WHY Is It No One Is Even CLOSE To Tesla's EVs Just Yet? Musk Claims It's Because These EVs Have No Soul — Is He RIGHT?

I'll be the first to admit that I am not Elon Musk's biggest advocate. While I detest his public persona, leadership style and management style — I have heard from those in the trenches how he operates — there's one thing that cannot be denied: Musk has built something stupendous.

And, frankly, he disrupted the entire automotive industry.

We know this because as of today there's not even one electric vehicle that really can hold a candle to his offerings. And that's with all of these Teslas flaws. If current trends hold, there's going to be a significant downward trend for the tried and true badges. There's no way around it.

But how? In a recent interview, Musk even admits that he thought the competition would have ramped up in about three years. Simply put though, they're just not there.

Musk then drives home a crucial point. Musk notes that he believes its because the competition isn't building EVs that have soul. And he's not using "soul" in the traditional way journalists do. He means, they're just not building and designing great products. It's all done by spreadsheets.

So, is Musk right?

The CEO added that “the car industry is just fairly slow to evolve” and he believes that they “didn’t take electric vehicles really seriously” until 2014 or 2015 – giving Tesla a significant lead.

Musk also argued that competitors make many cars with “no soul”:

“And the overarching goal is, what can we do to make you fall in love with this car? And I think the biggest thing about Tesla and the cars that we make is that this is not designed by a soulless corporation. There’s not like some finance spreadsheet or something like that with some market analysis. There’s none of that. Obviously we need to bring in more money than we spend, but at the end of the day we want to make a car that we love, that hits us in the heart, that makes you feel. And how many of these cars, they have no soul.

He added:

“They make all these cars that have no soul or no heart, and they wonder why nobody feels anything for them. Why should they?”

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TomM - 7/20/2019 11:28:51 AM

+9 Boost

Pure Folderol!

Again - remember that the Nissan Leaf is the worlds best selling EV of all time with over 400,00 sales
And no one is really close
The Model S has sold over 250,000 and is in second place
THe Model 3 is a close third and likely will pass the S soon.

If you really want to compare these cars - wait 2 years - when virtually everyone will have them available - and you will be able to go to a LOCAL dealer to buy one. Even then - remember - that we virtually no infrastructure to support large quantities of Evs - and it is hardly going to be that much better in two years.

vdiv - 7/20/2019 2:06:25 PM

+1 Boost

The Leaf and Zoe are completely different cars developed separately.

MDarringer - 7/20/2019 3:00:06 PM

+2 Boost

For now, but they will be on the same platform shortly.

atc98092 - 7/20/2019 9:57:16 PM

+2 Boost

Let's be fair. The Leaf has been on sale far longer than the Model 3. It appears the Model 3 will pass the Leaf in total sales pretty fast once the China plant is on line.

MDarringer - 7/20/2019 10:41:53 PM

+1 Boost

The Leaf is soon to be replaced. The restyling was a time keeper.

SanJoseDriver - 7/21/2019 4:14:40 PM

-5 Boost

The Model 3 is outselling the Leaf 10 to 1 in most areas where both are being sold.

Truthy - 7/20/2019 11:50:03 AM

+7 Boost

These assumptions are self-serving BS. Who says the competition is so far behind?? I just saw and drove the Audi e-tron and is has character, soul, whatever you want to call it. Some call it quality and profits.
Other companies only build cars from spreadsheets?! He is likely referring to financial spreadsheets. Other companies have not rushed into the market because EVs are not profitable. Other automakers cannot risks fires and producing products with high failure rates like the touchscreen on the Model S that was not approved for automotive.
Now that EVs are being introduced by other manufacturers they will be well sorted out before they are sold to consumers - not beta tested with consumers like Tesla.

dumpsty - 7/20/2019 1:03:57 PM

+4 Boost

the major automakers are doing R&D on EV's for the long term & to reduce overall cost for production. I doubt Tesla is making much from low trim vehicles on each model line. which is why Tesla faces bankruptcy on an annual basis.

SanJoseDriver - 7/21/2019 4:13:53 PM

-5 Boost

Let's see the financials on Wednesday. Sales appear to still be strong and there is margin on all cars all the way down to the $35k model (which you can still buy).

Truthy - 7/21/2019 10:56:16 PM

+2 Boost

SanJose, gross margin only tells a part of the financial story. Tesla is losing money, lots. In fact they have only 3 profitable quarters and are expected to post losses for quarter 2 and 3 despite the carbon offset credits.
Debt is exploding, so please explain to us your comment that Tesla makes money on every car?