Can Other Auto Manufacturers Recreate Tesla’s EV Success?
Originally published on EV Obsession.
While executives at most of the major auto manufacturers around the world have been burying their heads in the sand for the last decade or so with regard to electric vehicles, the recent unveiling of the Tesla Model 3 has seemingly forced many to begin dealing with reality.
Many have responded to the industry shakeup by stating that they’ll be able to release their own electric offerings within only a few years that will allow them to regain lost marketshare. Is this actually true though? Is it really that simple of a thing recreate Tesla’s pioneering approach? To discover its “secret sauce”?
The folks over at TeslaMondo recently made a post on that matter that made me laugh out loud, so I figure it’s worth posting some excerpts here. Enjoy:
April 2016, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne: “If he can show me that it can be done, I will do it as well, copy him, add Italian style to it and put it on the market within 12 months.” This came at a shareholder meeting. Just last week, Daimler shareholders forced CEO Darth Dieter Zetsche to put on his apron and try to cook up a Tesla too. It’s coming in a couple of years. Those German ovens . . .
Like Bob Lutz, Marchionne has a troubled relationship with EVs. Just two years ago he told the world to avoid his compliance car, the electric Fiat 500. That’s a pretty strong vote of no confidence in EVs, yes? But now, two years later, he has the wherewithal to build a Model III clone in the next 12 months? No he doesn’t. He has neither the balls nor the technology.
Hah. Strong words. But you do have to wonder, some people just really can’t deal with a change in the rules of the game, can they?
With Tesla playing something of an iconoclastic role in the auto industry currently, you’d think that the established companies would be responding more vigorously. But then people, or groups of people, generally don’t respond until it’s too late, do they? Instead, they’re just waiting for it all to come down on them, while going about their business acting like nothing will ever change. (Anthropogenic climate change comes to mind.)
Reprinted with permission.
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