Tesla Motors: A “Different” Car Company In So Many Ways

When Thomas Edison introduced electric lighting to Americans in the late 19th Century, he went out of his way to minimize the psychological impact on the customer.  For instance, though he knew he could illuminate a room better with a lamp on the ceiling, he declined to do that, and offered only wall sconces (and fed the wires through the gas lines that were now of no use).  Why?  Obviously, there had been no gas lamps on ceilings (as they would have caused fires); all such lamps, like the wax candles they replaced, were installed on walls. Edison didn’t want to generate any more perception of change than was absolutely necessary, as he thought this might have slowed the assimilation of his new lighting paradigm.

Tesla Motors doesn’t appear interested in conforming to the traditional ways in which car companies interact with their customers.  In particular, they are unconcerned about presenting their customers with rapid change, as shown by their abrupt replacements of one model with another.  A few days ago, they began offering their new 70D version, and, simultaneously discontinued the Model S60. This isn’t exactly a page from the playbook of Detroit, where, for instance, Ford has been offering Mustangs since the mid-1960s, and Chevrolet has been cranking out Impalas since before I was born.

Here’s an author who believes this new mode of rapid product line replacement could do damage to customer trust, and he certainly has a point.  Having said that, he writes:

The new all-wheel drive 70D is a compelling package that includes free super charger access, dual motors and another 10 KWH of battery cells that increase the range of its lowest model to EPA estimated 240 miles from 208 miles. Overall, this is an attractive package, as the bare bone S60 lacked important features standard in all other cars in its price range. Customers in that price range had to buy many of those options anyway at high costs.

Pictured below is the Model X, available in 2016.  I hope to see this one stick around for some years to come, along with their Model 3, with an MSRP of approximately $35K.