Amazon.com Widgets

Tesla Model 3 in 2

The Model 3 is here (well almost anyway) and it looks quite good. This is important for the automobile space, and likely not just Tesla's most important vehicle, but perhaps the most important vehicle since Ford's Model T.  The Model T debuted a little over 100 years ago and the parallels with Tesla's Model 3 are truly interesting.

Ford called the Model T "the universal car," a low-cost, reliable vehicle that could be maintained easily...

Musk has essentially positioned the Model 3 as the 'universal electric car', a reasonably priced, reliable, fast, well designed all electric vehicle. Of course the concise Model 3 pitch is that 'the Model 3 will be the best car (combustion, electric or hybrid) that you can buy for the price'. Where Ford had its assembly line, Musk has his Gigafactory. Also interesting, Tesla has reportedly received more orders for its Model 3 in a couple of days than the combined yearly sales of the Acura TLX, Audi A4, Cadillac ATS, Infiniti Q50, Lexus IS, and Mercedes C-class. A few years in, Ford sold more Model Ts per year than its competitors combined, and by the mid 1920s more than half the cars on American Roads were Ford Model Ts.

Tesla Model S Battle Raps: Awaiting Tesla's response as to whether the Model S is the safest car ever tested by the NHTSA

Tesla recently claimed that the Model S is the safest car ever tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) receiving a score of 5.4. Tesla further claimed the Model S broke the testing machine that tested its roof strength. Tesla says that what this means is that you can place 5 Model S’ on top of another without the roof caving in. Since Tesla’s claims, the NHTSA has released a statement explaining that they do not give a ratings of higher than 5 and that they do not have any record of the testing equipment breaking. This of course lead to talk that Tesla has lied about the safety of its cars, or at least exaggerated. However the NHTSA statements do not necessarily contradict Tesla’s claims.

First, because the NHTSA does not ‘ultimately’ bestow a score higher than 5, does not mean that a vehicle's raw score could not be higher than 5.

Automobile Dealers Fight “To [allegedly] Protect the Public” from Tesla Motors

First, no intelligent person believes that automobile dealers are fighting to stop Tesla from selling cars because they care about us consumers. While it is disgusting that automobile dealerships and various dealer associations have asserted “protection of the public” as a primary reason why Tesla should not be allowed to sell directly to customers, at least this type of action is expected by such entities. Simply, dealers and their lobbies are expected to be disgusting, slimy, and self-serving. What would be truly disturbing is if legislators and other politicos who should at least pretend to have consumer and U.S. economic best interest at heart, begin supporting ridiculous arguments and taking positions damaging to the market. Such arguments would be disrespectful to consumers, and waste judicial resources leading to outrageous litigation against essentially the essence of the already stymied American automotive consumer market: competition that begets progress.