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The Next Model Tesla Releases Should Compete with the
| 5% | 11 votes |
| 8% | 18 votes |
| 12% | 25 votes |
| 21% | 43 votes |
| 11% | 23 votes |
| 23% | 48 votes |
| 1% | 4 votes |
| 15% | 32 votes |
[ Voting Booth | Other Polls | Back Home ]
- Don't complain about lack of options. You've got to pick a few when you do multiple choice. Those are the breaks.
- Feel free to suggest poll ideas if you're feeling creative. I'd strongly suggest reading the past polls first.
- This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.
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The Next Model Tesla Releases Should Compete with the
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Harp not on that string.
-- William Shakespeare, "Henry VI"
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 22 2014, @09:09PM
Motorcycle: Yamaha V-Star 250 [wikipedia.org]
Tiny eco car: Smart Fortwo [wikipedia.org]
Small sports car: Mazda Miata [wikipedia.org]
Big truck: Ford F150 [wikipedia.org]
Earth mover: Caterpillar 797B [wikipedia.org]
An airplane: Airbus A380 [wikipedia.org]
A train: GE ES40DC [wikipedia.org]
Giant-ass saw thing: Krupp Bagger 288 [wikipedia.org]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 22 2014, @09:40PM
Fuckin' Virago riders.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday May 22 2014, @11:49PM
The quiz as listed [soylentnews.org] in the previous poll had the Toyota Camry as one of the choices.
Did the quizmaster omit it here because it was too typical, or because it would win?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by zocalo on Friday May 23 2014, @09:21AM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 3) by AndyTheAbsurd on Friday May 23 2014, @11:02AM
I put in the Dodge Grand Caravan as an option that would cater to the soccer-mom crowd. Soccer moms don't need SUVs IMO and minivans hold as many (or more) passengers. But SUVs are more popular so I probably should have included one; if I'd thought it at the time I probably would have gone with one of the Land Rover models that's sold in the US.
Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Preston on Friday May 23 2014, @03:31AM
I think that it's worth nothing that the F-150 has been America's best selling /vehicle/ many times.
A large amount of Americans are people who use their vehicle and home not for traveling back and fourth to work, but actually as a tool for their work as well.
The vehicle has to be nice enough to take a woman out on a date in, rugged enough to make it to the work site that's off the road, strong enough to pull a trailer, luxurious enough to make a long trip in, but not too nice as to make you scared of scratching the paint a bit or getting some food on the seat as you're eating between jobs.
I use my SUV this way, and I imagine that a lot of people use their pickup trucks this way, too.
There are people who use these things as status symbols, but a lot of them really do use them for their work on a regular basis. Having a multi-purpose vehicle that can do everything is a lot more economical than having a car, a truck, a trip vehicle, etc.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday May 23 2014, @01:41PM
Seconded. I drove an F-150 for many years. They're well-understood and easy to maintain, and all the engine stuff is readily accessible. If I had the money I'd get the F-150 Raptor.
But fuck, man, those gas prices. Even in America where gas is kinda cheap compared to Europe I had the model with a Triton V8 and the gas costs were $90 a week. With a small economy car, my gas bill is now $30 a week for the same amount of weekly driving. But I'm really missing that bed, a hatchback just ain't the same for hauling or taking women out on dates.
(Score: 2) by jdccdevel on Monday May 26 2014, @03:30PM
My wife and I have found that a small trailer (4ft by 6 ft) can easily be hauled behind a small car/SUV, and works very well for most things we would use a truck for. The SUV is big enough to pull our boat, and the gas mileage is much better than a truck.
Granted, we don't haul a camper, or anything that large. If we did, we'd probably buy a truck. But for us, the trailer has paid for itself in gas alone many, many times over.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday May 23 2014, @01:58PM
My family's fit for that application is generally the Subaru Legacy.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by TrumpetPower! on Monday May 26 2014, @10:04PM
Hmpf. That's not what I would have guessed.
Yamaha V-Star 250: Latest model electric guitar [tachyonlabs.com]
Smart FourTwo: What you get when you ask a geek to multiply six by nine [wikipedia.org]
Mazda Miata: Stage name of that "Asian" dancer at the "gentlemen's club" [yahoo.com]
Ford F150: River crossing in the upper right quadrant [wikipedia.org]
Caterpillar 797B: Creepy crawlie to avoid [wikipedia.org]
GE ES40DC: Gesundheit [wikipedia.org]
Krupp Bagger 288: Automated coffee grind disposal system [krupsusa.com]
Cheers,
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 2) by Woods on Tuesday May 27 2014, @03:17PM
You get 10 clever points.
(Score: 2) by joekiser on Friday May 23 2014, @01:26AM
Instead of the F-150, I would like to see something that competes with/replaces the Ford Ranger, which was discontinued two years ago. Lots of low-end torque, RWD/4WD, body on frame design. The small pickup market is up for grabs in the US.
Debt is the currency of slaves.
(Score: 2) by n1 on Friday May 23 2014, @02:16AM
It seems to me the USA just doesn't have a small truck market, at least not a viable one. The US Ranger was always different (and I think larger) than the International version. Ford even released a new one in 2012.
The international market still has offerings from Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, Mitsubishi and Mazda (Ranger related). VW even has the Amarok. Many of these are available in Central and South America.
Ford is hopeful the Transit (a European institution of sorts) will succeed in place of the E series. When Ford seem to be consolidating their lineup globally in the passenger car and light commercial sectors, excluding the Ranger can't be an accident.
So as much as I like the idea of a small but decent 4wd electric truck, it's surely wont be good for Tesla if they maintain a focus on the US market.
(Score: 1) by lcklspckl on Friday May 23 2014, @06:35AM
The chicken tax has kind of killed this. When travelling though Mexico I saw plenty of little trucks. I personally would find one useful. I have a Ranger, and it's not too old (for as long as I keep vehicles anyway,) and I think it sucks. Gas and transmission. We really need some competition in this area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chicken_ tax [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by joekiser on Friday May 23 2014, @10:32AM
The US Ranger was the same frame as the international version up until it was discontinued. The difference was that the International versions could have four door passenger cabs, and a diesel option (good for around 40MPG). I understand that there is a new Ranger built in Thailand that is a complete redesign and slightly larger than anything ever sold in the U.S.
Maybe you're right about the US not having a viable small truck market, but pricing never helped. The last time I went out to purchase a new truck to replace my old Ranger, a top of the line Ranger (FX4, 4WD, V6 manual with low gears for towing) was $30,000, which was well above starting price for the F150.
Debt is the currency of slaves.
(Score: 2) by n1 on Friday May 23 2014, @10:54AM
I used to have a 2005 international Ranger [wikipedia.org], and i'm quite sure it was a totally different model to the US version and had issues sourcing parts for mine, every body panel on the US version is different as well as the gearboxes and engines. Wikipedia has seperate pages for the models too and notes,
"it should be borne in mind that the Mazda B-Series and Ford Ranger twins sold in North America [wikipedia.org] are unrelated to the ones sold elsewhere. These are engineered by Mazda, whereas the North American models are developed by Ford."
They are/were called the B-Series/Ranger in the rest of the world, to make it more confusing, the B series did however look extremely similar in the US compared to the International model. I think what you're thinking of is the twin cab versions of the US Ranger which were sold in South America.
(Score: 2) by Appalbarry on Saturday May 24 2014, @01:02AM
It seems to me the USA just doesn't have a small truck market, at least not a viable one. The US Ranger was always different (and I think larger) than the International version.
Ford Ranger = Mazda B-3000 (or B other numbers.)
I'm sceptical about the claim that no-one will buy them. In Vancouver at least the dealers couldn't keep them on the lot, and scoured the rest of the country to get more when they were discontinued.
For many people this was a pretty much perfect sized truck - more or less what an F150 would have been twenty years ago, before all the American trucks got into steroids and started bulking up like an NFL linebackers.
I look at the current F150 and it's about 30% bigger than I need or want. And I look at the insane size of the F350 and the GM and Chrysler equivalents, and think "Are you out of your mind?"
(Score: 2) by n1 on Saturday May 24 2014, @09:52AM
People would buy them, and there is obviously a demand. But, it's the same situation as there being demand for manual, diesel estate/wagons, yet the motor companies arn't making the effort despite offering that in every other market. There must be a reason for this, return-on-investment I assume... The stereotypical American always seems to want bigger - the small pickups generally only have 4cyl diesel blocks, which 'would struggle on the freeway' due to conventional US wisdom*. 'Full size' pickup trucks arn't even a thing in the rest of the world really, if you want something bigger than a Toyota Hilux you end up with something like a Toyota Dyna or Mitsubishi Fuso.
North America has every full size truck option basically all to itself, if there was good business sense (the customer is irrelevant) they would be selling smaller ones in the US. The chicken tax is part of it as another commenter noted, however if the demand was strong enough, they would be manufactured locally. In the US if you need a truck smaller than an F-150, what do you do? Buy an F-150. There's no incentive to give a minority (however large) options and choice they forgot existed. The US has a lot of choice compared to the rest of the world in pickups, but always in the 'bigger' variety, which conforms to expectations.
*My points on the stereotypical American are based on considerable time on automotive forums and news sites, as well as spending time in the US - they might be wrong but thats the impression i'm left with - no doubt the marketing department is also. The motor companies are still selling to 'baby boomers' I think (they have money), so anything less than a V6 and smaller than an apartment will always be a downgrade from what they used to have - no great for the aspirational consumer culture.
(Score: 2) by Appalbarry on Saturday May 24 2014, @05:25PM
the small pickups generally only have 4cyl diesel blocks,
FWIW, the small US pickups like the Ranger/Mazda, are generally V6 powered, something like 3 or 4 litre. Just enough.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Barbara Feldon on Friday May 23 2014, @03:30AM
... obviously.
(Score: 1) by lcklspckl on Friday May 23 2014, @06:10AM
I voted for F150. But that said, since I'm getting married soon, the gift registry will be set so folks can each buy a part of the forth-coming X for us. You can buy us a fuse, or a door handle or a tire or whatever. I already have a crock pot and couple toasters.
(Score: 1) by redneckmother on Friday May 23 2014, @06:30PM
Fuse? Heck, I'll buy you a whole stick of dynamite!
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by mhajicek on Friday May 23 2014, @07:12PM
Give us someplace to send stuff and let us know what you get! Ooh, the possibilities...
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1, Informative) by Kromagv0 on Friday May 23 2014, @02:15PM
Since they were going with some rather large and absurd vehicles why didn't they include Big Muskie [wikipedia.org], or The Captian [wikipedia.org].
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 2) by Foobar Bazbot on Friday May 23 2014, @05:50PM
You mean that the next Tesla model should compete as scrapyard (or, if the world were fair, museum) queen? ;)
I'm no expert in this field, but it's my impression that the big draglines and shovels have been outcompeted by bucket-wheel excavators; to compete with Bagger 288 (and its elder and younger siblings) is to compete with walking draglines and stripping shovels, just more effectively.
Considering that there's four more-or-less serious options (i.e. consumer road vehicles), one flying machine (where's my Sikorsky S-64 option!), and one train, earthmovers are already overrepresented. Should we add more machines whose main function is identical (overburden removal in strip mining) but are neither currently operational nor still the world's largest earthmover?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Taibhsear on Friday May 23 2014, @02:34PM
PLEASE do a motorcycle. There are only a couple companies doing electric motorcycles so far and they are really expensive. There used to be huge tax breaks for them but with rules attached that basically negated them. For example, in Illinois there was a huge tax break but you had to buy the electric motorcycles in Illinois. No one sold them in Illinois. The second they started selling them in-state the tax breaks expired and the politicians wouldn't renew them. Competition for this would hopefully bring down the prices to something at least remotely affordable.
(Score: 2) by bucc5062 on Friday May 23 2014, @03:07PM
I love airplanes so once I figured out the poll, I went airplane. being a hopeless dreamer I think one day we'll be flying around in electric powered air vehicles. Closing up into a portable briefcase will be optional.
The more things change, the more they look the same
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday May 23 2014, @10:40PM
Missing option: Falcon 9.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Sunday May 25 2014, @02:52AM
solar panels on the wings and regenerative airbrakes :) that was my vote too.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Friday May 23 2014, @08:33PM
Even though this is a fantasy post, I would rather tesla work on vehicles that make sense for consumers. Lets get the silly ones out of the way:
The Cat797B is an earth moving dump truck with a fully mechanical driveline. Its competitor is built by Liebherr which is a diesel electric. A very niche market that does not need any innovation.
Airbus A380: battery and motor weight would be the limit as both would need to be well into the double digit megawatt range. The plane would expend most of its energy keeping itself in the air. Need better motor and battery tech.
Krupp Babagger 288; pointless as this thing is all electric and is plugged in with the equivalent of a high voltage extension cord that delivers over 16MW. All large mining shovels work like this. Forget batteries.
GE ES40DC, a diesel electric locomotive. Not that silly if you think about it. To me, Tesla would have no business here unless they are building the driveline or batteries for GE or whoever. There are hybrid locomotives using molten salt batteries but again, its a capacity issue. We need batteries with a much higher energy density.
The more practical entries:
Electric bike: Not a bad idea. Very few electric bikes out there. Would be great for short trips and commutes.
Smart for two: eh, I doubt they could really do any better than the current electric Smart in terms of sales.
Miata: Tesla already makes a roadster, next.
F150: finally a good choice. In fact this is the best choice. Many people buy pickups, some to show off and some to do work. I would be more inclined to see a Ford ranger sized pickup that is all electric. The small pickups are also quite popular for electric conversion.
My entries:
All electric 3/4 and 1 ton commercial pickup chassis without the bed for dump trucks and flat beds. Commonly used by small construction companies and they don't see a lot of miles in a day. Its mainly haul rock/dirt/sand/gravel/brick/block/etc. to job site, stay there for hours to do job and go home. Perhaps also pull a trailer for a skid steer loader or small excavator.
Small sedan like the Honda Civic or Toyota Camry. Room for four or five people, more affordable and room in the boot. Perfect competition if they can get the price below $30k.
Small SUV like the Jeep Libery, Hyundai SantaFe or the Chevy Trailblazer. Its a great balance between size, interior room and cargo capacity.
panel vans: There is no better market to compete in for commercial vehicles than the van market. I have driven many miles in Ford and Chevy vans. If Tesla wanted to enter the commercial vehicle market, a van is THE way to go. Offer a high roof version and extended models and a cargo capacity of up to 5000 lbs. Wouldn't hurt if it could also tow between 5000-10,000 lbs.
A real far out entry: Heavy class 7/8 trucks. But the design would have to keep the frame rails clear as that space would be needed for the body and associated components. Range would be an issue for long haul or regional. If they could get 1500+ miles out of a charge and recharge in a truck stop within 6-8 hours then it might work out. But for vocational it might be better. Dump, roll off, mixer and other short haul, low mileage vocations would work out well. Make a nice general purpose chassis, offer a sleeper option, offer double frame and heavy axles for vocational and you might have a winner.
(Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Sunday May 25 2014, @04:42PM
The poll as I originally suggested it [soylentnews.org] included both the Chevy Aveo and the Toyota Camry - both "family" type cars, in the economy and mid-range segments for that type of cars. I probably should have included an SUV but I can't help but think of most of these as merely overgrown station wagons. And what's go prevent Tesla from selling an F150-equivalent without the bed?
Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
(Score: 1) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday May 27 2014, @01:24PM
Overall, if Tesla should build anything, it should be a >$30k sedan with a wagon option. That or a smallish SUV or crossover that offers cargo capacity along with efficiency.