Car OEMs are taking Tesla seriously, but not seriously enough
Three articles worth reading:
- The Tesla Model 3 Invaded My Neighborhood — But It’s Bigger Than That (GM President Mark Reuss Take Note)
- GM president: Electric cars won’t go mainstream until we fix these problems
- German car industry faces ‘day of reckoning’
Owning a good EV is a transformational experience. Is my Tesla as good in all respects as a traditional car? No. But it is so dramatically better in a few regards that I will never go back to an internal combustion engine vehicle. And I don’t think this is discernible in focus groups or other traditional market research vehicles.
I am reminded of 1988 when I joined Microsoft. I sat in meetings with senior leaders from DEC who regularly pooh-poohed the PC. And they were “right”, the PC was primitive and incomplete. And in 10 years DEC was gone as an independent entity, despite their amazing technical and business strengths, despite being “right” in their judgement about the PC.
When the tide comes in, you don’t want to be trying to fight it.
The incumbents — auto dealers especially — are terrified because they haven’t figured out how to replace the lucrative service business that will dry up due to the much lower TCO of EVs. So they’re letting Tesla cannibalize their ICE business instead of doing it themselves.