Comment # 39; My Driving? The analysis of a road trip to the California coast in my Tesla Model S
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Undoubtedly, every major automaker in the world dissects the success of Tesla Motors Elon Musk electric car company that disrupts the traditional automotive industry.
Yes, Tesla Motors is still a relatively small car company led by a leader fact-r-git with a touch of golden appearance, but not all luck, robots and intelligent recruitment that made Tesla technology and cherished After some initial stumbles car, Tesla is no longer a start-up based garage or shop operation, that player's.
While Tesla was able to focus on only two models to date, the Lotus Elise-derived Roadster and Model S sedan own sheet instead of a wide range of vehicles like most automakers, the industry could however, learn a lot of the raging success of the model S, which won addicts gasoline and skeptics both gearheads while setting new standards for the performance of electric vehicles, safety and innovation.
Although S is definitely a car high-end luxury, Musk said that more proletarian price models are being developed and should be concerned Musk automakers, whether cars, ships space or solar power installations, has demonstrated an ability to bring ideas to market quickly and rapidly scale short-term production levels.
So what can the major automotive companies take the success of Tesla s Here are some things CEOs, product planners, middle managers and plant managers to major automotive companies should be tuning.
This is an aspect of the success of Tesla major automakers can not seem to understand the Internet shortcut YMMV Your mileage may vary arose from the nice impression and legal speedspeak automakers who tried to sell cars using figures gasoline consumption swollen after the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970s, it has become a shortcut to don t expect your results with our product to come even close to what's claimed he can do.
They went out with cars enjoying some mpg but the numbers were rarely related to real-world driving a practice that apparently continues to this day Although a car under test track conditions from exactly 55 0 mph could get 35mpg in the real world of stop-and-go driving and road speed closer to 70, you mileage may vary about 27 mpg or less in my book, that false advertising art, and at least shenanigans plain stupid at worst.
Tesla says the Model S with 85 kWh battery can go 250 miles Guess what he can, if you have self-discipline enough to keep your foot on the accelerator and in the real world, drivers exceed this claim, sometimes a little But it goes further.
Tesla owners I spoke are struck with their cars because they work flat the way they have been promised and often beyond Apple Computer understood this as well Rather than rush things at the door and hope and pray, they only work to suffer the embarrassing failures require quick fixes, Apple and Tesla demonstrated that development strongly a product first and then always exceed the expectations of customers is something a car company or any company can do to sell more products and develop a base of loyal repeat buyer.
It's easy to make quick money by deception, but the real money is made when customers get more than they feel they paid When this happens, they'll come back for more in the future .
2 innovate and take risks, no matter what or when.
As major automakers spool their offers EV, they offer cars with ranges that seem to top out at 100 miles as long as you are in Eco Extra Slow mode and driving downhill with a tailwind Otherwise, wait for 75 miles or YMMV Really, I understand that batteries are heavy, expensive and in electric vehicles, a work in progress, but more than 100 miles.
There are more than a decade, GM showed their concept skateboard for the presentation of future EV vehicle substructure He was brilliant, keeping the very low weight and then being very modular, nothing guess what riffs of modern electric cars on this idea and improved on it by incorporating the possibility to share power the model S.
It is easy to see how GM may have shelved the idea because he didn t pencil to profitability, but in 2002, when it appeared, Honda and Toyota already had clean sheets on GM hybrid market could have leapfrogged both Tesla and always be associated with an eccentric but brilliant inventor that no one really knows much about but GM chose to focus instead on petrol cars and now the best they come with Spark EV, a retofit an existing model that is years behind the S model design features
BMW seems to be in concert with the i3 and i8 soon-to be released, but I wonder what the landscape would look today had EV GM went skateboarding back in the rescue salad before the recession days Large automakers must meet shareholders and they do not like the volatility, I understand, but I want to major automotive companies would develop skunkworks and not let their design and innovation are governed by the bottom line and the vagaries of the stock market take a course luck it could be, but fail, it could be as a circuit and a game changer.
3 To support the customer after the sale long after.
After enduring an automotive shopping experience generally difficult, I recently signed on the line for a new car, a 2014 model not least with an extended warranty I drive a lot and other extras that padded bottom line But the dealer, the floormats for the car had been recalled then that there were in the car, we will call you as soon as they arrive, was breathless promise seller smile Two months later, no phone call three months later, nothing, and have marks have formed in my car so I called the dealership and asked what was going on Oh, they're here, the person on the other end of the line said with annoyance, and why hadn t I called earlier to check I almost returned the car.
Tesla goes out of his way to support their buyers Musk promised to build a car Superchargers network across the United States for owners only Tesla and Tesla owners can drive side by side without anxiety In addition to this Musk captures the tab for all the juices Sá bargain at any price Tesla also keeps in touch with buyers reminding them reminders, maintenance, and more.
My friend who has an S model raves about the tracking service, including Tesla sending a service vehicle to his home to give his beloved an EV Wow checkup Outside the car sphere Vertu cell phones Nordstrom customers and owners also know what I'm talking about all this may seem above and beyond, and maybe it is, but given my recent experience car buying it goes a long way towards me to register my nickels for any car Tesla has come in the future more in my price range.
Elon Musk is fighting hard to get its cars retail stores in the States so he could sell cars its way If you know his way not mean concessions Tesla, a few small luxury shops, usually in centers commercial, with a car or two displays and test drives If you want a Tesla, you can work with a vendor to their store or just go online, choose your options, schedule a test, do the paperwork for funding, pay your funds and the order is sent to the Tesla robots and workers who will then build your car when it's ready, you receive a phone call and the car is delivered you do not drive off t much.
The power of money in politics has never been more clear that the automakers and policies funded by the concession groups are scrambling to launch threats and money to politicians and lawyers to block this way more retail buying cars damnation jobs Why Because it bypasses completely through the dealer and all the money stays there.
I hate to see anyone lose their job, but that really lurks a dozen dealers lot these days when looking for a car To make the car buying experience as painless as possible, most people spend at screen their choice online first, choose some best candidates and go for a test drive before you cringe and haggling with a salesperson and a manager and another manager and so on in what is usually a try hard unpleasant, time-consuming experience the Tesla to change this dynamic.
Sprawling concessions are not a business model broken yet, but as the printing industry has not seen the rise of the Internet as the biggest threat to their survival historic, automakers should take Tesla hopes to teach the lesson and change their habits before the reaper comes for their dealership livelihoods and the Tesla business model proves its superiority in the future and influence of auto dealers owners drops due either prevent customers or changes by automakers themselves to imitate the Tesla model, I think we'll see the concessions either change dramatically or disappear.
In a more perfect world, buying a car should be a fun experience and pressure where you do not feel cheated or fleeces at the end, and what I was told by buyers and buyers Tesla they were very satisfied with what they experienced All balls, fairs wrong and bad links in the world can not change the smell of the traditional car buying experience and if this could be changed, perhaps most would think most often people get a new set of wheels instead of treading water until their current car click on over 200,000 miles or things start to fall and they must do.
As for the dealers of used cars, they will likely be around until the Rapture and probably later.
5 Using technology to improve vehicles, but keep it simple.
Tesla video by our friends at Wired showing how cars are made viral hit is for a good reason, it is amazing how the car meets in a swirling partnership of workers rights and robotics in Fremont plant California assembly Tesla Some robots that help assemble the model S to more than one job, and suffice it to say they are doing their precision and fairly quickly, probably more than their human counterparts could such is our world now.
I'm not anti-worker and anti-union I put two summers during college as Teamsters Freightliner plant in Portland help build semi tractors, but I can see the writing on the wall humble beginnings, assembly robotic cars has constantly moved forward and he will forever Each volume automaker uses robotics to some extent, but the operation Tesla opened eyes the video shows, there are 3000 workers and 160 units robotic, some motor around the plant autonomously, following magnetic strips on the floor installation seems to be almost as clean as an operating room instead of looking like assembly lines smoothed the fat to only a few years ago.
This focus on technology from the creation of the car to the car itself, of course, which is a technology masterpiece on its own Central nugget is the vertical 17-inch touch screen in the middle of the table edge While other automakers could push their screens to 10 inches around and surround them with buttons, real estate giant screen in the Tesla supported by another configurable LCD screen behind the steering wheel for the driver means that the car has as a pair of real buttons, one which opens the glove box the other turns on the hazard lights.
The central screen in a Tesla is 17 inches diagonally and can display all car operation facets and the actual webpages even shared another LCD screen is behind the wheel.
All facets of the Model S operation is controlled by voice or on the central touchscreen, organize checks using an iPhone-ish track icons for major systems and can be used in a split-view configuration even more flexibility the system is easy to use and almost instant response It also connects to the Internet real using 3G wireless and since the car is essentially a large rolling machine with four wheels and an electric motor, systems of car and even future features can be updated via the wireless connection of the same way applications on a smartphone or firmware on a computer are easily updated system also includes telematics, which sends back driver data Tesla so they can keep an eye on the systems of the car and the problems that arise.
Using Tesla screen is light years ahead of the mix screen button found in most high-tech cars and since the screen is so large, it displays buttons to control options car are also larger, more readable and easier to reach by driving Because we admit just knowing that our eyes belong on the road at any time and should not be glancing at the screens in the car we all have to tap small point in our cars screens, our screens of phones and all buttons and dials are present as we accelerate the so Tesla road made too fast, efficient and easy as possible, a goal each manufacturer automotive says they want to strike, but for some reason keep missing and often missed badly.
Is it a giant touch screen response for each car and the driver may not be, but it is a step forward in the level of complexity of the shuttle cockpit that appears regularly in the cars we evaluate the Tesla shows even the most complex car computer systems can be simple to operate, adjust and update.
The S model is not a perfect car, but judging by the price rewards, ratings and history of red sales, it is close enough to the Bullseye It wasn t luck or chance that made this way, it was a lot of innovation, risk and new ideas, concepts entrenched automakers around the world should review rather than working within the strict limits of shareholder concerns, conventional wisdom and the lowest common denominator of thought.
What do you think is Tesla change the game's someone else Leave a comment.
5 Things the auto industry can learn from the success of Tesla Digital Trends, things, automotive, industry, learn.