I’ll just leave this here...

WTF am I reading right now?

Isn’t this a violation of the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act? I thought OEMs weren’t allowed to specify the brand of part you use to repair your vehicle. In fact, the burden is on the manufacturer to demonstrate that the non-OEM part directly contributed to the problem.

Here’s a little known rule in the CAFE standards that might be interesting to write an article about:

Fair point on the ZEV credits, I should not have included them in the discussion around TSLA automotive revenues. However, my point still stands about BEVs not making money. Allow me to clarify my position:

To all the people commenting “Tesla”, keep in mind that they and all other BEVs currently do not turn a profit. Sure, achieving 54 MPG is possible, but the market has shown time and again that the majority of people do not want to pay the $10k-15k more for a BEV vs. a comparably equipped ICE vehicle. The only way…

Most cars with an electronic shifter have a “Neutral Lock” mode that disables the return to park function and allows the car to stay in neutral, specifically for the reasons you stated.

Alternative Taxi

I find it difficult to believe that a ~$30k/yr./worker pay differential can be closed by benefits alone. I’m not doubting that it’s possible, I just find it improbable without hard numbers to back it up. Still seems like Subaru is paying just as much for its workers today as Ford/GM/FCA are.

$70k/yr is a lot for an assembly line job. Sounds like Subaru isn’t seeing any real cost benefit in their non-union operation. For reference, someone with 4-5 years experience in a UAW-Ford plant makes ~$20/hr, which translates to <$40k/yr.

Another point of context which I feel is important is the fact that Tsai was only elected last year and belongs to Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, which holds the stance that Taiwan should be its own nation separate from China. This is significant because it is a departure from the prior administration’s stance…

The truth is that safety costs a lot to put into vehicles, but people just don’t want to pay enough for it, especially not at the same margins that other features fetch.

4th Gear:

For one, Tesla vehicle batteries aren’t in near-constant use. For a home, the usage profile is going to be very different than for a vehicle. I’m not saying this necessarily means they would perform any less reliably, but it’s an important difference that may set the two apart.

The problem with the credits isn’t that it’s underhanded or “skirting the rules”. It’s more the fact that relying on a tax subsidy as your primary source of income is a pretty poor long term business model. Especially now that every other manufacturer is working to introduce credible EV’s to compete against Tesla,…

Every company basically does this. The trick is accurately predicting how the inputs to your formula will change. Birth rate, income levels, gas prices, etc. aren’t static and what they will be in the future is very dependent on your outlook on the economy and social trends in general.

Except for the non-newsworthy cases where cars that might have rolled out of a parking space didn’t because the EPB prevented it. Also could have saved that Star Trek guy who died earlier this year.

Interestingly enough, Tesla is the only major (and I use that term loosely) automaker to not incorporate LIDAR imaging as a part of its autonomous tech. The guy who was killed driving under an 18-wheeler essentially died due to the limitations in the RADAR and camera systems. Had Tesla had a LIDAR system like every…

Whose their?

Trust, but verify