> BYD released that many since you wrote this comment :)
You say that like it's an advantage while it's really the opposite. As a car buyer I'm only looking at cars their manufacturer plans to fully support over their lifetime.
That rules out new, unproven manufacturers as well as the ones with proven bad support.
I own 2014 Tesla S, my next door neighbour has 2024 Tesla S, same f’ing car. Tesla X was modern looking back in 2017, looks the same now. Tesla 3 is chopped up S and Y is 3 blown up in height a bit. These are all old outdated cars - hence the dinosaur comment.
Support-wise, trying owning an older model of Tesla like a do and you’d know that your statement cannot be further from the truth, my car bricked several times after a software update and getting repairs done gets met with “oh that’ll take __ to get parts”
>dinosaur would be a compliment for tesla which designs/releases one new car every decade
...because they don't do model years? Most cars are like that too, except they increment the model year annually, whether or not there are substantive changes.
The time separating Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex is greater than the time separating T. Rex from modern-day humans. Dinosaurs are dinosaurs but yes, Chrysler is from an even more ancient time than Tesla.
Tesla is not miles ahead of auto makers that came before them. They do not have better build quality, higher durability, higher ownership satisfaction, are not more affordable, are not safer. Other automakers could easily transition into that market and make better vehicles than Tesla if they had the incentive to.
Their battery and charging technology is impressive and their supercharger network gives them a moat, but not enough of a moat. A concerted federal effort would quickly erase it, and that not happening yet is mostly down to incentives.
Legacy carmakers still do things by model year. Their processes are waterfall in a world that's gone agile. As far as how well their metal box protects you when you're sitting in it and you get into a crash, all of their models rate very high. There's are fit and finish issues, you're absolutely right, but the dinosaurs aren't evolving with the times. We live in a software driven world now, and their old processes haven't been torn down and built from scratch to meet that reality. As a consumer, the new F150 Lightning does have a lot of cool features, so there's hope for them yet, plus Ford CEO Jim Farley's been driving around a Xiaomi SU7 from China. We'll see if he can light some fires under some asses and manage to turn the Titanic in time.
Yes, it’s impressive there are so many Teslas in China. I saw at least 10-20% of Teslas there. But I think it’s not because of being competitive price wise but more about status.
> it’s not because of being competitive price wise but more about status
It's a premium product. Whether due to brand, features or something else, it's undeniable that Tesla was doing something right vis-à-vis BYD. (That said, they've been losing their edge since even before Musk's recent fuckups [1].)
dinosaur would be a compliment for tesla which designs/releases one new car every decade (each delayed by a decade from initial release date) :)
They've released 6 models in the 22 years since founding (not counting Semi).
BYD released that many since you wrote this comment :)
Also check the same for say a Toyota
> BYD released that many since you wrote this comment :)
You say that like it's an advantage while it's really the opposite. As a car buyer I'm only looking at cars their manufacturer plans to fully support over their lifetime. That rules out new, unproven manufacturers as well as the ones with proven bad support.
I own 2014 Tesla S, my next door neighbour has 2024 Tesla S, same f’ing car. Tesla X was modern looking back in 2017, looks the same now. Tesla 3 is chopped up S and Y is 3 blown up in height a bit. These are all old outdated cars - hence the dinosaur comment.
Support-wise, trying owning an older model of Tesla like a do and you’d know that your statement cannot be further from the truth, my car bricked several times after a software update and getting repairs done gets met with “oh that’ll take __ to get parts”
That's what I meant with 'known bad support'.
>dinosaur would be a compliment for tesla which designs/releases one new car every decade
...because they don't do model years? Most cars are like that too, except they increment the model year annually, whether or not there are substantive changes.
model years what now? :)
Which is even more embarrassing, because they're miles ahead of the carmakers that came before them.
The time separating Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex is greater than the time separating T. Rex from modern-day humans. Dinosaurs are dinosaurs but yes, Chrysler is from an even more ancient time than Tesla.
Off: best usage of this random factlet yet
Not really
which is an entirely fine opinion, but would you mind using more words so our readers have something more to engage with?
Tesla is not miles ahead of auto makers that came before them. They do not have better build quality, higher durability, higher ownership satisfaction, are not more affordable, are not safer. Other automakers could easily transition into that market and make better vehicles than Tesla if they had the incentive to.
Their battery and charging technology is impressive and their supercharger network gives them a moat, but not enough of a moat. A concerted federal effort would quickly erase it, and that not happening yet is mostly down to incentives.
Legacy carmakers still do things by model year. Their processes are waterfall in a world that's gone agile. As far as how well their metal box protects you when you're sitting in it and you get into a crash, all of their models rate very high. There's are fit and finish issues, you're absolutely right, but the dinosaurs aren't evolving with the times. We live in a software driven world now, and their old processes haven't been torn down and built from scratch to meet that reality. As a consumer, the new F150 Lightning does have a lot of cool features, so there's hope for them yet, plus Ford CEO Jim Farley's been driving around a Xiaomi SU7 from China. We'll see if he can light some fires under some asses and manage to turn the Titanic in time.
From what I see in the roads in China, Tesla is pretty competitive in the right environment
Yes, it’s impressive there are so many Teslas in China. I saw at least 10-20% of Teslas there. But I think it’s not because of being competitive price wise but more about status.
> it’s not because of being competitive price wise but more about status
It's a premium product. Whether due to brand, features or something else, it's undeniable that Tesla was doing something right vis-à-vis BYD. (That said, they've been losing their edge since even before Musk's recent fuckups [1].)
[1] https://cnevpost.com/2025/09/08/tesla-sells-57152-cars-china...
At this point, a byd is a far superior car for the price. You should test drive one when you get a chance to escape North Korea, er, I mean America.
i did. its poor quality like tesla.