> There's a few Model S's in my area, and they're beautiful.
They're also luxury (the base Model S is twice an Audi S4) and on limited runs (the yearly production of Tesla is the same as AMG. Not Mercedes, the subsidiary which takes standard Mercedes cars and refits them with custom hand-built engines)
I mean I could make the same complaint wondering why the rest of the industry can't be Ferrari (7000 cars/year[0]) or Bugatti, but basic thinking will help me note that the market for that kind of money is sort-of exclusive.
[0] note: Tesla has ~250 more employees than Ferrari, expects to produce ~3 times as many cars in 2013 and has roughly 20% the revenue. The comparison turns out to makes way more sense than between Tesla and Audi or BMW, let alone Tesla and Ford or VW group.
They're just ramping up mass manufacturing. They have an enormous factory, and they're currently occupying a small corner of it.
They're not hand-building the cars, so I wouldn't compare them to the small run hand-build manufacturers. They're building the company for scale. Hand-building is much easier to ramp up and change, but then you get no economies of scale.
Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a new electric car developed in partnership
with California-based Tesla Motors (TSLA). The car is a version of
Mercedes' B-class hatchback which has not, until now, been available in
the United States.
This car, the 2014 Mercedes B-class Electric Drive, will be available
first in the states before reaching other markets, according to
Mercedes-Benz. It will go on sale early next year, first in just a few
states, but will become more widely available later on.
They're also luxury (the base Model S is twice an Audi S4) and on limited runs (the yearly production of Tesla is the same as AMG. Not Mercedes, the subsidiary which takes standard Mercedes cars and refits them with custom hand-built engines)
I mean I could make the same complaint wondering why the rest of the industry can't be Ferrari (7000 cars/year[0]) or Bugatti, but basic thinking will help me note that the market for that kind of money is sort-of exclusive.
[0] note: Tesla has ~250 more employees than Ferrari, expects to produce ~3 times as many cars in 2013 and has roughly 20% the revenue. The comparison turns out to makes way more sense than between Tesla and Audi or BMW, let alone Tesla and Ford or VW group.