Re:Mercedes Readies First Tesla Rival in $12B Attack
by btilly on Tuesday September 04, 2018 @05:22PM
(#17912931)
I don't believe that Tesla has really solved the legal problem for legacy manufacturers. And Tesla really hasn't solved the problem that going direct will piss off dealers, and dealers retaliating by selling other brands would threaten the existing ICE sales that make up the bulk of the legacy manufacturer's revenue.
If you read The Innovator's Solution you'll find that it is common for top leadership at the legacy companies to recognize the coming future and announce initiatives to fix it, but their initiatives fail because the company's existing distribution networks undermine the initiative.
So the fact that dealers are not aligned with manufacturers in this case is a special case of a general trend, and historical data points are not promising for the future of legacy manufacturers.
Re:Mercedes Readies First Tesla Rival in $12B Attack
by czankel on Tuesday September 04, 2018 @10:38PM
(#17914662)
I would actually argue the contrary. I don't see where Tesla has established new sales channels or a new market. They are selling through the same channel (dealers) as traditional auto manufacturers. Yes, they revolutionized the engine, but other car manufacturers can follow suit.
Unless Tesla cracks the ride sharing market with self-driving cars (new market), for example, they are not out of the woods, yet.
Or, manufacturers will share more sales revenue with dealers to align incentives (which will raise vehicle costs compared to production cost), which they’ll have to do anyway to support the sales infrastructure of they aren’t going to take it over; of course, Tesla has greased the legal skids to enable carmakers to deal directly if they decide not to rely on a dealer network, so that’s not a durable competitive advantage, just a place where Tesla has paid a first-mover cost.