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The Model Y will be a test of Tesla's popularity
Tesla announced at the end of February that it was finally ready to make and sell the long-awaited $35,000 Model 3, an affordable electric car that was part of Musk's original "master plan" for the company, published in 2006. Closing most of the company's stores and switching to a completely online sales model was how Musk was able to finally achieve this goal, and it also allowed Tesla to lower the price on its other cars.
Normally, that might be seen as a good thing. But many customers who purchased Teslas before the price drops felt jilted. One of the most vocal critics was comedian Chris Titus, who complained to his 125,000 Twitter followers on March 2nd about how his wife bought a Tesla two days before the prices dropped. "@elonmusk lost a loyal customer," Titus wrote. "[T]he people that supported you, praised you and cared about you [sic] dream got boned."
Anger about the price cuts bubbled up in China, too, which is the world's largest market for electric cars. After Tesla cut prices on all of its models there, a number of owners protested at the company's store in the Hunan province capital city of Changsha. The upset owners wrapped the store in a banner that apparently translated to "don't buy now, buy tomorrow at a discount."
[...] [There] is some data backing up the apparent change in sentiment around Tesla. In an Axios-Harris poll of 18,228 adults conducted between November and January, Tesla's ranking slid across a number of categories. It dropped from being the 14th most trusted company out of 100 to 46th. The company's "character" ranking fell from 7th to 57th, and its "ethics" ranking slid from 5th to 56th.
See also: Did Ford just tease an electric Mustang as Tesla debuts Model Y?
Tesla's Model Y sales goals 'aggressive,' analyst says
(Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Friday March 15 2019, @11:45PM (12 children)
Cars -- people don't know this -- are made out of Car "parts." Many, many "parts." And I've heard that Tesla, for certain "parts" they give 8 years of warranty. But, for most of the "parts" it's 4 years. Which, I have to say, 4 years is incredible. They have all this electricity going back and forth. The A.C., and the D.C. And you have to wonder, how can they keep that up for 4 years? They think they can. Or, they think they can fool us into thinking that they think they can.
And I hope they don't do the B.K. -- that they won't have to do that. Because they're one of our few Car Companies that decided to go 100% electric. And they did that almost from the beginning. They think electric is the future. And I hope they're right. Because so much of our electric comes from Clean Coal. You know, that beautiful stuff that our proud Coal Miners are working very hard to dig up. Day and night, they go into our marvelous mines. Day and night, they dig. Day and night, Clean Coal coming out of those mines. Very busy workers. These guys -- and ladies -- have the best job in the entire world. Cheatin' Obama tried to kill our Coal Industry. And he almost succeeded. If Crooked H had been elected, you'd have kids growing up now that wouldn't know what Coal is. Because all the mines would have closed years ago. They're open for business. And America is open for business. Because of me!
(Score: 2, Funny) by koick on Saturday March 16 2019, @04:52AM (9 children)
*Rolls eyes*, this time and most every time I see a post by this person...
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday March 16 2019, @05:26AM (1 child)
You think I'm "lame." Politically correct way to say, crippled. You don't want me to remind you of our National Nightmare -- Hillary Clinton. You don't like that and I think you don't like me. O.K. But, at least I had somethings to say about Tesla, about the Tesla warranty. Anomalous says, "oh, you'll be lucky to get 3 years on that warranty, they're going under!" When, for a lot of stuff, it's only a 4 year warranty anyway. And they're doing electric. Which our Environmentals love. They hate Coal, but they love electric. But so much of our electric -- especially at night -- comes from Coal. These are things that, maybe you knew. Maybe you didn't know. If you knew, you could have tweeted them. If you didn't know, well, you learned them from my Tweet. What if I hadn't tweeted? Possibly you would never know. Because it looks like you don't care so much about the story or about the tweet by Anomalous. Or you would have tweeted something about that. Instead of just hating on me because I used to have Bone Spurs. Because I was "lame" but I'm now very rich. And you can create the type of Social Media you supposedly want. My daughter said something very special. So smart & inspiring. She said "be the Change you wish to see in the World." Do it!!!
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday March 16 2019, @06:39AM
(cont) Another Smart Quote. "80% of life is showing up." Woody Allen saying, in a way, almost the same thing Ivanka said. I show up. And when I can't, my staff fill in for me. Maybe you don't have a Social Media manager, maybe you don't have lawyers that are good with Social Media. But, what about doing it yourself? I see very very few tweets from you, very very few Subs from you (that get Approved). If I was giving out the Participation Trophies -- sorry, none for you!
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday March 16 2019, @05:26AM (4 children)
He's a method actor, and a rather good one too; he sounds like the Trump of 10 years ago, before all the obvious cerebrovascular damage happened. I still think he's useless and annoying as fuck, but I have to give him credit for really doing his homework.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday March 16 2019, @05:43AM
Possibly the "nicest" thing you've said about Donald J. Trump, Azuki Hazuma. Is it the new, and MUCH better paying job, is it the magnificent Tax Refund you're getting because of me -- or is it my sexy body? Getting many compliments on that one!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 16 2019, @06:12AM (2 children)
That is giving too much credit to first-person fan fiction.
Did you just assume their gender?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday March 16 2019, @06:02PM (1 child)
I did indeed. Women don't do stupid shit like this. Suck it up, troll :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 16 2019, @07:45PM
>> Women don't do stupid shit like this
Even if that presumptuously broad generalization was assumed to be true:
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday March 16 2019, @11:03AM
koick wrote :
Whooosh
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 16 2019, @03:38PM
Hi, I'm barely tolerating this as much as I can. What more do you want?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday March 16 2019, @05:21AM (1 child)
That photovoltaic cells work much like computer chips originally led them to be built in "Wafer Fabs", that is, the very large, very clean factories where slices of refined Silicon Crystal are the wafers we speak of.
As demand - slowly - grew, special such Fabs were constructed, leading to better Economies Of Scale - slowly - reducing the price of photovoltaic electricity to the point that it is competitive for certain applications where energy is costly, as with tropical islands.
Due to the oil industry's great desire to create jobs for the American people, they bought up all the patents for solar and other renewable energies throughout the seventies and eighties, with many of them actively funding original renewable research so as to lock up the patents for as-yet undreamt of technologies as well.
Thus during my time in Pasadena, ARCO Solar hired a great many newly-minted California Institute Of Technology [pasadenastarnews.com] Alumni.
But now we have the problem that all those patents are expired, with the so-sad result that jobs are being created not here in America, where Clean Coal is mined, but in China, as Fabs of every variety are quite labor intensive.
My own take on Economics is in start contrast to those of the public enemy Federal Reserve Board, as exemplified by former Chair Janet Yellen's to tax Carbon - a "Pilouvian" Tax - then for no reason I can fathom, to distribute the proceeds to the American people in general - including those in, say, Santa Cruz - rather than to the economically displaced peoples of Appalachia, Montana and Wyoming.
In the parlance of my own Economic Theory, such a broadly-applied Pilouvian Tax is a "Push". By contrast we have that Socialist Whore Alexandria - a restaurant waitress! - foisting her Green New Deal upon the unsuspecting public. That in again my own parlance is a "Pull".
As I myself really can speak to every feline - even jungle wildcats! - just like Dr. Doolittle could, I advance my Pushmi-Pullyu Hypothesis [guacamoleroad.com]:
Were you to offer to Mr. Musk to work together, in a purely bipartisan spirit of cooperation, quite likely that with such appropriate job-creating incentives as suspending traffic and parking mitigation fees, my friend and yours Elon could be convinced to construct Photovoltaic Wafer Fabs in Appalachia, in Montana and in Wyoming.
As I know very well that despite our great friendship, you as the Leader of the Free World have an uncommonly full appointment book, please accept my suggestion to delegate my letter to the appropriate Federal Agency.
As I am a Novelist [warplife.com] - self-published at that - and so Economics and the like are for me largely Armchair Expertise, I do not actually know just which Federal Agency to which you would best delegate.
#MAGA!
Jonathan Swift [warplife.com],
Vancovuer, Washington
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 16 2019, @02:57PM
> Elon could be convinced to construct Photovoltaic Wafer Fabs in Appalachia, in Montana and in Wyoming.
Not happening, Musk can't even get the solar cell plant near Buffalo NY up to full capacity: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-20/inside-elon-musk-s-forgotten-gigafactory-2-in-buffalo [bloomberg.com]