Why General Motors Is Crushing Tesla in 2021

[Frank W]

You know how truly desperate GM is when they make a commercial showcasing how “innovative” their tailgate is: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/OunI/2021-gmc-sierra-anthem-t2

How does that song go…that don’t impress me much.

 

[Crissa]

The new tailgate is pretty nifty, tho. Gotta differentiate your product.

Still would prefer a ramp, tho.

-Crissa

 

[Diehard]

The new tailgate is pretty nifty, tho. Gotta differentiate your product.

Still would prefer a ramp, tho.

-Crissa

I have never needed a step to get into my truck bed. They keep creating new problems they have to find complicated solutions for. If I had to have a lot of ground clearance, CT‘s adjustable suspension with ramp is preferred because when I get a bit older, I can roll up my electric wheelchair in the bed and even charge it there. I just hope Tesla has a senior discount for replacement air suspension when I am out of warrantee.

 

[Crissa]

I have never needed a step to get into my truck bed.

I have always wanted one. Back when trucks were smaller, I was smaller. And now that I'm not, well, I'm also older, and can admit I can carry more if I use a step up. Especially in these big trucks.

But I want to move bikes and bricks and lumber. I want a ramp.

-Crissa

 

[anionic1]

Ok. That first GM electric hummer commercial was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I know Tesla doesn’t want to advertise but their market is going to have a lot of competition soon and people will simply forget who is the best. The lightning seems amazing until you compare it side by side and you realize it can’t compete. Tesla will have to market at some point. I bet if they announced a $500M marketing campaign their stock would jump.

And I know Tesla stock is a great investment for a lot of you but I lost about $2k from buying at all the wrong times last year. It’s alright though because I made up the losses buying EV charging stock which is attributed to Tesla’s success.

 

[Sirfun]

As strange as it might seem, I honestly think Elon and Tesla are purposely sitting back and not pumping the stock. The reason being that when the price goes way up, the short sellers start circling. With them being constrained without the ability to come close to demand for vehicles and batteries, they are lying low. When Austin and Berlin start popping, so will the price of Tesla stock. Just think about how different our world will be when Tesla Cybertrucks and Semis are everywhere. Then they will have even MORE demand.

 

[CyberMoose]

I have never needed a step to get into my truck bed. They keep creating new problems they have to find complicated solutions for. If I had to have a lot of ground clearance, CT‘s adjustable suspension with ramp is preferred because when I get a bit older, I can roll up my electric wheelchair in the bed and even charge it there. I just hope Tesla has a senior discount for replacement air suspension when I am out of warrantee.

I agree, i'm not going to say the step is a bad idea, it can definitely be helpful for older truck owners, or shorter truck owners who need to get into the bed, but I think the Cybertruck has them beat with just a simple ramp that took minimal engineering.

Like the fact that the Sierra can open half for a second layer of cargo to stick out doesn't really seem all that useful, if it's sticking out anyway, i would just open the tailgate, use the load stop, and tie down the cargo. As for a work surfact, that's not a bad idea for people needing to do some paperwork at a construction site, but that wouldn't really be enough reason for me to get something with all those other options.

The Cybertruck kept it pretty simple. You've got a tailgate, Elon said they would add a load stop, and it has a built in ramp. The ramp makes it easy to get in for anyone with the added benefit of you get a ramp that can let you drive an ATV up. As for a work surface, close the vault and you can use it as a table. if it's bumpy, lay something flat on top of it and if it's too high, lower the suspension.

 

[HaulingAss]

This article is not sincere.

Don't get me wrong, I can see how a person might sincerely believe that GM will outperform TSLA (even though I think it's misguided) but what gives away the anonymous author of this "hit piece" is that many of the arguments are completely non-sensical on the surface. No logical person could actually believe what he or she wrote. And most of the reasons why have already been covered by previous responses so I won't go into them.

 

[CyberMoose]

Ok. That first GM electric hummer commercial was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I know Tesla doesn’t want to advertise but their market is going to have a lot of competition soon and people will simply forget who is the best. The lightning seems amazing until you compare it side by side and you realize it can’t compete. Tesla will have to market at some point. I bet if they announced a $500M marketing campaign their stock would jump.

As strange as it might seem, I honestly think Elon and Tesla are purposely sitting back and not pumping the stock. The reason being that when the price goes way up, the short sellers start circling. With them being constrained without the ability to come close to demand for vehicles and batteries, they are lying low. When Austin and Berlin start popping, so will the price of Tesla stock. Just think about how different our world will be when Tesla Cybertrucks and Semis are everywhere. Then they will have even MORE demand.

So I don't think Tesla is going to worry about marketing anytime soon.

The first reason is pretty obvious, they are doing fine without marketing. Word of mouth and just Tesla related articles, good or bad, has given Tesla a strong name for itself.

The second reason is because I don't think it'll do any good right now. Lets say Tesla does marking and doubles the demand for their vehicles. That would be fantastic, but it can't really change how fast they are being produced. Right now there are still shortages across all companies and there are lots of cars that are made that can't even go to customers just yet. Even after the shortages are resolved, Tesla can barely keep up with sales as it is. Used Teslas are going for nearly the same price, if not the exact same price of what Tesla offers for a new one because there just isn't enough to go around.

I also don't think this is going to slow down anytime soon. With a new factory being built to help produce the Model Y, the demand will probably go up as wait times go down. It'll be great if it just balances out, but I doubt Tesla will have a bunch of extra vehicles on their hands for quite some time.

Another thing to remember is the $25,000 car that is upcoming. If tesla is going to make these cars at existing factories, there is no way they can handle the demand between all the vehicles in their lineup. If Tesla builds a whole new factory for the new budget car, they might be able to meet demand if they are lucky.

Marketing right now for Tesla is like throwing a log in a burning building to make it hotter.

On the other hand, Elon did recently tweet about possible informational advertisement. It wasn't something he was mentioning about increasing sales. He just want people to have correct information about Tesla since there is so many articles that paint a bad picture about Tesla.

 

[anionic1]

So I don't think Tesla is going to worry about marketing anytime soon.

The first reason is pretty obvious, they are doing fine without marketing. Word of mouth and just Tesla related articles, good or bad, has given Tesla a strong name for itself.

The second reason is because I don't think it'll do any good right now. Lets say Tesla does marking and doubles the demand for their vehicles. That would be fantastic, but it can't really change how fast they are being produced. Right now there are still shortages across all companies and there are lots of cars that are made that can't even go to customers just yet. Even after the shortages are resolved, Tesla can barely keep up with sales as it is. Used Teslas are going for nearly the same price, if not the exact same price of what Tesla offers for a new one because there just isn't enough to go around.

I also don't think this is going to slow down anytime soon. With a new factory being built to help produce the Model Y, the demand will probably go up as wait times go down. It'll be great if it just balances out, but I doubt Tesla will have a bunch of extra vehicles on their hands for quite some time.

Another thing to remember is the $25,000 car that is upcoming. If tesla is going to make these cars at existing factories, there is no way they can handle the demand between all the vehicles in their lineup. If Tesla builds a whole new factory for the new budget car, they might be able to meet demand if they are lucky.

Marketing right now for Tesla is like throwing a log in a burning building to make it hotter.

On the other hand, Elon did recently tweet about possible informational advertisement. It wasn't something he was mentioning about increasing sales. He just want people to have correct information about Tesla since there is so many articles that paint a bad picture about Tesla.

There won’t be any $25k car anytime soon without another big government subsidy or some crazy battery breakthrough. Tesla has too many other projects and I really don’t see that one coming to the front line any time soon. Maybe 10 years from now. I suppose maybe with all their innovations coming online, the new battery cells, the simplified structural battery pack and monolithic castings. They may discover once they get all that ramped up that it saves so much cost that they can make a commuter version of the model 3.

 

[CyberMoose]

There won’t be any $25k car anytime soon without another big government subsidy or some crazy battery breakthrough. Tesla has too many other projects and I really don’t see that one coming to the front line any time soon. Maybe 10 years from now. I suppose maybe with all their innovations coming online, the new battery cells, the simplified structural battery pack and monolithic castings. They may discover once they get all that ramped up that it saves so much cost that they can make a commuter version of the model 3.

The 25k was mentioned as something that Tesla believes they can do because of everything they talked about at battery day. The reduced cost of batteries and extended range of these batteries is a huge step. For all we know this budget car could come with only 100 miles of range. I know that until recently Tesla had an option to buy a model 3 with a range reduced to 93 miles, it was just a software lock to make the Model 3 eligible for the tax credit in Canada, but that might have also been Tesla picking a random number that they feel would be a minimum useful range for a vehicle.

If Tesla put in a small battery pack, the battery pack was structural, they got rid of the luxuries of most Teslas, and obviously a smaller screen. That's a lot off cost reductions, especially from just the battery alone. Then we also have to consider the car is a two door and will be smaller, they could even eliminate the frunk to make it smaller and just have a small hood for maintenance and wiper fluid. We can also consider non leather seats, no interior camera for future robotaxis, maybe no FSD option at all to elminate all cameras.

Now that is a ton of reductions and i'm just looking for anywhere that Tesla could cut the cost and still have a fully functional vehicle. I don't even think that Tesla would necessarily need to have many optional features for the car. As soon as you start adding more than a few options like leather seats or nicer rims, you are nearing the cost of just getting a model 3 anyway. A budget car by Tesla might just be a more normal budget car with a center screen and a few Tesla features. It might not be as different as other Teslas are with normal cars.

 

[Crissa]

On the other hand, Elon did recently tweet about possible informational advertisement. It wasn't something he was mentioning about increasing sales. He just want people to have correct information about Tesla since there is so many articles that paint a bad picture about Tesla.

Or not even know about it! So much technology in the new Model S that is just completely unlike other cars.

-Crissa