My anecdote for the day

Couple days ago I drove to the supermarket, about 5 miles from my home. I counted 9 Tesla’s during that short drive - more than ever before. I began noticing them a couple years ago after Tesla opened a “showroom” near me at the local mall. (Formerly a Sears Auto Center.)

Also yesterday I drove about 90 minutes each way to buy a 50 amp cable for my solar system, the price was super cheap and I didn’t have anything else to do so it was a nice day for a drive.

During the 3 hours on the road, I counted exactly 1 Tesla, and that was within a few miles of my house. The rest of the trip was through rural Tennessee, Appalachian cabins, falling down houses, and nice but isolated neighborhoods; multiple Dollar Trees, not a mall or superstore anywhere in sight.

It made me realize that even with the White House Lawn advertisement, Tesla (and other electrics) are going to have a devilishly hard time penetrating the ex-burbs. There’s no infrastructure there, there’s no particular “want” there, and the culture is seemingly against it.

Now maybe the exhortations of Dear Leader and his henchmen (now appearing regularly on Fox) imploring the Right to embrace the new-fangled cars will have some effect, but I’m willing to predict it is going to be a VERY long road before they gain any kind of acceptance out there.

“Range anxiety” is a real thing; I had it before I bought my Ioniq, I’m used to it now, but then I don’t live miles and miles from nowhere and I have multiple options for charging (in addition to my own garage, obviously.)

Musk has absolutely crushed 1/3 off the population’s desire to own his car, and arguably they (the Left) are the ones most likely to be his customers. The 1/3 on the Right who they are now appealing to won’t find them, uh, appealing for a variety of reasons, and that’s a market that’s a non-starter. That leaves the 1/3 in the middle who don’t much care one way or the other, and who will be motivated mostly on price and features, and Tesla is now being challenged on both fronts by lots of others. I’m short Tesla, and glad of it. Hard to see how it gets any better, even with tariffs hurting other makers going forward.

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I was thinking just the oposite. If all the competition goes up in price by 25 percent or in some cases not available at all (See “Car Dealership Guy” on X. Then the all built in USA Tesla will be a bargain.

Still in everywhere “not ‘merica” BYD is wiping the floor with everyone else including Tesla.

So a short might still be a decent idea .

Also, about the robot . . . buy one today from BYD for 10k.

And about FSD . . .

About grid storage

Still I do not know of any credible competition in semi trucks.

Although I would have to say Tesla has way more data for training and has its own advanced chips. Something I believe they are unique in.

Still China is there.

When it comes to “not ‘merica” Tesla has competition .

Cheers
Qazulight

I suspect this response is regional. In an era of violence, some who don’t care may decide not to drive their Teslas for fear of damage.

I have seen what happens if you wear a fur coat these days. People do not hold back.

Tesla does not have any “all built in the USA” cars. At best they’re about 70% USA, tied with some models of Honda. For others it’s 60-65%.

> The vast majority of Tesla’s part content is produced within the US and Canada. Tesla holds a tie for first place with Honda. The Model 3 Long Range AWD and RWD are in first place alongside the Honda Ridgeline AWD TrailSport, with 75% of their parts being created in North American.
> Tesla also ties for second place at 70% with the Model 3 Performance and Model Ys, alongside a good chunk of Honda’s other vehicles.
> The Model S and Model X are closely following at 65% and 60% respectively. It is still more than many other auto manufacturers, some of whom are sporting 1% North American part rates.
[Not a Tesla App – 2 Nov 24](https://www.notateslaapp.com/news/2355/tesla-reveals-percentage-of-parts-made-in-north-america-for-2025-models)

Tesla Reveals Percentage of Parts Made in North America for 2025 Models

NHTSA filing reveals Tesla’s North American Content. Tesla holds a tie for first place overall, and the Cybertruck is second-most North American built

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In Porto, part of “not ‘merica,” BYD is way behind Tesla. How much of “not ‘merica,” have you surveyed?

Two days ago, while waiting my turn at the dentist, I saw seven Teslas and no BYDs.

The Captain

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There is a difference between installed base and rate of new sales.

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Indeed! BYD has a lot of catching up to do. Sandy Munro, whose opinion about cars I trust, did say that BYD was the Chinese competitor most likely to succeed. I wonder why Warren Buffett sold lots of BYD shares. Any ideas?

The Captain

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How about buy on rumor, sell on news.

He had nice gains and saw resistance to global expansion (eg tariffs to protect domestic production) increasing and decided to take profits.

Risk in a country where the government has randomly taken over sectors. See: Jack Ma

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