Jalopnik Post / Lucid

[Rob Stark]

Suppliers work with what is, not what might be.

No smart supplier would give Tesla the same priority for orders right now when the orders are likely to differ in magnitude by a factor of 5x+. That is not smart business.

There are many suppliers that have in fact been shifting priorities from legacy OEMs to Tesla.

Orders are not 5x larger. Tesla has 4 lines with higher commonality of parts. GM/Ford have 30+ lines with less commonality of parts. Tesla makes all BEVs. GM makes BEVs and ICEv. Ford makes ICEv,HEV,PHEV, and BEV. They don't award contracts for all vehicles for the entire world.

Any business that doesn't it look past today is likely not last very long. That is just stupid business.

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[SeaGeo]

The cost efficiencies of buying parts at scale, and the predictability for vendors dealing with large established manufacturers... these are massive advantages that even Tesla does not yet have.

conveniently enough, I saw today that Ford had negotiated long term fixed rates for some battery materials apparently. Which has protected them from a lot of the battery costs.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

conveniently enough, I saw today that Ford had negotiated long term fixed rates for some battery materials apparently. Which has protected them from a lot of the battery costs.

Yep, and that's not the only product they'll have done that for. As I've said, efficiencies of scale. But hold on, I'm sure someone will be along to tell us we're wrong shortly. It is the internet, after all.

 

[RWerksman]

One thing that people always tend to forget when it comes to legacy automakers is the incredible amount of debt that they have. The costs to service that debt is huge, compared to 'new' automakers such as Tesla or Rivian. GM and Ford have $180B and $210B in outstanding liabilities and VW, for instance, has more debt that ANY organization in the world at more than $430B.

You can compare for yourself here: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/...ilities&axis=single&comp=VWAGY:F:GM:TSLA:RIVN

 

[ironpig]

That's funny....I owned a 4Runner before I purchased my Grand Cherokee. It was like going from the Flintstone's Flyer to the Jetson's flying car (whatever it was called). The 4Runner is just so old with old tech. I mean, even today you still get a 5-speed transmission. No thanks. The Grand Cherokee has features like a Land Rover, but competes with the 4Runner on price. And my Grand Cherokee has been 100% free of issues, although people say that Jeeps can tend to have issues.

If you look at the Grand Cherokee I pictured above, it's a Summit model and the technology in it is simply fantastic. It's got some really cool stuff like massaging seats, night vision, a passenger side touchscreen that does a variety of stuff. Plus it looks fantastic for a midsize SUV.

I had a 1990 4Runner that I drove all over the country through college and in to my late 20s. Got another one in 2015 out of nostalgia. I still have it, but it's shocking how little changed in several generations of 4Runners. It's still slow, no tech and gets terrible gas mileage. But it's reliable and all the other blah blah Toyota stuff. I would love an electric Grand Cherokee.

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