[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by Pontiac

If Tesla was so great and godly, why would people buy a Leaf? especially when a well spec'd Leaf is in the territory of a well spec'd Model3. And how is Nissan managing to increase the sales year over year?

And is there a ludicrous mode or auto-pilot (Tesla’s term for adaptive cruise control) in Leaf that people are behind?

There is nothing godly about any car. But, curious to see where you are seeing data that shows Leaf being close to Model3 in US sales.
https://insideevs.com/news/373812/ev...eptember-2019/

I don't see why anyone would want to buy a Leaf. Biggest issue with Leaf is the battery tech. Not controlling temperature of battery pack is causing rapid drop of range. That leads to rapid drop in resale value. In 4 years this thing fell from being a $40k car to $8k at a dealer. You can buy from private parties under $6k
https://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/...019600163.html

The reason people are now buying the leaf plus is the federal credit. Leaf would be a hard sell once the credit expires. Range, Supercharger network, power, and features. Leaf has all these tech packages, with cars already at dealer lot that you have to deal with.

[arunrajk81]

I know some existing 3 series owners who switched/tried to switch to electric cars especially model-3. Two of my friends tried to switch from 3 year old 328i to electric. Both these cars were having low mileage around 25k that time.

Its the same guys whom I described in one of my earlier post – https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/inter...alifornia.html (A Highlander, Two Bimmers and a 1 BHK Apartment in Sunnyvale, California)

One guy got a reasonably deal for 19k for his car and he brought his model-3 on 2018 Dec 31st, which was the last day to get good tax rebate and after that these rebates get reduced to 50% less and further later. I guess federal plus state rebate was summing to 10k for model-3 that time in California.

The second guy when he tried to sell his 328i, he was offered only 16k. He was looking to switch to plug-in-hybrid Van-Chrysler Pacifica which was also getting around 7.5k tax rebate. Since his quote was too low than what he expected, he dropped the plan.

If this was the case with existing owners, someone who is considering 328i as his next car definitely have model-3 also in his mind than any other car.
In my view one reason why 3-series is most affected maybe it’s the most selling sedan among German trio and size wise similar to model-3. For Merc, I am seeing more SUVs/MUVs than its sedans at least in California.

[sreeharipv]

Man.. oh man.. where do I begin?

Originally Posted by raystriker

I don't see this affecting BMW in the long run. Porsche will probably dethrone Tesla soon at the high end once the Taycan goes on sale.

What do you mean by dethrone? You mean more Porsche EVs sold world wide than Teslas? That day will never come. Do you have an year in mind when full year sale of all of Porche's EVs will overtake that of Teslas? Give me numbers.

Originally Posted by raystriker

Tesla's success is only due to being the first in the market. The real test will be to see how they hold on when the competition arrives. They have a long way to go with regards to the build quality of their products, something conventional automakers have pretty much figured out.

What kind of a double standard is that? In your books, make EVs possible when nobody believed gets no credit? Coming out of nowhere and beating the big guys is much more incredible than just continuing on the business that was built a 100 years ago and has major brand equity. If Elon and Tesla could take lunch away from BMW and Mercedes, what makes you think they can't continue doing that? Tesla figuring out (subjective) interior quality is less likely than legacy boys figuring out entire EV tech and also walking the line between profitability and the entire market being taken over by Tesla? The legacy boys have big baggage and major stranded investment waiting to happen. They are in a position where they can't decide between self cannibalizing their ICE business of letting Tesla do it for them.

If ever Tesla come to India, the Germans have no chance of fighting back.

[V12Doc]

BMW is so far behind on their designs including interior. Step into a mercedes and bmw interiors look like they are from the past. They are not as luxurious as the mercedes. The road noise levels are higher, interiors are worse ( too plain jane ) and performance is barely better than the competition. The only reason they even sell is their past as a performace luxury sedan. Tesla on the other hand has the performance, handling is amazing due to the low center of gravity, there is a lot of space and interiors are way more modern. Autopilot does help the sales. Tesla loses out on luxury and road noise to all germans ( Less insulation to keep the cars lighter ) but the difference is not enough to get someone to choose it over a BMW. I had a friend who was in the market for a luxury sedan, He ended up buying a S class because it does what the Tesla does ( Autopilot ) in a way more luxurious fashion. At that price points maintenance and fuel costs are not the the deciding factors but when it comes to 5 series and E class ( Model S has a huge price range ) , Tesla outperforms them in all aspect. He ended up buying a Tesla Model S instead of any of the germans in that price range