Featured A $25,000 Tesla Around The Corner?

I think 5K model S a week that's gonna go up to 8K a week will have every car maker worried in a big, big way in 18months, which is probably about the time truck buyers will be making huge deposits and the end in Detroit's last great selling vehicles, their trucks, will have the rug pulled out from under them.

 

Ford and GM know this. They have been "talking" (preparing) about future products for this EV revolution to happen. And Ford is already planning to leave the sedan market all together (do you count Mustangs?), and stay with trucks and SUVs.

It is the Japanese brands that seem to think EV is a joke, and Fuel Cell is their holy grail.

 

Detroit is moving so slowly on EV that Tesla Trucks are now Musk's favorite vehicle and they're accelerating start of production specifically because Detroit is moving so slowly. I personally can't wait till all the idiot big truck owners are no longer stinking up my life and just driving past clean and quiet like.

 

Uh-oh!
The Big Government will need to "bell the truck" then, just like Hybrids.

 

Well...... they got a little help from Toyota in the form of a factory (NUMMI) capable of producing well over 400,000 cars/yr and a lot of equipment. Tesla decided to change a lot of it out for the untried "machine that builds the machine" concept.

 

Tesla might have helped Toyota's publicity out by buying NUMMI, and Toyota made out in having the Rav4 EV instead of just the iQ EV, and selling their share of Tesla.

They also didn't get the equipment. They got some at auction, but much of it went to other Toyota plants.
Tesla paid $42M for NUMMI but doesn't have deal to build cars with Toyota | VentureBeat | Enterprise | by Camille Ricketts
http://www.autonews.com/article/20110918/OEM01/309189998/toyota-gave-old-robots-new-tools-to-trim-u.s.-camry-price-2

 

Yes. I didn't say they got it all. Bottom line they got a great deal financed by a sweet federal loan to do it. IOW a lot of help and not building everything from scratch.

I still think Fremont will be the achilles heel long term as building cars in silicon valley, one of if not the most expensive place in the USA, will never allow them to be on even footing with other manufacturers. Every domestic and foreign auto maker has left the state.

 

they can always pack up their tent and move...

 

I am not ready to go there because I looked at a map of Fremont incomes. That plant is near a lot of lower income people and I understand the Tesla employees are making ~$19/hour. Plus the BART station just opened which means a lot of Oakland residents can reach the plant. IMHO, the labor rates should be compatible and industrial power, water, and sewer rates are not that far off.

Bob Wilson

 

Toyota was going to be the last car company closing manufacturing there, which is why I said this deal helped Toyota's reputation. Toyota also came out ahead from the partnership even with them letting Tesla 'steal' the factory. Without Tesla, they might have had to just abandon the site for nothing.

Businesses all arrange things like tax breaks and low financing for projects like new factories. Tesla getting such for the feds is along the same lines. They are playing by the same rules as everyone else.

 

Yup. The best deal is when both sides think they won.

 

Uh, guys. NUMMI was a few miles away from my old home, so I saw what happened first hand. No I couldn't afford Fremont. I lived a town south. AKA the dump for the City of San Jose, literally. When Tesla got their hands on the old NUMMI plant. Toyota and GM were already gone. They closed the plant in 2010 when GM went bankrupt.

It was Fremont's Mayor that saw an opportunity to lure Tesla (Tesla was almost ready to sign for CHEAP SoCal warehouses as their new factory) and got some business back into town. Otherwise, that Tesla plant would have been taken down and sold for home development now.

 

I wasn't following Tesla back then but according to wiki even before that:

"Tesla had planned for an assembly factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a central location for shipping.[3][4] Construction was supposed to begin in April 2007, but was canceled.[5]"

Can you imagine, Elon hanging out with Walt and Jessie?

 

$25K ??
You can already get one for $20K !!!
2018 Tesla MODEL S for Sale from Copart Lot #40545218

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+$56K to repair undercarriage.

 

Baaahhh - I'm sure they can be talked down
.