mmarshall

Actually, yes, (inferring it), in a number of ways, though, to my knowledge, he did not make an out-an-out prediction per se. He did sharply criticize the inept management of the Big Three on a number of occasions (and was usually correct). And when you look at the vastly improved vehicles that GM started to turn out under his watch, versus the classic rental-grade ones that had helped get the company into such serious trouble for so many years, that pretty much speaks for itself.

Lutz, BTW, now that he is retired from Detroit, writes a monthly column in Road and Track magazine, answering rears' questions and giving us his current and future views of the auto industry. He also owns his own auto-consulting company.....Lutz Communications.

peteharvey

That's a good one...

LeX2K

Lutz is a Tesla hater he considers Elon fans cult members, says Telsa's stock is highly over valued and called Musk a failed version of Steve Jobs. He also claims Tesla loses vast amounts of money on every car Tesla builds which is not actually true the company is putting everything they make back into the company especially the new factory.

Guy is a blow hard.

mmarshall

While I respect your opinion, I disagree that he's a blowhard....at least not on that subject. Lutz personally likes Elon Musk....he just doesn't think much of Tesla's way of doing business. Here's a direct quote from his R&T article on the subject:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cult...ob-lutz-tesla/

Aron9000

I'll say it again, I see Tesla going bust come the next recession. Their cars are play things for the wealthy, its impractical to own one as your only car. Unless they can introduce a low cost car that really sells well, I don't see how they could stay afloat in bad times selling an impractical $80,000+ luxury car.

mmarshall

I don't see a whole lot of buyers choosing a car simply for a 2.3 second 0-60 time. (the thread topic)...but buyers often chose a model S for other reasons.

Well, the Model 3 starts at a reasonable 35K, and they (supposedly) have a long backlog of orders they can't fill. But that alone is another big problem......you can't stay in business if you can't meet demand for your vehicles. And, to meet that demand, they may (?) have to build more assembly-plants here in the U.S. to get around Trump's foreign-production tariffs. But that, of course, costs even more money, which Tesla doesn't have right now, for the reasons we discussed earlier. Lutz is right......it's not a healthy position to be in, and I wouldn't want to be in Elon Musk's shoes right now, even with his income LOL.

LeX2K

When is the next recession? I'd to know and plan accordingly.

nthach

I think GM is close to that with the Chevy Bolt - but it's all about brand image, when people think Chevy they think trucks, Camaros, mid-life crisis(Corvette) or junk even though Mary Barra and Co. has done a admirable job of turning GM around and actually putting thought into their aesthetics. Nissan had the pricing target down with the Leaf, but it did leave much to be desired.

Sulu

Does anyone know if Tesla is researching new battery chemistries or do they intend to use the common battery cell (used in laptop computers)? All the mainstream automakers that have announced electric vehicles are researching better batteries.

There is talk that Tesla may eventually be bought out by a mainstream automaker but I do not know if anybody is interested. Daimler (part of Mercedes-Benz) had invested and Toyota had invested, but both seem to have given up on the Tesla technology.

oldcajun

Tesla is building their "gigafactory" outside Las Vegas to build their own batteries. Musk has said that the new production will bring a major drop in cost of the batteries. The major limit to Tesla's production capacity is battery supply - the car factory is huge and has room to expand.

The "car guys" that expect Tesla to fail sound like the "big store guys" who predicted that Amazon would fail. It is an experiment in a new way to build and market cars, but may be the future of the industry. Chrysler and GM both failed and were bailed out by our tax money so they are not a good example to how to succeed. The auto dealers association are filing lawsuits all over the country to stop Tesla's direct sales plan. They are afraid of the possibility of its success putting them out of business.

Will Musk succeed long term? I certainly don't have a crystal ball, but his failure is not a sure thing.
Steve

mmarshall

I don't think you can compare Tesla to Amazon.....apples and oranges. Lutz's point (and he was correct on this one) is that no auto company in history has ever succeeded with a system of company-owned outlets and overhead that Tesla has gotten itself into. But, we'll see. (Sometimes there's a first time).

pvmike1

Revisited this thread only to find 5 pages of whining about an amazing car. Unbelievable. This forum used to be full of car enthusiasts who could appreciate performance vehicles of any make, especially those that are setting the bar.

"When will you use the acceleration?". Umm, every day.

"It's too heavy to handle well." Flat out wrong. Drive one and then get back to me.

"It's impractical." Solar panels and supercharger network. Really.

"Tesla is going under." Save this thread and prepare to eat your words.

mmarshall

So all of the rest of us in the thread are wrong and you are right? Well, um..........anything you say.

You also seem to have forgotten the post/reply made several days ago, where one can be a car enthusiast without necessarily being a speed enthusiast. The two are sometimes mutual, sometimes not.

LeX2K

The doom and gloom predictions have been tossed around since Elon started Tesla Motors. So far they have all been wrong explain why they are correct this time. And don't cite Lutz the guy is the prodigy of two companies that went out of business.

mmarshall

No, they haven't......at least not continually since the start of Tesla. If they had, then your question would have merit.

Also, Tesla is a unique company that simply does not operate like other auto firms.....they have a unique structure that has never worked in the long run for any other company in auto history. For that reason alone, you cannot compare comments made about them to other "gloom-and-doom" predictions (to use your phrase, not mine). It's apples and oranges. Of course, only time will tell....as with any prediction.

And if you and pvmike (and maybe a couple of others) want to disagree with most of us....fine. That's your prerogative...and we'll respect your opinion(s). But, then, you have to show us the same courtesy instead of simply complaining about (5 pages of whining).