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Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by PinguTS on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @12:01PM (#12901871)
It seems you have no clue about the industry.

> I believe one of VW, Mercedes Benz and BMW will bankrupt in 5-10 years. None of them have taken EV serious yet and I fear it's soon too late.

Then you have to believe that also Ford, GM, Toyota, and other will be bankrupt in 5 to 10 years.

VW is next to Toyota the biggest car seller in the world, with Toyota currently the leader. BUT they are not doing cars only, they are also in commercial vehicles.

Second, also those car manufacturer have one big difference to Tesla, they have working manufacturing plants that build cars at a much higher automated level than Tesla does. VW has manufacturing facilities where one car is a sedan with the VW brand and the next one a convertible with an Audi brand. Tesla can't even produce Model S and Model X on the very same line depending on demand. They have separated lines.

The very key knowledge of all the existing car companies is production, and running production lines. If they want they could easily produce also other products that requires comparable assembly.

Actually, the car companies do not really care about the type of drive train. They care about the profit. They could fit any drive train into almost any car easily, when they want and if this would provide profit. But electric cars are currently have no profit. That is the problem.

By the way, most automotive knowledge is also by the TIER1. Did you know that e.g. the Model X braking system is developed, build, and delivered by BOSCH?

Also that most of the design of the manufacturing plants is provided by German companies, which is an open secret in the industry.

Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by jccooper on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @12:40PM (#12902252)
> They have separated lines.

That's not quite correct. Tesla have at least one general assembly line that can do both Model S and X:

http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/19/tesla-factory-tour-...

I've seen other similar reports.

Their second line may be X only.

Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by greglindahl on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @01:29PM (#12902671)
I'm always bemused when I see HN posters evaluating Tesla's finances like they were a mature company, instead of a fast-growing one. By the measure you're using for Tesla, almost all startups should be shut down.

"Fixed costs are too high, no sign that they will ever make a profit" is something you can say about almost all startups.

Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by enraged_camel on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @12:19PM (#12902047)
>>VW is next to Toyota the biggest car seller in the world

That may be so, but they are in deep, deep shit due to the emissions scandal. Especially now that it looks like Audis may also have defeat devices in them:

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/11/audis-may-have-cheated-o...

There are certain types of scandals that even huge companies cannot recover from. We'll see how things play out for VW...

Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by emptyfile on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @01:59PM (#12902939)
People in Europe already forgot about it. Comments like "VW will be bankrupt in 20 years" is why I can't take HN seriously on Tesla related news.

EDIT: Oh it's actually 5-10 years and it's VW and BMW and Mercedes. And this is the top rated comment still...

Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by pvaldes on Wednesday November 09, 2016 @11:23AM (#12911440)
Please don't talk for all europeans.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by martin_bech on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @06:09PM (#12904786)
Remember Nokia?
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by mrich on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @01:48PM (#12902852)
Unfortunately a large portion of VW is state-owned so they will be bailed out anyway since a lot of jobs in that state depend on them.
Re:Formation of Tesla Advanced Automation Germany by mioelnir on Tuesday November 08, 2016 @02:45PM (#12903343)
VW should found a utility company for water and electricity and be awarded the contract for american occupation force bases. Then they do not have to get bailed out, but can charge it right back.