Also, Tesla is seeing awesome success right now, but there was a time (pre Model S) when Elon Musk was basically begging customers to trust him and keep their preorders because they were close to going bankrupt (eventually a govt loan combined with the faith those customers placed in Elon Musk is what saved them). He had enough charisma to convince a significant chunk of people to give him a significant amount of money when it was looking like the company would not even be there a few months from then. Tesla's brand is that they genuinely care for their customers (and I have not seen any reason to disbelieve that so far), and Elon Musk's presentations while not spiffy help reinforce that.
I prefer things underdone.
It had that iPhone/iPad launch (genuine) excitement to it. Those cheers were real even if half of them were Tesla employees. And yeah he should practice more but I also don't think you can fake the kind of charm someone like Steve Jobs just naturally had on stage.
Any other suit would say "Five star" over and over.
I haven't heard the actual presentation yet so perhaps I'm missing some context but:
How exactly is stating a percentage any better than a crash test rating? At least the rating gives you something to compare with (other vehicles) and the tests themselves are well-documented and reasonably well-designed. I would have no idea what to do with a percentage, so it seems like he has replaced a buzzword (crash test ratings) that means something with a buzzword (possibility of injury during high speed collision) that doesn't provide a point of reference.
"Stay with us at our 5-star hotel!"
"Stay with us, there's a 6% chance you will get hurt if there's an accident!"
With graphs!
Livestream link: http://livestream.com/accounts/4186560/events/4387735/player
If you have kids and you watched this you are going bonkers right now.
He also doesn't fluff anything up or over sell anything. He tells the facts in a way people can understand and that's it.
Elon on the other side is plain and direct. The halts and the roughness actually makes me more attentive because of the change.
This is his version of enthusiasm. Steve Jobs wasn't any more "enthusiastic"....he was soft-spoken and straightforward, too, he just didn't stutter/hesitate the way Elon naturally does, so he came across as much smoother.
If you think not having Elon out front and center for this company would be a good thing, you've really not grasped the symbiotic bond between him and his companies and his customers.
This is just another way Tesla is unique-- they don't overmarket everything, they don't run ads, they don't have some slick super-model announce their products. The main engineer, the guy who designed it, talks about it in his own way. I wouldn't have them change a thing.
People like Schiller or Federighi from Apple are both slick presenters, sometimes teetering on the edge of cheesiness, but it's all saved by the fact that you can tell they really know and care about the product.
Whether it's a chosen style or just how he is, to me, it works and feels genuine in a way that's charming. As he talks, I can imagine him sitting down with his engineers saying "Does this = good for the environment, improve safety, reduce car suckage, and is it cool?" And, I can further imagine him digging in to fix it if the product doesn't match, like with diagrams, and left over space x physics books, and a cool napkin he drew on in the shower with a strut design that would be better..
No PR person could ask for more from a lead presenter, seriously. You can imagine him doing that too, I bet, and that's a key and critical part of the tesla brand.
Tesla's launches and reveals are largely Employees + Customers with some press thrown in.
I think the falcon doors solve a non-existing problem while parking. I can't remember the last time this was an issue, with or without kids, with or without cargo or bags on the back seat of either an SUV or a minivan.
The same is true of the third row seat. We've had both SUV's and minivans with third rows. Never an issue, even for adults.
The falcon wings are very cool from a technological perspective but a complete non-starter for me. Bikes, surfboards and other stuff need to go on a roof rack. I can't see any way to transport our Maas rowing shells on this thing. They are 24 feet long and have to go on the roof. I've even brought home 2x4's and sheets of plywood from Home Depot on top of SUV's and minivans.
Can you open the falcon wing doors by hand if you have no power? I'd be surprised if this was not possible.
Towing is another aspect of this car that is likely to disappoint outside of a stage. If anyone expects to be able to do 250 miles while towing a 5,000 lbs trailer on anything other than an absolutely flat road with a 60 mile per hour tail winds they are going to be disappointed. As drag increases so will current draw and electrical losses, which will be constant and very significant. Weight is more of a factor on non-flat roads, which is nearly 100% of them anywhere I've been. I'd be surprised if the actual range while towing is much more than half the rated non-towing range.
What's good?
Crash performance is fantastic!
HEPA filter: Unreal. Nice.
It looks amazing.
It's electric!
I sincerely think Tesla should have come up with a new acronym for Model X: LUV - Luxury Utility Vehicle. That, no doubt, it is.
The S-model really does have one of the worst interiors I've seen on a brand new car at any price. They really need to hire someone from Land Rover or Mercedes to understand what luxury actually looks like. They can't use the cheap plastics and leather and expect people to look at it as a luxury car. It's a shame when the exterior is so well designed.
Hitting play on the live stream logs a 403 forbidden from Akamai on the official stream, I'm not confident it'll work when there's actually some content.
Were i suppose to make an appointment to avoid being an intrusion factor? Not sure how it works there.
Their self-guided, touch screen TV was way more entertaining but not enough to convince me to become customer though.
Good service followed by the good product seems like a win win, unless of course some links in this chain are not "as good".
I wouldn't buy any other car if I was there.
Disclaimer: I work for GM.
Side note: no one will get away with building shit after this. And thats a GOOD THING.
But really, they couldn't build a "proper" electric SUV, the poor aerodynamics would kill the range of a car which already has ~20% less range than the Model S.
Yes, air pollution from ICE cars (petrol and diesel) and all other sources of pollution.
I think they are touting this with an eye to the China market, where many people have air filtration systems within their homes and apartments. This means that they will be able to have good quality air when they are in their cars too.
VIN 1: Elon
VIN 2: Steve Jurvetson, board member Tesla/SpaceX (also has Model S VIN#1)
VIN 3: Mark Templeton, President / CEO of Citrix (Owned one of first Roadsters)
VIN 4: Sergey Brin, ..Google, likes pink Teslas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22AQyWBSWrg)
VIN 5: ??
VIN 6: ??
1: omg is there something next to me?
2: nope! ok..open door a bit more..
3: goto 1
it's now 8:42pm PACIFIC.