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by varjag 3577 days ago
On the other hand, they didn't need to create the company, the product and distribution network from scratch in a competitive environment. They had R&D and testing facilities, engineer workforce, factories and supply chains in place.

They are just excusing themselves out of this blunder. They sat on their asses changing the grill shapes and let an upstart undercut them.
3 comments
jacquesm 3577 days ago
It's easy to undercut another company if you're willing to make a loss.

If Tesla reaches profitability you can bet there will be a lot of other EVs on the road within two years from that point precisely for the reasons you listed in your first paragraph.

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varjag 3577 days ago
There been some dry spells for Porsche as well, when it was losing on the order of billions within a year. This does not reflect to maturity of internal combustion engine technology or viability of luxury vehicle business of Porsche.

That statement connected two non contradicting issues. Porsche could make that premium electric car, and it could stay in black.

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jacquesm 3577 days ago
Yes, they probably could. But the question really is whether or not they'd make a profit on that premium electric car. In other words, if they'd cross-subsidize from other income then quite probably Porsche as a whole would still be in the black but that doesn't mean they're turning a profit on the EVs, you'd have to break it out in order to establish that.

Based on the quote from the article my guess would be that they would not be making a profit on the EVs.

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usrusr 3577 days ago
Tesla is as much a manufacturing upstart as it is a charger network upstart. Both parts can grow side by side. Shoehorning a charger network that is starting from zero into an existing, massive manufacturing and development organization that is perfectly tuned to the well trodden path would face a whole class of difficulties that simply don't exist in the all-new company.
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kuschku 3577 days ago
> Shoehorning a charger network that is starting from zero into an existing, massive manufacturing and development organization that is perfectly tuned to the well trodden path would face a whole class of difficulties that simply don't exist in the all-new company.

But Mercedes would be ideal for that.

They own shares in most taxi companies in Europe, so they can start by electrifying them.

And the taxi companies HQ could each get a bunch of superchargers.

Which would immediately create the densest supercharger network in the world. And it would be profitable from day one.

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forgetsusername 3577 days ago
>They sat on their asses changing the grill shapes and let an upstart undercut them

Or...maybe no one has figured out how to produce an economically viable electric car yet, Tesla included?

I mean, if already having the company, product and distribution is such a huge advantage, then the competitors have massive leverage, no? Or do you think Tesla has "already won"?

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varjag 3577 days ago
They did have massive leverage, the whole point of my post was they did not manage use it and are blame-shifting.

Tesla loses money due to continuing massive capital investment into production facilities, they still sell each car for more than what it costs to produce.

It is a rapid growth problem, certainly one of those things that Porshe executives are not familiar with.

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