Toyota admits being hurt by Tesla, gives tepid response

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

I really don’t care which.

 

Measuring "leader" by how much profit a business makes is the American way. Thank goodness Toyota doesn't follow that mindset.

They already know. The products they sell to the masses for sustained profits most definitely don't depend upon pushing limits.

That is a niche product for enthusiasts, in no way ever intended to be sold in high-volume. Know your audience.

 

Who leads? The Apple product which sells in relatively small quantities but at an extreme profit. Or the Android products which sell at much much higher volumes but at relatively small profits.

Will Apple/Tesla be able to maintain volumes and profits when the initial customers are exhausted? Make a good enough third iteration product and see relatively little market for the 5th gen product. Didn't I see Tesla cutting production on the third shift? Isn't Apple having trouble selling the current generation and having to cut prices?

Leadership is a tricky thing. Especially in the aspirational product world.

 

I'll follow, thanks.

My LG phone (Stylo4) was $187.
So....
Is it as good as a $700 iphone?

Oh HECK yes!!!
It's bigger, faster, MUCH more capable, has a bigger battery and is in EVERY WAY a much much better phone.

Of course....I'm comparing it to a 5-year-old iphone, and that's the biggest difference between a car and a phone other than 1-2 orders of magnitude in price. I expect to upgrade my phone every 2-3 years because of the march of technology, and I have to be a little patient while the early adopters stand in blocks long line to fund the developmental costs of my $187 phone.

Cars on the other hand are a "slightly" lower frequency purchase....and some of the developmental hurtles that plagued phones (battery fires come to mind...) as well as some of the more nefarious activities (like OTA updates than made the older models run a sub-optimally) will be MUCH MUCH MUCH harder for customers to tolerate in the >$50,000 price range.

 

IIRC, when Apple entered the phone market Nokia was the market leader in phones and Blackberry was the leader in smart phones. Apple was a nobody in phones. Intel wouldn't make chips for their phones because it was too risky. Since then they have had ~11 years of spectacular growth, become the world's largest company (recently slumped) and just had its first bad quarter in a decade. And all smart phones are copies/derivatives of the iPhone design concepts.

Any EV company would be glad to have a track record like that...looking into the rear view mirror at the remnants of Nokia and Blackberry.

Mike (never owned an iPhone)

 

I see not much has changed! I took some time off from Priuschat, but your still beating the same drum!

 

The "Ignore user" function is like squelch in CB radios ... it mutes a lot of the noise that otherwise makes communication difficult or impossible.

Bob Wilson

 

Actually, when all a certain poster post's is WOH (worship, optimism and Hysteria) the ignore button is common sense.

Baiting others to loose their home titles to this Ponzi scheme is not an act of kindness.

 

yep - not just the 26/27mhz bandwidth of cb .... ALL good transcivers can squelch out noise.

The, "be green like me, you dirty polluters " preachyness is way outside of my 50 Ω impedance.

.

 

2021? anyone could predict that. sounds like every other carmaker without the hype.

 

Non-early-adopter sales haven't even begun yet. We're still in the subsidy stage. There's nothing to be late for.

 

Does the Midwest even know what a Tesla is???

 

Chicago is a major hub for Tesla. Minnesota has one of the largest Tesla owners club in the USA.

So yes, many people in the Midwest know what a Tesla is.

 

or ..... putting the "audience" in perspective - there is only one Mirai fool cell car (roughly - stuck driving around parts of California only) for every 70 model 3's running around all of the US. just sayin'.
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