Did Elon Musk lie to us?

[Matias]

I've also heard Russian space tech is years behind the Americans..

Is that the reason, why Americans need Russians to fly to ISS?

 

[JeffK]

I don't think Elon should take the spaceship-likeness too far, after all he'd have to lose the seatbelts as well. Or did you see Jean-Luc ever wearing one? (Except for the Nemesis outtake of course )

We aren't that far in the future... You have to go back to the beginning or warp drive.

How could you start mass production in July if you were still making final tweaks in design in June?

The small tweaks are both to the vehicle and manufacturing process. It's been happening constantly on the Model S/X for years. This is one of the reasons Tesla doesn't have model years, there is constant improvement. They don't purposely wait until the following year like other manufactures (some manufactures with huge design flaws have a half year model).

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Then one could treat it like every other technology purchase ever: wait until you need it. That is, when the "costs of waiting" outweigh the benefits of waiting.

That way, you maximize your benefit. Once you need to buy, you have no other choice but to buy.

And then, you'll know you did the best you possibly could in your situation. Because one thing is virtually guaranteed: technology is going to get better.

True in many utilitarian cases, but I have never really needed a new car in the past decade, yet I think I've bought one approximately every year. Same applies to many technology purchases that include an emotional element, as opposed to solely rational.

And frankly, I don't think any premium vendor could survive solely on rational, utilitarian, need-this customers. They need and seek those emotional reactions, that desire to have their product, because there rarely is fully rational need that could justify those purchases.

And because it is an emotional and financially significant purchase, timing it right is already difficult as is, and even more so if the product is a constantly moving target. A product with several quarterly changes and a delivery time of 1-2 quarters is a difficult buy even for someone with fairly frequent car changes, let alone for someone who tries to time the best buy moment for a ten year car ownership.

Given what we know today, my seat-ventilating, spoiler-tucking, free-Supercharging, non-pack-interior-designed, Helix-sporting, 10k-cheaper Model X P100D AP2 certainly was a well timed purchase in the end, because now/soon none of those things are available any more, but it just illustrates what a terrible gamble buying a Tesla is these days. And soon something is bound to come along to obsolete even my well timed purchase.

Buying a usual car with annual or semi-annual upgrades and price-list changes is a lot less stressful from this perspective. Or buying an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy, which is super easy compared to timing a Tesla buy. Basically you just decide do I need/want a new one this year, you get it after a short wait, and then there is basically a year before anything new appears.

With Tesla, they can add or take away basically anything at any given moment, and especially a few weeks into each quarter.

 

[JeffK]

Then one could treat it like every other technology purchase ever: wait until you need it. That is, when the "costs of waiting" outweigh the benefits of waiting.

That way, you maximize your benefit. Once you need to buy, you have no other choice but to buy.

And then, you'll know you did the best you possibly could in your situation. Because one thing is virtually guaranteed: technology is going to get better.

There's another important factor... Safety.
If the Model 3 is a safer car than a person's current car then if they wait, there's always a risk that they could be injured in an accident which either might have been avoided by a Model 3 or they might have been better protected by a Model 3.

If Model 3 is safer than your current car then one might say the costs of waiting already outweigh the benefits of waiting.

 

[alseTrick]

Is that the reason, why Americans need Russians to fly to ISS?

Need is the wrong word. But good counterpoint. Russian space tech is old nonetheless.

 

[JeffK]

Need is the wrong word. But good counterpoint. Russian space tech is old nonetheless.

Russians are funny
No, Russia isn’t sending a Terminator robot to the space station

 

[Mickie]

I didn't read through 8 pages, I just saw the title with Elon and lie in it.

Well, I don't know. How do you guys feel about the AP1 features he was touting that never came and probably will never come to fruition, among other things?

Is making false claims lying? It can only be looked past so much until it comes to people spending this kind of money on cars that fall short of the mark they were given.

I feel when the guy takes the stage and starts talking about features you WILL HAVE post purchase, there should be one of those fine font tiny messages intermittently appearing in the background akin to those get rich quick commercials.

In no way are the products and features Elon Musk discusses guaranteed, indiscriminate of the verbiage given. You should not expect these features and to do so requires risk.

Grain of salt people.

Disclaimer: I love Tesla and my car--don't stone me. I just wish the guy would think of the buyers a bit more like he does the shareholders.