For years, Tesla was synonymous with every part cool, excessive tech, and futuristic. However is it nonetheless immediately?
“Teslas used to look cool and now they don’t,” mentioned Jessica Resler, a Brooklyn resident just lately searching for an EV who ultimately settled on a BMW i4. “They usually’ve change into the Uber automotive of town.”
In case it wasn’t clear, nobody needs to be often called “the Uber automotive of town.” Earlier designees embody numerous Toyotas — Prius, RAV4, and so forth. — a model that’s extra synonymous with phrases like “practical” and “inside my finances” than “cool.”
However perhaps it’s a great factor, an indication of ahead progress, that Tesla is shedding its cool persona and changing into extra of a automotive for the lots. In spite of everything, the objective is to get extra individuals into EVs, not cater strictly to the too-cool-for-school sect.
In episode 3 of Land of the Giants: The Tesla Shock Wave, we take a tough have a look at the legacy auto {industry}’s latest efforts to meet up with Tesla within the EV race. For years, Tesla was the one EV recreation on the town, however compliance vehicles or EVs with dorky designs, just like the Nissan Leaf. Now, each automaker underneath the solar has a totally fleshed-out EV technique, and new fashions are being launched day by day.
“Teslas used to look cool and now they don’t.”
All of the sudden, Tesla finds itself in a crowded market, going up in opposition to a few of the most storied names in automotive historical past, all whereas battling its personal getting older lineup of similar-looking autos. The Cybertruck’s multiyear delays have solely exacerbated the issue.
On this episode, our hosts interview automotive customers, Tesla house owners, and a spread of consultants (together with yours actually) to look at how Tesla stacks as much as the competitors in a number of key classes, together with value, efficiency, high quality, ease of charging, design, and the general vibe of the model.
That final class is very fascinating given the inseparability of Tesla’s model from that of its CEO, Elon Musk (which we additionally mentioned at nice size in episode 2).
“It’s an unbelievable model,” mentioned Scott Galloway, professor of selling at NYU Stern College of Enterprise and co-host of Vox Media’s tech podcast Pivot. “Large depth of associations, personification to Elon Musk, his mastery of recent mediums to get consideration with out paying for conventional branding.”
However there are drawbacks as properly. “It additionally says that you just’re an Elon fan,” Galloway says of the model. “There’s lots of people who’re not Elon followers.”
Tesla’s future could hinge on whether or not it may possibly efficiently disentangle itself from Musk’s polarizing persona — or, barring that, a minimum of distance itself from it. The corporate’s 80 p.c share of the EV market has dwindled all the way down to 60 p.c due to the rising competitors — and a few consultants predict that with the industry-wide shift to EVs, Tesla’s dominance could wither within a few years.
If that occurs, it’ll be fortunate to nonetheless have the Uber drivers.
Take heed to the newest episode of Land of the Giants: The Tesla Shock Wave, a co-production between The Verge and the Vox Media Podcast Community. You possibly can catch new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.