loopy
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I know - I was just joking about the demonstration of that at the launch.
Looks like Tesla is now distributing their Cybertrucks--- thoughts?
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If you tap the window on the rendering in the cybertruck screen it cracks. Gotta love a company that has a sense of humor too.
Much less used to chase and rope a Rino like the Duke did with Pockets driving*
* Hatari!
- Pockets wore what we would call Cargo Pants today
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Hey watch that!;-) I haul my rocket stuff around in my AWD Buick Enclave. My AWD Audi's were getting too small and the Buick dealer is just down the street for maintenance. It's an hour to the Audi place each way so easy to make the change. I like having the extra room the SUV has but don't need the size of a
truck. I drove early and mid 70's Cadillacs so I'm not intimidated by the size of the SUV.
Not Quite Nominal
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Wrong.
There are two Cybertrucks on sale right now.
Foundation AWD (80k + 20k for foundation = 100k)
Foundation Beast (100k + 20k = 120k)
No other trims are to be released in 2024. That means this year they start at 100k. Sure they have promised a $60k base model next year, but they also promised $40k, Full Self Driving non-beta, 500 miles of range, etc. and none of that came true.
Meanwhile, Ford is selling the Lightning starting at $60k (and losing $100k on each one it sells!)
Elon is smart, selling CTs at $100k, and probably making a profit on each one.
So long as Ford is willing to sell trucks at a massive loss, they are the better deal to the consumer.
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I have seen some in town as well. At this stage of development, I wouldn't want to try to tow a boat or load it with a lot of firewood.
Do you have a source for the $100k loss per Lightning?
loopy
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Similar...I got an Equinox so I could fit my big rockets easier and get them to and from launching with at least one other actual person going with me. Granted, it's also just FWD and a 4cyl with about 30MPG on average, so I'm not dealing with the efficiency issues of most trucks either. lol
kyanderson11
New Member
I own one. I’ve taken it off-road with a heavily customize Jeep Gladiator and kept up with 0 issues on very steep/rocky terrain. I’ve never lost from a stoplight. I love the look from the front and front quarter angles, don’t love the look from behind.
I’ve made it to two launches at my local club since buying it, and most people seem to enjoy seeing it more than hating on it. Most say it looks better in person, especially dirty on the playa sand.
The 6’ bed is easy to load, and I put low and mid-power rockets safely mounted to Molle panels inside the bed, above all my gear. I’m planning to put crossbars on top and make custom U-shaped racks to mount my bigger and longer rockets on the roof. I don’t think the 6’ Patriot will scare anyone on the road, do you?
I’ve made it to two launches at my local club since buying it, and most people seem to enjoy seeing it more than hating on it. Most say it looks better in person, especially dirty on the playa sand.
The 6’ bed is easy to load, and I put low and mid-power rockets safely mounted to Molle panels inside the bed, above all my gear. I’m planning to put crossbars on top and make custom U-shaped racks to mount my bigger and longer rockets on the roof. I don’t think the 6’ Patriot will scare anyone on the road, do you?
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To be fair, the photos and memes of Fords pulling Dodges out of trouble, Chevys pulling Nissans, Rivians pulling Teslas and on and on and on are endless.
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Because it has only flat panels, has to be the easiest car to wrap.
My favorite is the semi getting pulled out of the snow by guys on horseback. There are several that are similar.
What about Tundra Pulling A Space Shuttle ?
Not Quite Nominal
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https://electrek.co/2024/05/13/ford-trims-battery-orders-losses-swell-over-100000-per-ev/
Meanwhile Tesla seems to be turning a healthy profit on each Foundation they sell.
"...one source said Ford lost over $100,000 for every EV built in the first quarter—more than double the amount lost a year ago."
How does that work? Did costs go up $50k per EV and the price didn't change? Or costs went up some and prices dropped? Or is this some weird accounting where they took the company's losses over all and divided it by the number of EVs built? (If it's that, then just building fewer EVs would increase the loss per EV.)
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I've only seen the one video by TFL as a data point but it seemed to do well enough pulling their trailer and it was a really big trailer.
It's bullshit accounting, Hollywood style.
Auto manufacturing is a high capital, low margin business. It takes a lot of $$$$$ to tool up any new model, and even more $$$$$ to tool up new drive train, suppliers, etc.
Ford made twenty? billion dollar investment in all new stuff, and didn't build enough stock to amortize it. Because they thought they could get $$$$ for each unit. Surprise, the buying public is not so gullible. So sales were low. So production was low.
All the EV manufacturers did if to themselves. Greed. And conventional cars, too. Where the hell do they get off charging $50000+ for a normal car!?! People can't afford that!
Takes time, but we're seeing the market forces at work.
Not Quite Nominal
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Ford can make a good product, and they can sell a car at market price, but they can't seem to build that car at market price. I don't know that CapEx is the explanation, as most of the design and tooling of the F150 was paid for when they did the combustion version, and they buy batteries from CATL.
Strangely enough, Tesla and Hyundai/Kia are making money on EVs, at scale. BYD might even be making money, but the cross subsidies there are so hard to trace nobody knows.
Just a few years ago you could buy a $20k Mitsubishi Mirage or Nissan Versa. Nobody bought them. Americans would rather go deep in debt to buy a $50k SUV or buy a used $30k car instead of paying $20k for a cheap, new car. You can still buy a Civic or Corolla in the mid 20s (and they are beautifully engineered cars the size of an Accord/Camry of twenty years ago, and will last hundreds of thousands of miles with nothing but fluids, filters, and brakes). Neither car cracks the top 10 best selling cars.
You didn't buy the cheap cars, and that's why they don't sell them.
NateB
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I bought a Hyundai Elantra new in 2010, basic trim and low cost. 180k miles later and it is still the most reliable vehicle I have driven with a very low cost of ownership. Other than the normal wearing pads, fluids, filters and tires, I had to replace a brake light switch and an oxygen sensor. The fuel efficiency is down from when it was new. I only get about 32mpg now.
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I dunno.
It's definitely unusual.
A definitive midlife crisis car, if I ever saw one.
The Lego-inspired aftermarket kit from these guys makes it kinda toy-car cool:
Disclaimer - I have one on order, though will defer decision to take delivery until after I test drive one.
That's an accounting/depreciation loss, not a cash-flow or operating P&L based statement.
The same statement could be made about CyberTruck "loss per unit", if one were to (foolishly) instantly depreciate the entire plant and tooling CapEx investment on a per unit sold basis.
Silly and meaningless.
There is no evidence of that, as Tesla does not release financial results on per-model basis. All its reports are the level of granularity of "Model S/Y", and "everything else".
The only public data on CT sales comes courtesy of a gas-pedal recall, revealing that Tesla had delivered 3,878 electric trucks since last year through April 4, 2024.
Last I heard, he had a "tiny house" near his rocket factory in Texas. The story, at the time, was that his wife didn't like it and wouldn't stay there.
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After selling Cali houses to avoid residency (with resulting tax obligation and custody) claims, Elon claims to be "couch surfing" in friends houses. In other words, he is renting. Though also owns a nominal house somewhere in TX, where he does not actually live.
Whatever his real estate ownership preferences are these days, financial constraints is not what's driving those.
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FredA
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I've got a couple of friends who know Elon and they say his couch surfing is real couch surfing as in dropping in [often without warning] on people, crashing on their couch, eating from their fridge, etc....uncompensated.....
NTP2
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He is a strange dude…
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When you have friends at that level, if that's an issue for you, then you're not at that level.
