[Weird Fishes]

Tesla continues to impress me as a company. This is a brilliant bit of marketing.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/05/autos/elon-musk-car-trip/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

 

[Arch fisker]

It is going to be interesting when reality hits and Tesla is no longer the wunderstock and investors really start looking at P/E and how much its really worth. Its not like Apple. I am reminded of early dot com days before people realized internet companies had to figure out a way to make real money. That being said, Tesla can be succesful in today's market BECAUSE of their marketing strategy. Unfortunately, Fisker never had anything comparable to put out for the public to become enthralled in.

 

[dennis]

I predict that Elon's cross country road trip will be delayed. Tesla is WAY behind in the supercharger rollout vs. what was promised in late May, and it will take more than a tweet from the CEO to make it happen faster.

If you go to this page and click on the slider you can see the current rollout status and the plans for Fall (which ends on Dec. 20th) and Winter (which ends on Mar. 20th). The only way he could take a cross country trip by the end of this year would be if Tesla prioritized the I-70/I-80 superchargers from Winter ahead of all the other superchargers they have promised.

 

[ffcars]

To show US Customers that scooters are reliable, I did a coast-to-coast trip with 3 of our 150cc scooters in 2004. It was great! The marketing dollars for this type of publicity is priceless.

http://www.cobrasales.com/challenge.htm

Check out the pictures of the speedos from the scooters on this page: http://www.cobrasales.com/challenge-day1.htm We didn't even break them in firstl just unloaded them from the shipping crates, put gas and air in the tires and took them to Columbus Square to begin our journy. You can see the ending miles on this page: http://www.cobrasales.com/challenge-day12.htm

Once we got to Ohio (left from NYC), every night a local news station or two would find us at our hotel to do an interview. Our dealers loved it too because they could show their customers that we were able to take 3 scooters coast to coast without even changing a tire. We had zero problems.

I got the idea from Yamaha. They tried to do it with 2 50cc scooters by starting in NC, but they were done by the time they got to TN. I saw that and knew we had to do it!

Tesla really is making some good choices.

Bill

 

[Falcon9]

It is going to be interesting when reality hits and Tesla is no longer the wunderstock and investors really start looking at P/E and how much its really worth. Its not like Apple. I am reminded of early dot com days before people realized internet companies had to figure out a way to make real money. That being said, Tesla can be succesful in today's market BECAUSE of their marketing strategy. Unfortunately, Fisker never had anything comparable to put out for the public to become enthralled in.

I disagree, this isn't pets.com

Look at their factory on this short clip:

You can only be awe when watching it.

 

[Sigurd]

Very impressive.

 

[Fabulist]

I disagree, this isn't pets.com

Look at their factory on this short clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lfxPI5ObM

You can only be awe when watching it.

Just because they have a big, expensive factory does not mean they are going to make it. Webvan had a huge distribution center with massive amounts of in-house developed technology and still went down. The investment and technology makes no difference unless it translates into a desirable and profitable product.

No question that Tesla has made very good decisions and has been run very well up to this point. Their challenge is to continue to do this consistently. It's just too early to tell yet.

 

[Fabulist]

I predict that Elon's cross country road trip will be delayed. Tesla is WAY behind in the supercharger rollout vs. what was promised in late May, and it will take more than a tweet from the CEO to make it happen faster.

If you go to this page and click on the slider you can see the current rollout status and the plans for Fall (which ends on Dec. 20th) and Winter (which ends on Mar. 20th). The only way he could take a cross country trip by the end of this year would be if Tesla prioritized the I-70/I-80 superchargers from Winter ahead of all the other superchargers they have promised.

Maybe they could put in temporary battery swap stations, each with just one fully-charged battery, to fill in the gaps, or a portable Diesel generator and super charger combo. With a guy who has his own space program, this seems like a fairly trivial obstacle.

 

[Falcon9]

Just because they have a big, expensive factory does not mean they are going to make it. Webvan had a huge distribution center with massive amounts of in-house developed technology and still went down. The investment and technology makes no difference unless it translates into a desirable and profitable product.

No question that Tesla has made very good decisions and has been run very well up to this point. Their challenge is to continue to do this consistently. It's just too early to tell yet.

Agree, but this apply to any company. Apple could be the next Blackberry if they don't continue to innovate.

I would say Tesla probably has 3 to 5 years ahead of the competition, it's up to them to continue the gap. Elon sent a rocket to space, I am betting on him for the first successful car start up since Chrysler.

 

[dennis]

Maybe they could put in temporary battery swap stations, each with just one fully-charged battery, to fill in the gaps, or a portable Diesel generator and super charger combo. With a guy who has his own space program, this seems like a fairly trivial obstacle.

Or he could write a memo:

FROM: Elon
TO: Supercharger Team

There has been a slight change of plans. I've designated the attached list of supercharger sites as "immediate priority" so I can complete the cross-country trip with my kids as promised. Feel free to disregard the current plan and de-prioritize other sites as necessary to get this done by mid-December.

We've got 90 days. You guys are great, I know you can do it!

 

[dennis]

Elon sent a rocket to space, I am betting on him for the first successful car start up since Chrysler.

I believe Lamborghini is the most recent successful automobile startup - founded in 1963.

 

[AnOutsider]

I believe Lamborghini is the most recent successful automobile startup - founded in 1963.

Maybe he meant American