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Tesla has been the innovator but all the big companies Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, Gm, are coming out with competitors cars and a brand following and will take market share from Tesla and likely do it cheaper and thus Tesla is going to be in for a serious fight for survival.
Fred Lambert
- Dec. 2nd 2017 5:56 pm ET @FredericLambert CommentsIt’s not rare for automakers to buy vehicles from competitors in order to reverse-engineer or benchmark them as part of their R&D effort, but Mercedes-Benz reportedly used a particularly strange and arguably shady way to do it for the Tesla Model X.
It makes sense for the German automaker to be interested in the Model X at this point since it’s the only all-electric SUV on the market and they are about to launch their own all-electric SUV: the Mercedes EQC.
But instead of simply buying one from Tesla or a used one, the automaker reportedly rented one from a Bavarian couple through the car rental company Sixt.
According to the German magazine Spiegel (German and paywall), the couple was going on vacation for a few weeks and decided to loan their Model X to the company, which in turn rented it to Daimler, Mercedes-Benz’s parent company.
Unknown to the actual owner of the car, Mercedes then proceeded to thoroughly test the electric vehicle and then dismantle it before rebuilding it again and giving it back to Sixt.
According to the company, Mercedes drove the Model X at their test track in Sindelfingen near Stuttgart in Germany and put it through heat and vibration tests. They also reportedly drove it all the way to Barcelona in Spain.
Sixt says that this kind of use goes against their rental agreement and while they reportedly compensated the owners, they say that Daimler should pay for the damage incurred on the vehicle, which they estimate to be “in the five digits.”
Electrek’s Take
I don’t understand why they didn’t simply buy one from Tesla. They could have easily done it indirectly with an employee being compensated. They didn’t have to ruin someone else’s Model X.
If for some petty reason they really didn’t want to give any money to Tesla, it’s probably not going to work since either the repair cost or the cost of new Model X will end up going to Tesla after all is said and done.
Either way, despite the strange way that they decided to do it, it does make sense for them to play with the Model X ahead of the EQC launch in early 2019.
Audi did the same thing to the Model X last year (though they apparently bought their own from Tesla in the US) and they plan to launch their electric SUV next year. Now Mercedes does the same thing a year later and their own electric SUV is also expected to hit the market about a year after Audi’s.
I don’t understand why they didn’t simply buy one from Tesla. They could have easily done it indirectly with an employee being compensated. They didn’t have to ruin someone else’s Model X.
The only reason I can come up with is someone in MB was in a hurry and had to have one right then.
Still, they had no right to do what they did.
I hope the couple got a new Model X...uhhh, make that 3 for their trouble.
Somehow I doubt that the chopped up Tesla in the photo is the Tesla that Mercedes rented.
Why would Mercedes be displaying a car they chopped up, and didn't own, to the public? The photo appears to have been taken at a car show.
Makes no sense that one car manufacturer would be showing a car from a different manufacturer at a show, especially one they nearly destroyed. What benefits would Mercedes achieve by showing that Tesla to the public?
I own a c6 ZR1 and would trade it on a Tesla Roadster in a heartbeat.
I don't do trackdays anymore and drive it 100% on the street. If I was still doing tack days, it would be the ZR1 hands down.
Nothing street legal is gonna touch the Tesla Roadster. This is the beginning of the end for the ICE cars. The quickest car wins. That's why so many companies are giving up on the manual gear shift. There may be a few hard core that will want gas engine, but the rest of the world will move on. Just like with the dual clutch vs standard and fuel injection vs carburators.
It appears that the writer of the article and not Mercedes-Benz displayed the car. I assume that they used a stock photo for illustrative purposes as Mercedes-Benz is the subject of the article and not the author.
Originally Posted by JoesC5
Somehow I doubt that the chopped up Tesla in the photo is the Tesla that Mercedes rented.
Why would Mercedes be displaying a car they chopped up, and didn't own, to the public? The photo appears to have been taken at a car show.
Makes no sense that one car manufacturer would be showing a car from a different manufacturer at a show, especially one they nearly destroyed. What benefits would Mercedes achieve by showing that Tesla to the public?
I own a c6 ZR1 and would trade it on a Tesla Roadster in a heartbeat.
I don't do trackdays anymore and drive it 100% on the street. If I was still doing tack days, it would be the ZR1 hands down.
Nothing street legal is gonna touch the Tesla Roadster. This is the beginning of the end for the ICE cars. The quickest car wins. That's why so many companies are giving up on the manual gear shift. There may be a few hard core that will want gas engine, but the rest of the world will move on. Just like with the dual clutch vs standard and fuel injection vs carburators.
Couldn't agree more. Corvette will have to go electric eventually or get left in the dust literally.
Couldn't agree more. Corvette will have to go electric eventually or get left in the dust literally.
You electric fan bois kill me with your myopic prognosticating.
ICE powered cars aren't going anywhere for at least the next 50+ years, if not longer.
The Corvette is a sports car, and a world-class one at that. Short of the 918, P1, or LaFerrari, there is no hybrid (and certainly no EV) that can touch it's performance envelope at anywhere remotely close to its MSRP.
You electric fan bois kill me with your myopic prognosticating.
ICE powered cars aren't going anywhere for at least the next 50+ years, if not longer.
The Corvette is a sports car, and a world-class one at that. Short of the 918, P1, or LaFerrari, there is no hybrid (and certainly no EV) that can touch it's performance envelope at anywhere remotely close to its MSRP.
You are correct, ice powered cars aren't going anywhere for at least the next 50 years, they aren't going anywhere progress wise - at least compared to electric!
There are several elements to consider here. If you are comparing track and race cars, watch the Rimick vs Bugatti video someone posted above.
For current every day Corvette owners who do not track their car, the fugly looking Tesla sedan clearly shows the disadvantage of urban ICE at anything within quasilegal speeds.
Most of the pro-or anti-Tesla comments or whether Tesla goes bankrupt is missing the point. Mark my words, owning both, Corvette will need to go electric at some point to stay competitive.
The Tesla just doesn't seem finished.
The body looks like it just came out of a just made kit Car mold
Boring Boring Boring and I bet Tesla will go the way of Enron sooner than we think
· Steve Wozniak says he's tired of Elon Musk'spromises and thinks Tesla needs to stop overhyping its self-driving technology.
· At the Nordic Business Forum in Stockholm,Wozniak, a cofounder of Apple, shared his experiences driving and upgrading his Teslas.
· "Now I don't believe anything Elon Musk or Tesla says, but I still love the car," Wozniak said, adding that other automakers were ahead in self-driving technology.
· Wozniak says he prefers his Chevy Bolt but drives a Tesla on longer trips, pointing to its countrywide charging network.
While Steve Wozniak has cemented his legacy as a tech pioneer, Elon Musk still has a long way to go.
That much could be concluded from Wozniak'srecent talk at the Nordic Business Forum in Stockholm, which the Apple cofounder dedicated in part to his newfoundlove for Tesla bashing. He accused the electric-car maker ofoverhyping its self-driving technology and using "cheap" tactics todeflect responsibility for mistakes.
Wozniak, an early Tesla fan, owns two Model-S cars. But his relationship with Tesla and its CEO has been fraught.
"Our first Tesla slid off some ice lateat night up at Lake Tahoe, and we ended up in a snow bank," Wozniak saidin a Q&A session jam-packed with anecdotes from his life. "There was no damage, but it was clear we needed a four-wheel-drive Tesla."
Shortly afterward, Wozniak said, he and his wife coughed up the money for an upgrade.
"Then they came up with some sensors that Elon Musk said would drive itself across itself the country by the end of 2016," Wozniak said, referring to a much-talked-about "summon" function Musk has promoted.
"Then they came up with some sensors that Elon Musk said would drive itself across itself the country by the end of 2016," Wozniak said, referring to a much-talked-about "summon" function Musk has promoted.
"Oh, I had to have that," Wozniak said.
"And then ... they got rid of their sensor company and put in new sensors - instead of one camera, eight cameras," he said, alluding to Tesla's breakup with the Israeli sensor-maker Mobileye. He added that the car was supposed to "drive itself across the country by the end of 2017."
Musk said in October 2016 that Tesla's cross-country demonstration trip would happen by the end of 2017. He then said last August that it would happen by early 2018. He again signaled in December that the timeline had been pushed further back.
Wozniak's trust was dented.
"I believed that stuff," he said. "Now I don't believe anything Elon Musk or Tesla says, but I still love the car."
He said he was sure the company's next car would be the one Musk promises will deliver. Is Musk 'just a good salesman, like Jobs?'
Following the crowd's roaring applause, Wozniak compared Musk's salesmanship with that of his Apple cofounder, Steve Jobs.
"I love that car, but the trouble is Elon Musk is portrayed in a lot of movies with a lack of faith and trust," Wozniak said. "What he says, can you really believe in him? Is he just a good salesman, like Jobs, and may not be there [in the end]?" Wozniak homed in on Tesla's self-driving technology.
"When a Tesla runs in any condition on a highway that is a little unusual - a cone in the middle of a lane - you have to move over," he said. "A dumb human or a smart human can easily do it, but the Tesla can't."
He added: "Man, you've got to be on your toes all the time with it."
Wozniak also said Tesla was deflecting responsibility.
"All Tesla says is, 'It's beta, so we're not responsible - you have to be in control,'" Wozniak said. "So that's kind of a cheap way out of it. Everything I've read told me that every other car manufacturer in the world - Audi and BMW - are actually ahead of Tesla for self-driving cars."
'We always drive the Chevy Bolt EV instead of the Tesla, every day'
At the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas in October, Wozniak said there was "way too much hype" around Tesla and praised brands like Volvo and Audi. But in the Swedish capital, he opened up about his new crush: the Chevy Bolt electric vehicle.
Wozniak lauded its "decent range" and said he used the GM vehicle for everything except longer trips to places like Kansas and Yellowstone when he and his wife drive their Tesla and use the company's extensive charging network.
But for everyday life, "we always drive the Chevy Bolt EV instead of the Tesla, every day," Wozniak said.
Another nugget from Wozniak's impassioned rant was the story of his first Tesla order: Wozniak and his wife had waited for six months to get on top of the waitlist for a Tesla in 2004 but opted out and got a Mercedes instead.
"When I got on top of the list," Wozniak said, "I received an email from Elon Musk that said, 'You're not a real Silicon Valley boy.'"
Read the original article on Business Insider Nordic Copyright 2018
I'd take the ZR1 over the Tesla any day and in the future! There is no way the Tesla will give anywhere close to the soul of the Corvette, period!
Well said, it’s the same reason I won’t buy a Porsche, Viper, Demon/Hellcat, etc. They are not Corvettes, yes I am a Corvette guy, through and through...won’t change that ever. ZR1 all the way.
11-27-2017, 09:29 PM
Butthurt?
CommentsIt’s not rare for automakers to buy vehicles from competitors in order to reverse-engineer or benchmark them as part of their R&D effort, but Mercedes-Benz reportedly used a particularly strange and arguably shady way to do it for the Tesla Model X.
Well said, it’s the same reason I won’t buy a Porsche, Viper, Demon/Hellcat, etc. They are not Corvettes, yes I am a Corvette guy, through and through...won’t change that ever. ZR1 all the way. 
