Posted by jdenquin 10/25/2024
My kids probably had the best comment: If Tesla had designed a real truck they would have sold millions.
Keep in mind this is the comment of teenagers who don't have a sense of the size and scale of markets. The point, however, should not be missed: There was an opportunity to enter a truck into the truck market, not an Ikea trash can on wheels.
Sometimes it is a good idea to listen to kids. I remember when one of Apple's original guiding principles of OS design was to make the computers usable by anyone, even young kids. A kid, in this case, does not see the utility of a truck that does not seem to fit the "form and function" of a truck, like an F150 or variants by other manufacturers.
https://pristineautospa.com/the-benefits-and-advantages-of-c...
It's the unfinished metal look that absolutely baffles me.
Granted, this was a few years ago. I would hope they got their quality control processes dialed in by now
I mean, I guess I do get it: politics have poisoned people's brains and the fact that they don't like Musk's politics means that they have to have extremely strong opinions on everything connected to him, but it just doesn't seem worth the emotional effort.
And while I personally wouldn't ever buy one, it also is not surprising to me at all that a lot of people are buying them. I have no illusion that my personal tastes reflect the broader tastes of the car-buying public (if they did, then I would find it much easier to find a car that conforms to my preferences).
He must have fired his PR team and gave up on the visionary genius schtick. Many people will hate that he’s revealed his true self to the world and it isn’t pretty.
But the car sucks too.
I do have a model that still has the stalks though, haven’t driven the stalkless type enough to comment.
Normally I'd agree with you, but driving a car brings with it with pretty extreme externalities - it's not the people driving these behemoths that I'm worried about, it's everyone else. Distracting touchscreens, an erratic self-driving AI, and a car made of sharp points. Doesn't bode well.
Never could figure out if they actually had really good reasons for it or were just trying to justify having bought an Aztek.
The Aztek had some similar positive properties, but was from one of the particularly bad eras of GM malaise and was highly unreliable. It's had a tiny bit of a cult resurgence recently, but it was never popular in the way the Element was.
They all pale next to the true King of Vehicles - the Minivan.
It feels like the Aztek was ahead of its time and many mid-size SUVs have since caught up with its aesthetic.
But it had all of the stupid GMisms. Every expense was spared. It turned out to be like the malnourished love child of a Nissan Xterra and a Ford Windstar.
Source: https://www.coxautoinc.com/market-insights/q3-2024-ev-sales/
Percent of total auto sales is a far better metric.
[0] https://www.coxautoinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kelley...
But I was driving with a non-tech, non-online friend and she blurted out “Wow what an ugly car”, I looked over and it was a cybertruck - so I felt validate in my views