car, there doesn't seem to be any indication it will be on the market within 2 years. Why would you say something like this. I mean if they didn't feel a threat he wouldn't even be talking about it.
  • Reply 24 of 36
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    michelb76 said:
    Really dumb thing to say. There is no Apple Car, there doesn't seem to be any indication it will be on the market within 2 years. Why would you say something like this. I mean if they didn't feel a threat he wouldn't even be talking about it.
    He was asked about it, and I wouldn’t expect him to say anything else. 

    Nothing to see here folks.
  • Reply 25 of 36
    longfanglongfang Posts: 445member
    Is there really a push for not owning the vehicle you use daily? Personally speaking, especially after the “situation” this past year, I would not want to share a vehicle with strangers. 
  • Reply 26 of 36
    I don’t see as many BMW’s on the road as I used to. I haven’t seen a 7 series BMW is over a decade yet they still make them. 
  • Reply 27 of 36
    Of course he sleeps peacefully.  Any market disruption that Apple makes won't happen soon, and he'll retire with umpty-million dollars anyway.  Even if he doesn't retire, but just quits or is ousted, he's still set.  He personally has nothing to worry about.

    Besides, there are people who will insist on driving their own luxury vehicles until they are legally prohibited from doing so, and that won't happen anytime soon.
  • Reply 28 of 36
    KuyangkohKuyangkoh Posts: 838member
    tedz98 said:
    1. Tesla doesn’t generate profit from building cars. Their recent Bitcoin investment has yielded more profit than selling EVs. 2. Each car Tesla sells is a money looser. They are however making money selling carbon offsets. How long that can last I don’t know. 3. Tesla is as much a software company as they are a mechanical car manufacturer. Their software is their secret sauce that no one is even close to competing with. Integration of AI in the car as well as in super computers behind the scenes is unique and powerful and gives them great advantage. 4. Tesla should have outsourced physical production to a manufacturer who has been building cars for decades. Design the car, build and integrate the software but leave manufacturing to others. Even Elon Musk admits “production is hard.” I don’t see the advantage of vertical integration at Tesla. 5. Apple is as much in love with the physical design of their products as they are with their software. How many times do you hear the word “beautiful” at one of their events? They want their own physical platform. Just have someone else build it. And don’t fool yourself (Apple) into thinking the auto industry is as straightforward as you think it is.
    So wait......Tesla is not a car manufacturer? So who builds Tesla cars??last time I check Tesla does made their own car. They import however some if not most of that parts. I know that cause I own one. 
  • Reply 29 of 36
    jcs2305jcs2305 Posts: 1,336member
    loopless said:
    I would too. Do we really see Apple building a factory, hiring thousands of workers in , say Alabama, fighting with the UAW over unionization etc?  It's laughable. Making cars is hard.
    Apple can "license" their design, but all the major auto makers have already defined their electric car platforms ( like Ford/VW's MEB, BMW's CLAR etc) and would be throwing away many billions of dollars of investment to change course to use Apple's reference design.

    Apple should have built a CarOS that automakers could have adopted. Android has stepped into that gap. That ship has sailed as well.

    This project has been a disaster from day one. 
    How can a rumored project be disaster? This whole thing has been rumored for years not just in the last few months? Can you please share whatever info you have that confirms any of this is more than speculation? I am really interested in see what this project is really all about.

  • Reply 30 of 36
    zimmiezimmie Posts: 651member
    tedz98 said:
    ...
    4. Tesla should have outsourced physical production to a manufacturer who has been building cars for decades. Design the car, build and integrate the software but leave manufacturing to others. Even Elon Musk admits “production is hard.” I don’t see the advantage of vertical integration at Tesla.
    ...
    They did. Originally, they bought "gliders" (basically a whole car minus the engine, and maybe minus other drive parts) from Lotus and built them into the Tesla Roadster. In terms of suspension, frame, chassis, and most of the body and interior, the Roadster was a Lotus Elise.

    Eventually, after Musk took over, they brought manufacturing in-house.
    edited March 2021
  • Reply 31 of 36
    nicholfdnicholfd Posts: 824member
    tmay said:
    mknelson said:
    Lol he did not mention if he sleeps peacefully knowing Tesla is already taking the overall market every single day... lmao
    They're bigger than BMW, but in 2020 still had…

    0.8% of the world's auto sales.  :D

    https://www.torquenews.com/1083/here-s-what-tesla-s-current-market-share-looks-globally-us-china-and-europe
    Tesla hasn't generated any profit from vehicle sales. Any profits that Tesla generates are from regulatory credits sold to other automakers (FCA being one).


    Tell me why that matters (is it still true)?  They are profitable.  And all this profit is going back into Tesla R&D, where Tesla continues to push forward.
  • Reply 32 of 36
    nicholfdnicholfd Posts: 824member

    mknelson said:
    Lol he did not mention if he sleeps peacefully knowing Tesla is already taking the overall market every single day... lmao
    They're bigger than BMW, but in 2020 still had…

    0.8% of the world's auto sales.  :D

    https://www.torquenews.com/1083/here-s-what-tesla-s-current-market-share-looks-globally-us-china-and-europe
    Wait, did I miss a memo?  What metric are you using to claim Tesla's bigger than BMW.  Certainly not car sales.  Maybe market cap, but that's not how the size of car companies are judged.
    Maybe, depending on who you are talking to!
  • Reply 33 of 36
    nicholfdnicholfd Posts: 824member

    n2macs said:
    ionicle said:
    Enjoy your peaceful sleep while it lasts......
    Whatever!! Not everyone is all of a sudden going to buy a Apple car. Some are BMW, some are Ford, some are VW ONLY. Even now there is no one car that overwhelming outsells all others combined. Plus people have different needs. Apple will not be able to fit all those needs. 
    That’s what they said about the iPhone, iPad, etc. You don’t have to be the market leader to get most of the profits. Quality over quantity.
    You clearly don’t understand the car manufacturing business as a whole. 
    I do - I've worked almost 30 years (this fall) for a Fortune 100 auto tier 1 OEM, before a French company bought us.  "Legacy" auto manufactures are years behind, and clamoring to catch up.
  • Reply 34 of 36
    nicholfdnicholfd Posts: 824member
    tedz98 said:
    1. Tesla doesn’t generate profit from building cars. Their recent Bitcoin investment has yielded more profit than selling EVs. 2. Each car Tesla sells is a money looser. They are however making money selling carbon offsets. How long that can last I don’t know. 3. Tesla is as much a software company as they are a mechanical car manufacturer. Their software is their secret sauce that no one is even close to competing with. Integration of AI in the car as well as in super computers behind the scenes is unique and powerful and gives them great advantage. 4. Tesla should have outsourced physical production to a manufacturer who has been building cars for decades. Design the car, build and integrate the software but leave manufacturing to others. Even Elon Musk admits “production is hard.” I don’t see the advantage of vertical integration at Tesla. 5. Apple is as much in love with the physical design of their products as they are with their software. How many times do you hear the word “beautiful” at one of their events? They want their own physical platform. Just have someone else build it. And don’t fool yourself (Apple) into thinking the auto industry is as straightforward as you think it is.
    Links/documentaiton/proof/citations or it's all your hearsay. 
  • Reply 35 of 36
    nicholfdnicholfd Posts: 824member

    longfang said:
    Is there really a push for not owning the vehicle you use daily? Personally speaking, especially after the “situation” this past year, I would not want to share a vehicle with strangers. 
    I don't care if I own a vehicle (I own 3 - 2 x hybrids & 1 x electric).  I care that's works & is available when I need it, and is a reasonable cost for me.
  • Reply 36 of 36
    zimmiezimmie Posts: 651member
    nicholfd said:

    longfang said:
    Is there really a push for not owning the vehicle you use daily? Personally speaking, especially after the “situation” this past year, I would not want to share a vehicle with strangers. 
    I don't care if I own a vehicle (I own 3 - 2 x hybrids & 1 x electric).  I care that's works & is available when I need it, and is a reasonable cost for me.
    The "is available when I need it" is the biggest sticking point I see with the idea that private ownership is unnecessary. Rush hours are a thing. Car-as-a-service companies definitely won't want to maintain enough cars to cover all of the rush hours, as that's just as expensive for them as you privately owning your own car is for you, and they want to make money. They will buy enough cars to average, say, five paid rides per day, or they will charge more for rides than it would cost for you to own and maintain a personal car.

    But if you have a job which requires you to work certain hours, and those hours require you to commute during the rush hours, and you can't use mass transit for whatever reason, they won't have cars consistently available for you.

    If you need guaranteed availability during certain times of the day, then the only way to assure that is to own your own car. Car-as-a-service seems like a decent way for a couple to avoid owning a second car if one partner stays home most of the time.
    muthuk_vanalingam
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