KMII
[Montblanc Moderator]
50281
Politics might play a small part…
But the bigger issue is that the Tesla package simply lost competitiveness. Their aftersales is abysmal here (in comparison to existing brands), the reliability is mediocre at best. While for many of the early adopters (especially Model S) the advantages that it had back then as an electric car made them overlook this, in a market where the product is at best par for the course and if one is less generous slowly falling behind, these become real issues.
I know the pivot and if it works, kudos to them - it is a sensible one on paper - if it can be executed. If it cannot, the company will have a real challenge.
Not by any stretch saying that the European car brands are viable entities as such. BMW probably has a shot at it, if the Neue Klasse flies and a real headache if it doesn’t. VW has the highest electric sales but is still slowly recovering from their indifferently executed (if theoretically correct) Cariad experiment. And the premium brands of the group (Audi and Porsche) are cratering. For Mercedes the new CLAs success will be instrumental in determining the future.
As for Chinese, they truly do it very well. Will they dominate the European market? Unlikely. But frankly speaking it doesn’t matter - they are on the cusp of achieving the real victory and that’s pushing out the transplants from China - where European, Japanese and American brands offloaded lots of volume and had some of the highest profitability levels over decades. Losing that is probably more painful than any damage that will happen in Europe over the coming years.
My wife new ride!
This summer my wife decided to go all electric with the Volvo EX90. I must say we like it a lot! Cheers ...
We changed our XC90 for that one. The driving experience is quite an upgrade from the XC90.
In terms of autonomy it is rating at 500km here in Canada and it’s very true to its rating, maybe even better (getting 550 to 600 if driving less then 110 km/h on the highway). The real test will be this winter but we don’t go far and we can charge home. ...
Oh yeah, that’s quite a roaster of pictures
I must say the first two brings great memories as I had that exact same car when it came out
I am interested to read more once you’ve had more time with it.
You didn’t want to go the ubiquitous Tesla route?
Very nice looking machine!!!
I haven't driven one, a few friends have them. They're nice cars! The friends who do have them say they're very pleasant cars but seem to have some software bugs. One has commented the audio system is very good. A good portion of these friends all drove T...
I think they did an update
But the early ones would die if not used for a few days. The 12v battery. And no easy way to charge I’ve heard. I just drove an ultra one for a few days and the air suspension and ride was so nice. Very luxurious. Will keep my wife in xc90 as she doesn’t ...
Oh yes. I adore not having to go to gas stations!
One day, there will be a generation of kids and adults who didn't really grow up in the petrol/diesel age. And they will ask incredulously... "You mean you had to fill the car with a combustible liquid? In a tank? That sounds dirty and dangerous. And this...
Interesting comment regarding air suspension as for me I would not be able to drive a car without one!
The comfort air suspension provide is just something I could not live without! Cheers
💯
I’ve had multiple air suspension cars. No issues. More composure over rough roads. I think they’ve gotten better over the years.
We got ours after a major update, so I don’t believe that any of these little issues are happening with our car
However, I am sure there will be little bugs appearing overtime, but it does not bother me that much as the overall drive quality and comfort Trump all of these potential pitfalls compared to other vehicles for our own personal taste
Sounds good! Give us an update in a year how much you and your spouse like this car!
I've driven my Tesla for six years now. I absolutely DO NOT LIKE the styling of my Model 3. And I kind of want to switch to the new Model 3 - as it looks better in my eyes. I have the "platypus duck bill" front bumper. The Tesla Model 3 is extremely aerod...
It just received the update a few weeks ago.
Model S and X just got their updates a few weeks ago.
Tesla seems to be suffering badly outside of the US...
They have not replowed a sufficient amount of profit into development and have not brought out anything of note in the last 6 years or so. Even the Model 3 and Y facelifts are largely that - maintaining the 400V architecture and significantly lower chargi...
Tesla is not selling well in Europe indeed. And all of this doesn't matter...
I don't want to get into the politics part nor sound like a conspiracy theorist - but there is a lot of irrationality on all sides. There are also politically-motivated groups whom are intentionally damaging Elon Musk, pandering to simple thinkers and por...
Politics might play a small part…
But the bigger issue is that the Tesla package simply lost competitiveness. Their aftersales is abysmal here (in comparison to existing brands), the reliability is mediocre at best. While for many of the early adopters (especially Model S) the advantages ...
All true! I especially like your last paragraph!
Yes! Your last paragraph is a deeper interpretation of the problem... Most of these car companies have China as their largest market, and as Chinese start buying their own country's cars, they are buying less cars from the West, which obviously hurts the ...
The Chinese market…
Accounted for perhaps a third of the volume but up to or even over 50% of the global profits for many a German brand. Losing that suddenly doesn’t allow the high structural costs they have in their home countries, leading to a spiral of decline. As for th...
The Neue Klasse...
Will be unveiled in production ready form this Friday at the IAA. As for driving assistance systems it should be leagues ahead of what Tesla manages (at least in Europe) and it offers a proper autopilot (at least for Germany and till 80mph), so a very adv...
We shall see! You're making more claims than the BMW Product Manager made to me at Pebble Beach two weeks ago!
You must know something! And the Product Manager must have been very modest.
We will know more soon 😊
Currently BMW does the best Level 3 driving in Europe with models such as iX and the 7 and 5 series. The full functionality is only available in Germany (legislative reasons). Mercedes has something similar in the S-class but not quite as good. Tesla does...
For sure it will but based on my experience with my Tytan last winter, given this PO was a bigger range and battery. It should be more than enough for our needs.
Also, since we don’t have to leave it park outside unless when we do errands then even if it’s cold in the winter, I always leave with a car that has a warm battery which helps with range
I used to be a Volvo customer, too...
But that ended years ago. And have found it difficult to get excited by anything of theirs in the last decade at least. I currently have a different use case and the speed limiter on all of their cars ar 112mph is a killer criterium. But should I move fro...