> I want a nice car, not just an electric one, and Tesla's got that in spades.
And I suspect many Bolt owners want an economical car, not a luxury one, and the Bolt's got that in spades.
People looking for luxury would be better suited buying Mercedes, or BMW for that same price range.
Tesla is a luxury car, but not of the 'lovely interior' type. It's more like Porsche---luxury in terms of an extreme in high technology related to driving.
See my other reply in this subthread - Bolt/Model 3 will be equivalent in terms of price, so I don't see how the Bolt is more "economical".
The Model 3 is still vaporware.
It's an old, yellowed page out of the Microsoft book: "what we have in the pipeline is better than what you can buy today!"
We know nothing of the as-yet-unshipped Model 3. Let's hold off on those side-by-side comparisons. Because if you want to compare, we should weight the "can buy today" column quite heavily.
While it may sound like I'm anti-Tesla, I'm really not. I'm glad they're pushing this market forward, and I have many friends who have one and are very happy with it. I'm just saying that I don't buy the argument that it's a great car for the price if you ignore the fact that they "happen to be electric."
However, if you already had a tesla and the competitors were offering you better interior materials and longer range as long as you were ok stopping at a gas station every week or two and having service appointments at a dealer at least once a year (or more depending on model) and losing a lot of the satisfying low end torque you might not think it was a great deal. Oh and you have to stop getting software updates also! Your phone will continue to be better than your car's computer in every way and the car won't even try to mitigate that problem.
Anyway, I think the idea that some competing car is MUCH nicer is mostly about your prior assumptions or at best what particular aspects of vehicles you care most about.
http://gas2.org/2016/02/15/tesla-model-s-outsells-mercedes-b...
Model s is outselling BMW 7 series sedans and Model s is outselling mercedes S-class sedans.
It's definately not a blanket statement, the volumes of mentioned lines are low
It's not clear to me if the humanity saving efforts are 100% genuine on Musk's part or if part of them are intentionally conceived as marketing but it works either way.
The best word I can come up with describe Toyota's car designs is "inoffensive". They aren't necessarily bad, and they are easy to drive and comfortable to ride in, but they are mainly generic and forgettable. Being mass market cars like they are I guess that is kind of the point.
(Also, 99% of electric cars also mostly burn fossil fuels - the exception being the ones deployed in Iceland, Norway and France, where fossil fuels are being phased out.)
You apparently have not seen the latest incarnation. Move over, Pontiac Aztek.
Translation: I can afford a luxury car, Tesla is one of the nicer luxury cars and happens to be electric.
A friend had one that had problems. Getting it towed to Jersey a few times was not fun. When he got into a fender bender, getting it towed to a certified body shop on Long Island was extra not fun.
Or I can pop into the local Chevy dealer about a half mile away.
I live in a small city. There's probably 25 different auto makes sold by at least a dozen different dealership groups in my area.
It's not like Tesla is trying to put the indie repairman out of business, they're trying to sidestep the big car companies' control of the industry even in the distribution side.
Additionally Chevy allows people to buy parts for their cars and you can service it yourself or at an independent shop.
Electric AC induction motors have very few breaking parts. The things that can break are more along the inverter/controller (capacitors, FET avalanche wear, etc) and auxiliary systems (A/C, etc.)
One great thing about electric cars is that you don't need oil changes, belt replacements, or spark plug tune ups!
No real issues with engines other than maintenance. I think I had a bad EGR valve on the Pilot 10 years ago. Know what breaks? Electronic crap. Doorlock servos ($400), side door motors and rails ($800), various little modules, AC sensors, airbag crap not covered by recall, defective key cylinders, etc.
Name two of those three things I haven't done to our Scion (Toyota) xB in 12 years and 80K miles.
Happy Leaf owner here, but the reality is that, other than oil changes, modern cars are just as maintenance-free as an electric. Okay, I take that back, I did have to do a pads/rotors/calipers brake job on the Scion, whereas I expect the pads on the Leaf to last the life of our ownership (or maybe I'll have to do the same job due to minimal use).
GM has the benefit of selling everything from heavy trucks to tiny cars. Tesla has to invest lots of capital in chargers and a direct sales model.
Personally, I think the ROI on any car is crap, and I don't buy fancy vehicles. The Bolt makes a lot more sense to me.
What makes the Model 3 "nice" in a way that the Bolt isn't?
The Model 3 is just cashing in on the fact that it's cool to drive a Telsa. If the same exact car came from Toyota, then the response would be exactly as it is for the Bolt: "eh, it's not a Telsa." And probably mention of how awful the interior looks.
Does it? TFA talks about Tesla quite a bit, e.g.
> It's unlikely the Bolt will crush Tesla’s nascent Model 3. It has made essentially the anti-Tesla, a vehicle long on utility and short on sexy. What the Bolt will do is lure thousands of buyers who would otherwise buy a conventional car
I've got a Model 3 reservation myself and wouldn't even think of switching to the Bolt. I want a nice car, not just an electric one, and Tesla's got that in spades.