What Now, Tesla Naysayers?

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Photo by David Blaikie (CC BY 2.0)

They said Tesla wouldn’t do it, couldn’t do it. They said Tesla would collapse before the Model S was produced. They said manufacturing inexperience would doom the Model S and destroy the company. They said the Model X was a colossal disaster that would mark the beginning of the end for Tesla. They said the Model X was impossible, a con, a lie, couldn’t be manufactured, wouldn’t function, and would quickly close the Elon era. They were wrong.

They were wrong about Tesla’s survival in the Roadster’s days. They were wrong about the appeal and consumer demand of the Model S. They were wrong about Tesla’s ability to learn mass manufacturing. They were wrong about Tesla’s ability to innovate not only car technology but also manufacturing in order to produce the Model X in volume. They were wrong about whether the Model X would increase demand for Tesla vehicles or decrease it.

They said the Model 3 was impossible, couldn’t be produced at the promised price, and would be doomed by various “Tesla killers” before its arrival. They said the Bolt beat it because of an aggressive, ambitious, courageous, pragmatic rush to market.

They said Tesla would be late — very, very late. They assumed Tesla had not learned any manufacturing lessons from Model S and Model X. They assumed Tesla would have the same approach to manufacturing the Model 3 as it had to producing its first fully original model, or as it had to producing a novel car aimed to be a super-vehicle of sorts. They assumed the Model 3 would not actually use a “design for manufacturing” approach and a “streamline the process as much as possible” approach. They assumed Tesla would approach production of its first truly “mass market” car in the same way it had approached production of the first car Tesla learned to build.

They said the Tesla Model 3 was vaporware, fake, a con, a stunt, a magic trick and investor scam. They said hundreds of thousands of reservation holders had been duped and would make a run on the bank to regain their $1000 deposits. They said the Model 3 would never be manufactured, and certainly not offered for $35,000, and certainly not produced in 2017, and certainly not produced in July!

Oh my — they were wrong … again. Big Oil trolls will have to eat their words (or will maybe get paid more to troll harder). Big Auto trolls will eat their hats (or just claim an orange isn’t an orange). Tesla haters will have to retreat to silence, or get that much more insane and ignored.

Tesla Model 3 is nearly here, as Elon has indicated more and more surreally as July has approached. The nearly impossible July target seems it was more possible than even Elon imagined. The ability to streamline production even beyond “designing for manufacturing” has been revealed to Elon and crew in the past year, opening up ways to get thousands of Model 3 electric cars into driveways and garages sooner than later.

Even many Tesla fanboys assumed December 2017 was ambitious, too ambitious, for the production rollout of the Model 3. Those of us who were “optimistic” didn’t presume July was the real launch month until quite recently. But the news today is pretty straightforward: “hold onto your hats,” this ride is about to get insane — nay, ludicrous — nay, Teslafied.

There will still be doubters. Some will still claim production won’t begin until July. In July, they’ll have something else negative to claim. In August, September, October, more excuses and pessimistic claims of divine knowledge will be the popular talking points of trolls and shorts. When will the trolls, shorts, and pessimists give up? Good question, but I’d expect they will linger until another member of Big Auto goes bankrupt, or until the oil economy truly collapses. Whether they are getting paychecks for it or just can’t accept the rEVolution and Tesla’s leadership for one reason or another, plenty of anti-Tesla trolls will be surfing the interwebs for months and years to come. I personally think it’s wise to look at how their predictions have fared over the years, and how exactly Tesla has managed to defeat them and essentially embarrass them. It’s not just about realizing that the car below is real and is coming soon. It’s also about investing in your own future, planning for tomorrow, and not stumbling over troll traps on the sometimes confusing interwebs and television propaganda channels.

  1. Tesla Insider Leaks Model 3 Production Details & Options At Launch
  2. Tesla Model 3 Spy Shots Flooding Internet (44 Pictures)
  3. Countdown To Model 3 Month
  4. Tesla Won … Sort Of
  5. 20 Gasmobiles Tesla Model 3 Will Body Slam
  6. Tesla Model 3 vs Audi A3, Audi A4, Audi A5, Audi S3
  7. Tesla Model 3 vs BMW 2 Series, 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series, & i3
  8. Tesla Model 3 vs Acura ILX, Acura TLX, & Acura RLX
  9. Tesla Model 3 vs Mercedes 300, Mercedes 350e, Mercedes AMG
  10. Tesla Model 3 vs Lexus ES (& ES Hybrid), Lexus IS, Lexus GS (& GS Hybrid), & Lexus CT Hybrid
  11. BMW USA Sales Down Dramatically — Tesla Model 3 Hitting Already?
  12. Elon Musk Clarifies Tesla Model 3 Production Strategy & City
  13. Tesla’s Unlikely Success, Model 3 Spy Shots, Monty Python, & TSLA
  14. How Does The Chevy Bolt Compare To The Tesla Model 3?

Images by David Blaikie (CC BY 2.0), Kyle Field | CleanTechnicaKyle Field | CleanTechnica,  Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

Zachary Shahan has 7324 posts and counting. See all posts by Zachary Shahan