
Tesla soliciting supplier quotes for Model Y crossover, production March 1, 2020 - dave1619
http://teslaweekly.com/rumor-tesla-sending-out-drawing-and-specs-to-solicit-quotes-for-model-y-crossover/
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jedberg
I used to be super gung-ho about Tesla. I've preordered the X and the 3. Never
pulled the trigger on the X, and probably gonna give back my 3 reservation
too.

I love the way the car drives. The driver experience is amazing, with the way
it just goes where you want and autopilot just driving it on the freeway for
me. If it was just me, I would get one.

But the interiors are awful. They let me test drive an X for a day, trying to
convince to act on my reservation. Right after that test drive, instead of the
X, we got a Honda Odyssey.

Sure it uses gas, but my family is _way_ more comfortable in the van, and I
saved $100,000. After driving the X, my first thought was, this car costs
$140,000, but it feels like $30,000 on the inside. The seats were barely
adjustable. There was nothing for the kids, no climate controls in the back
for my wife. The back row was tight and uncomfortable for my mother in law.

I hope one day Tesla does an all electric van. But I suspect I'll get that
from Honda or Toyota before they ever get around to it.

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spectrum1234
You're okay with ugly exterior though?

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toast0
Why care about the exterior? You don't see it when you're driving.

~~~
singingboyo
To be fair, the older Odysseys were really damn ugly. Newer ones are slightly
better, but not amazing.

Of course, interior wins over exterior every time, but I do admit to some
confusion as to why anyone bought the old ones.

~~~
jedberg
I didn't even think about the exterior when I bought it. It's for my family,
so all I worried about were features that will make my family comfortable
while giving me a good driving experience.

I suspect that's why all those old vans were bought too -- you don't get a van
for its styling. :)

~~~
singingboyo
That's true, you certainly don't. Honestly, it's true of any car - if
something looked like a PT Cruiser (to pick a stereotype) but did what I
wanted far better than anything else, I probably would have gotten despite the
exterior. Though that is absurdly hard to imagine, so it's hard to be sure
what would happen.

In any case, I think exterior certainly comes into play at a subconscious
level after looking at a bunch of different models for a month... and if two
vehicles are otherwise very similar, I might opt for a slightly nicer exterior
over, say, 3-level vs 2-level heated seats, or rain-sensing wipers. (On that
note, I've never found a rain-sensing wiper system that I liked...)

For context, though, I'm in Vancouver, and as a city we're rather snobby about
car appearances.

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jedberg
> I've never found a rain-sensing wiper system that I liked...

Me neither, they're always too aggressive. I end up doing by hand, which would
be super hard on Model 3 from what I hear.

> For context, though, I'm in Vancouver, and as a city we're rather snobby
> about car appearances.

I grew up in Southern California. I doubt you will find a place more snobby
about their cars. :)

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davesque
So is this where the founders all get to come in and contemplate, compare, and
contrast their expensive luxury toys? And then move on to another thread on HN
and wax philosophical about economic inequality?

~~~
lunaru
HN is now (fortunately? unfortunately?) large enough that multiple groups of
people with different consumer identities coexist under the same forum. I'd
guess that startup founders are a minority by user count.

As a founder of a startup, I don't own a Tesla (nor do I wax philosophical
about economic inequality often), but there are plenty of articles and comment
threads that I find valuable. It's also healthy to keep abreast of a broad
understanding of what people find interesting. It just so happens that Teslas
are at an intersection of featureset and price that interests a lot of people
here and I find that valuable for HN content.

Also, a model 3 is something like $40k-50k (realistically) which is probably
above the range for a ramen profitable founder but certain well within range
of most of the middle class to upper-middle class such that I wouldn't
consider it an expensive luxury toy.

~~~
greedo
"a model 3 is something like $40k-50k (realistically)"

The currently "available" versions start at $44K, and features (seriously,
paying $1k for 'non-black' paint?) can easily push that to over $60K.

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rdlecler1
I wonder how much of Tesla’s problems are because of Musk’s ADD: You have
SpaceX, The Boaring Company, Solar City, Tesla Betteries, multiple electric
car lines, and now a truck and semi, HyperLoop, OpenAI, and probably a dozen
more projects we don’t yet know about. Any one of these would be incredibly
hard for any uber genius and time on any one of these is time away from
something else. To what degree can you do it all and helicopter in to run the
company?

~~~
spectrum1234
There is no doubt one company would succeed better if he gave it his full
attention.

But this is a great example of the Pareto principle 80/20 rule. With his last
2% of effort he could engineer the next Tesla car. Or he could get maybe half
as far as one of these geniuses on a new vision alone. If this is anywhere
close to being true you can have 7-8 companies with very minimal sacrifice.

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outworlder
> The Model Y or whatever the hell will have relatively low technical and
> production risk as a result.

So I take it that the Model 3 manufacturing line issues are now solved?

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jacquesm
It will reach volume production before the model 3 by that calendar.

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pixelpp
Hopefully the interior of this model does not look like s* too.

~~~
toddmorey
This common comment is funny to me because I _like_ Tesla's design
sensibilities for their interiors. I'll be the first to say the fit, finish,
and materials could all be better, but what they are doing visually is clean
and minimal, which I really like.

All that said, they hired Anders Bell away from Volvo a while ago specifically
to help with interior quality. This may be the first project that really has
his mark on it.

~~~
dogma1138
It’s clean but feels like a Hyundai and that is in the best case scenario,
which works for the model 3 especially if they can bring it’s price down even
more but for the model s it’s a bit shameful.

~~~
susanhi
Have you been inside an actual model 3? Or are you basing your comment on
pics?

I got ours a couple of weeks ago and it’s definitely not like a Hyundai. The
interior is very clean, modern, far superior to any other car I’ve been in. My
first thoughts when I got in was— the BMW 3 series is dead. My second thought
was, they better refresh the Model S interior to match this asap because the
Model S looks dated compared to it.

~~~
toddmorey
Aside from the better look, it seems like the build quality has made
significant advancements too, yeah? (I've yet to sit in a Model 3.) The Model
S squeaks and rattles like a 1980s Oldsmobile!

~~~
susanhi
We also have an older build Model S. Though I didn't experience any squeaks
with the S, the Model 3 does seem much more solid and very well built.

Here's a pretty good review comparing the S with the 3:
[http://teslaweekly.com/my-initial-impressions-on-the-
model-3...](http://teslaweekly.com/my-initial-impressions-on-the-model-3/)

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bborud
My wife and I are in the market for an EV, but the thing is, even the Model 3
is a bit big for a car to drive around the city and all the tiny cars I've
looked at have rubbish batteries.

If Tesla did a small, two-seater city car, with an okay trunk and a decent
battery I'd probably buy it.

~~~
greglindahl
I don't think anyone is planning on selling that car anytime soon, so you're
out of luck. The Smart brand is going all electric in the US, but the battery
will probably be too small for what you want. No one else is planning a
2-seater, except for very high-end cars.

~~~
bborud
There are cars being sold outside the US as well. Several big brand car
manufacturers try to make that car.

They’re just not good. Yet.

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chiph
The Model S is aging well (they really hit it out of the park with the styling
back in 2012). But rather than see Tesla introduce a new model, I think it's
time for the next generation of the S.

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greglindahl
The "facelift" S is your new generation of the S.

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chiph
Car makers typically alternate between "all new" and "facelift". In Tesla's
case, the facelift was the minor styling change they did a few years ago,
which most noticeably got rid of the fake grill opening. So they've done their
facelift - time to change the sheet metal.

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neo4sure
Yipee. I can't wait to buy one.

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dogma1138
So after Musk’s juvenile model line is complete where do they go on from
there?

Model C A/4 and R?

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mtgx
Models B, A, C, K. So they can bring the S 3 X Y B A C K.

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paulcole
It's an interesting strategy for sure. Instead of solving the problems facing
the current lineup just add another car and a whole new set of problems.

~~~
bborud
Actually, no. This is how stuff happens in the grown-up world where companies
can't just drop everything because one product has problems.

Sure, Elon Musk likes to sail close to the wind, but if this were any other
car manufacturer, nobody would bat an eyelid.

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ryanmarsh
I can't wait till this comes out. We're currently stuck between a 3, S and X.
I have two 3's on order but the 3 isn't going to be big enough for my wife who
schleps kids around all day (SAHM & very active homeschooler). The X is too
expensive, it's more expensive than a decked out Cadillac Escalade (her
current but aging ride). The S is nice but not as easy to get in and out of if
you have a child in a car seat. A crossover would presumably ride a little
higher than an S and be roughly as spacious inside as an X, and hopefully will
be more minimalist inside and lower performance like the 3 bringing the price
down.

