Infrastructure wise, sure, we’re not ready. I was thinking more about range limitations, current technology, and transportation needs. For example, it doesn’t make sense to have EV semi trucks with 1/4 to 1/2 of the range as ICE semi trucks…unless they’re autonomous. DOT driver limits and current technology don’t make that very doable / profitable.
That’s why they’re perceived inconveniences, it depends on each person.
There are a lot of EV owners who live in apartments and townhomes without home charging. That said, I acknowledge we’d have to build out more charging infrastructure to accommodate more EV drivers not able to charge at home. I view this as an infrastructure limitation, not an EV limitation.
Buicks new China made EV: Inside, lucky Buick buyers will be able to wrap their fingers around a thick, heated steering wheel while enjoying starlight wood grain trim, and the now de rigueur LED mood lights, which are accompanied by a “tri-zone” climate control system to keep everyone comfortable in their plush reclining seats as they listen to the Electra’s high-end sound system and juice up their phones a wireless smartphone charger – which they’ll be able to do without much worry about actually driving the thing.
That’s because mid- to high-end Electra L7 EVs feature a Xiao Yao Zhi Xing semi-autonomous driving system that’s powered by Lidar, millimeter-wave radars, 360-degree cameras, and not less than 12 ultra sonic sensors
I forgot to mention that almost all countries outside the USA have an entirely different paradigm for public chargers (level 2 AC chargers). They have cable-less chargers all over the place, including right on the street where cars have parking spaces. Basically, the car owner carries a cable in their car that has two “heads”, one head plugs into the device on the street (or in the parking lot, or connected to a streetlight pole, etc), and the other end plugs into the car.
In the USA, almost all public chargers (level 2 AC chargers) have a cable attached. And those cables get tangled, get damaged, fray from use, etc. I think the other way, described above, is better.
Not forcing, but not marketing, either. They don’t have them in their showrooms, don’t advertise… If you don’t know that you want one, you might barely be aware they exist. And then the sales people try to talk you out of that purchase.
I’ve seen lots of ads for EVs while streaming shows and watching football. I suspect anybody (over 95%) who is shopping for a vehicle has heard about EVs. That means it is a demand issue. Automakers (including Detroit) have been willing to spend billions. The supply is out there; buy more, they’ll make more – like that Jay Leno Doritos commercial.
I mean… a little, right? I can’t be the only one who remembers that GM paid for Super Bowl ads with Will Ferrell for their EV lineup. Granted, they weren’t the best ads (which may be why I remember them). But GM certainly has put some money into advertising their EV lineup - more than Tesla, to be sure, but since they spend virtually zero that’s a low bar to clear . Not as much as Ford, though, who had an ad spend of ~$110 million on their EV lineups at their peak in 2023 - GM only put in about $60 million in EV advertising in 2024, which was probably their peak.
Obviously they aren’t putting anywhere near those resources in today, but they each did put a cumulative nine-figure spend into trying to make their EV’s happen.
I guess I don’t understand why you are hung up on Tesla doing more increased advertising. As a shareholder, it’s a huge benefit that this is not a cost incurred compared to other competitors. It could be as competition heats up, Tesla may need to do more traditional advertising. Right now, given how high profile the CEO and the number of reviewers and critics on social media, do the vehicles need a further boost?
Where do you think advertising might improve sales right now?
I wasn’t hung up on it. I was making a bit of a joke, that the Detroit firms are spending more on advertising than Tesla, the sales leader. Because Tesla famously doesn’t advertise.
As for how it would help? Musk’s stint in the Trump administration did a non-trivial amount of brand damage to Tesla. Tesla’s cars are a consumer product. If you advertise, you don’t just increase awareness - you get to shape how consumers perceive your product. You try to emphasize positive things about your brand, and minimize negative things. You also can inform consumers of features of the cars that simply being aware of the brand doesn’t do. And, of course, social media only reaches a fraction of potential customers (about 1 in 5 Americans uses X, which is where his footprint is largest).
Replying to no one in particular…VW plans to introduce a pickup for the US market:
BERLIN, Aug 7 (Reuters) - German auto group Volkswagen plans to overhaul its U.S. strategy with new management and a revised product offering, including a new pickup truck, a company source told Reuters on Friday.
Marco Schubert, previously head of sales at Volkswagen’s premium brand Audi, is moving to the United States to replace Kjell Gruner, who is leaving the company, the source said.
…
In the face of rising costs and intensifying competition from China, Volkswagen’s CEO Oliver Blume has pledged to overhaul the group. Controlling families ratcheted up pressure on stakeholders on Friday, backing management’s push for a dramatic restructuring.
Thomas Schaefer, head of the Volkswagen brand, sees growth opportunities in pick-up trucks and large SUVs - both high-margin vehicles in strong demand in the U.S. - which the German carmaker does not currently offer.
That’s an understatement. He may have inadvertently helped a lot of Prius and subaru sales over the last couple of years.
I could see some merit in it. However, if Musk’s political activism is one such negative, I would be curious as to what the advertising would look like that might bring those negatively influenced by his activism back into the fold? The survey data is a little dated but the interesting thing about Tesla vs other brands is the ideological mix of buyers. Prius and others do capture more left leaning consumers. Tesla buyers have tended to be more equally split ideologically, in terms of left, right, and then independent. In addition, the single largest cohort has been male, with above average incomes, and indicated performance was a key factor vs climate consciousness (which tends to be listed more frequently with other EV/BEV brands).
It would be interesting to hear from an advertising or branding expert as to how one might go about it and where it might rehabilitate the image and ultimately increase sales. Having said that, I still like that the bulk of spending is on the products themselves. With that, there are still some fundamental obstacles with EV’s that need to be addressed to gain broader public appeal.
The main thing is to get consumers to think of the car instead of his politics. If their top association with the Tesla brand is “DOGE,” that’s bad. If their top association with the brand name is one of the cars, that’s a win right there. You want consumers to associate your brand name with something other than Musk - with ‘modern’ or ‘powerful’ or ‘futuristic’ or whatever. Tesla would benefit from choosing what consumers think of when they think of Tesla, rather than leaving that choice to chance.
The other main thing is to drive awareness of features of the cars themselves, rather than the mere fact that Tesla exists and makes EV’s. For example, here’s Musk from an earnings call last year:
Last month, executives suggested that Tesla has a market education problem when it comes to driving adoption of FSD.
“The vast majority of people don’t know it exists,” Musk said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call. “And it’s still like half of Tesla owners who could use it, haven’t tried it even once.”
I mean, there’s a well-known and well-established technology for fixing when potential customers are unaware of a service or feature you offer. Advertising. You tell them about the service or feature you want them to know about. You don’t just hope they’ll hear about it through word of mouth and hope that it’s good - you take affirmative steps to tell them; to show them this thing that your car can do that you think is amazing.
Musk’s lament about existing Tesla owners is especially instructive. These are existing customers and are among the very most likely to be reached by the social media/Musk awareness channel. And if they’re not trying out your product, you need to take affirmative steps to change customer behavior.
In Tesla’s estimation, FSD is one of the most important things they offer. If most people have never heard of it - and those who have heard of it have a negative association with it - they should do something to change that. Not just hope that word of mouth fixes it.
If that is the first thought that comes to mind when you see a Tesla logo, favorably or unfavorably, I would say that might be someone too far beyond reach.
I do agree that it is surprising the low rate of adoption of FSD. I think overall it is still less than 20% of purchasers actively use FSD. As to slingshot survey, they are largely a leftwing political consulting group. I would have to see how the questions were asked to really give the results credence. But, I could see some utility to advertising aimed at making the public better aware of FSD. I think they already offer a trial subscription for new car buyers. But again, the adoption rate still remains quite low.
https://insideevs.com/news/803940/ford-fathom-price-name-reveal-electric-truck/ All Fathom trims will support BlueCruise, Ford’s hands-free driver assistance system that competes with Tesla’s Autopilot and General Motors’ Super Cruise. The base model will be “BlueCruise-capable,” but owners will have to pay extra to activate it. Beyond that, Ford said the truck will offer bidirectional charging, a digital key, and a frunk all as standard equipment.
Ford has yet to disclose the Fathom’s battery size, driving range, or fast-charging capabilities.*
Ford has also confirmed that the truck will use domestically produced prismatic lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells from BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, the company’s new $3 billion battery plant, where it is manufacturing batteries using technology licensed from Chinese battery maker CATL. The truck itself will be built in Louisville, Kentucky, using a radically new “assembly tree” manufacturing process.
The new platform will be a “Model T moment” for the brand, Farley said, hinting at EVs hitting the reset button at the company as competition grows.
Methinks Slate is the model T. But I appreciate Ford’s push for reasonable cost EVs.
The reveal was somewhat anticlimactic, with the automaker focusing more on its revolutionary new manufacturing processes, which allow it to build an EV from just three big parts. These gigacastings travel along separate assembly lines and are joined together right before the end of the building process.
Oh, not at all. Most people don’t give Tesla - or any other company - a whole ton of thought. For a lot of these folks, associations like this will be pretty lightly held. They don’t know much about Tesla other than Musk. Unlike Ford or GM or Toyota or whomever - they’ve never seen an ad for Tesla. They have nothing to associate with the brand other than seeing other people drive the cars and all the Musk-ness out there. If you don’t do anything to control your brand, it will just fall into whatever bucket’s most in the news - if you actually do something to shape consumer perception, then you can significantly change it.
Why is that surprising? As Musk pointed out, very few people know it even exists. Anyone discussing Tesla stock on a message board knows it exists, of course. But an ordinary American? No clue. And even among Tesla owners, unless you’re getting messages from Tesla about how great this thing is, it’s a big hurdle to sign up for a hundred dollar per month subscription fee. Most folks are not going to try it out unless someone convinces them to try it out. Just leaving it to chance that some random Tesla enthusiast will convince them for you through word of mouth is certainly a choice, but most other firms would turn to advertising.
We assume that the average consumer is as educated and involved as the rest of us but that is of course not the case. As strident as some of us are either for or against Musk, there is of course a segment (YouGov has it pegged at 24%) that has no opinion or is neutral on Musk/Tesla. Advertising could be convincing to them.
I was speaking to the low rate of adoption amongst Tesla owners. I’m surprised more of them don’t opt to include it. I know of a number of new tesla owners personally that will use it during the free trial period but then decide against the subscription. From that standpoint, it’s not really a lack of awareness with the feature or familiarity with how it works.
. Not as much as Ford, though, who had an ad spend of ~$110 million on their EV lineups at their peak in 2023 - GM only put in about $60 million in EV advertising in 2024, which was probably their peak.