• krashmo@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    It’s never been the US imo. Tesla was one of the first to make an EV that didn’t look like a child’s imagining of a futuristic car (read: incredibly stupid looking). All anyone needed to do was make a regular ass car with an electric motor and a decent chunk of people would be interested. Ford and Chevy and all the rest either categorically refused to make them or made them look so ridiculous that no one wanted to be seen in them.

    A normal body style and a decent marketing team is pretty much all Tesla had going for them but it was enough to put them in the running for dominating the auto industry. They may have been able to pull it off if Nazi Musk could have kept his ego in check. Now Tesla is tanking and all the rest are so far behind they’re getting lapped by manufacturers from just about every other nation with a sizable auto industry.

    • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe
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      4 days ago

      Mostly agree, the other parameter was making it a normal usable car rather than a short range city car. The Japanese & Europeans were just as guilty at building short range stupid looking things (hell Toyota only just stopped this year). If it wasn’t collusion it sure looked like it. Not to mention a massive astro turfing campaign to fuel range anxiety & other FUD

      • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe
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        2 days ago

        Before he went nazi, Teslas had one of the highest customer sat ratings of the car manufacturers for years. The whole QC thing was part of a campaign against Tesla - if the customers were extremely happy with their cars then skeptical assessments of the accusations are in order. The Model Y didn’t outsell the Corolla world wide for no reason. If people were willing to pay it then they can’t have been over-priced in the eyes of the buyers, no ?

        Nazi man bad, but Tesla made cars that fit the needs of a lot of people for a while. They’ll rightly go broke now because Elon has broken US democracy (and is trying to do so in other countries), but the cars were fine, in fact the big problem I have at the moment is finding a better car to recommend when people ask. The range/functionality/performance/fitout combo is really only matched by BYD (not available in the US) although the Koreans are now pretty decent. Depends on a user’s needs/parameters.

    • piccolo@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      All anyone needed to do was make a regular ass car with an electric motor and a decent chunk of people would be interested

      For marketing… sure, because people are stupid and follow norms. ICE vechiles are built the way they are because they have to house the powerplant and keep it cool and have ample room for maintenance. EVs are free to be any shape they want, thus they should be made extremely aerodynamic for maximum efficiency. But then they’ll look “futuristic”.