Musk also claimed that “there have not been new car [brands] that have been successful for 100 years, apart from Tesla.”
Some automotive brands that were founded in the last 100 years:
Chrysler (1924) Volvo (1927) BMW (1928) Datsun/Nissan (1931/1933) Fiat (1932) Toyota (1936) Volkswagen (1937) Jeep (1943) Land Rover (1948) Honda (1963)
We all owe Elon a debt of gratitude for single handedly murdering the “billionaire genius” myth.
At least he didn’t pay 44 billion dollars to acquire it before killing it. Looks like he learned something from the last.
Daihatsu 1930
Kia 1944
Hyundai 1967
Lotus 1948
Lamgorghini 1963
Ferrari 1939
Saab 1945
McLaren 1985
Koenigsegg 1994
BMW 1928
Porsche 1931
Holden 1948
Mazda 1960
Lada 1970 (AvtoVAZ 1966)
Dongfeng 1969
SAIC 2000
FAW Group 1953
Changan 1959
Suzuki 1955
Tata 1954 (commercial) 1991 (passenger)
SsangYong 1954 (Ha Dong-hwan) and 1962 (Dongbang)
GAZ 1932
Geely 1998
Škoda 1930
Isuzu 1933
Subaru 1954
Proton 1983
Daewoo 1937 (as “National Motor”)
Jaguar 1935
I mean, Holden at least is dead so idk if that still counts as successful
Don’t forget his direct competition in China: electrical vehicle manufacturers BYD Auto (2003) and XPeng (2014). BYD outsells all of Tesla’s worldwide sales and XPeng is an up-and-comer that will likely exceed Tesla’s domestic sales by the end of 2024.
There’s so many companies in China building cars, I don’t know enough about that market to really speak to that. I tried to hit some big Chinese players with some history, though.
BYD and XPeng, however, are especially relevant because the former is kicking Tesla’s ass in EV space and the latter is about to. (And BYD makes some kick-ass public buses too. Glorious vehicles!)
If nothing else, you’d think he’d know about Volkswagen considering his hero came up with the Beetle.
Honda started making cars in 1963, but the company started building motorized bicycles in October 1946. The first vehicle with a frame and engine made by Honda was the Dream motorcycle, in 1949.
In 1958, Honda began producing the Super Cub, which is still being produced today, and is the most produced motor vehicle in history.
Those are polite ways of saying stainless steel is hard to work with, and flat expanses of bodywork are unforgiving when it comes to gaps, fit, and finish.
Why would stainless steel be any harder to work with than normal steel?
Stainless steel is alloyed with chromium nickel and other stuff. It’s harder to cut, shape and weld. The wear on tools is also higher and it work hardens faster (it loses its plasticity faster as it’s deformed).
It’s unpainted. On a painted vehicle, a dent or a scratch is a sanding, cleaning and a painting away. Paint can fill scratches and voids. If the entire surface is bare metal, you can’t bodyfill it if it gets a dent and you can’t weld metal into it or onto it to fill a void without marring the finish.
These are going to age like bananas.
It was a concept car.
I don’t get why they can’t just make the thing out of aluminium and paint it a metallic silver. It’ll look just as nice if not better, be cheaper to make, weigh far less, and consequently have a longer range and/or require a smaller battery.
It’s such a dumb hill to die on.
Are you talking during production or after it’s been sold? On the latter, lack of rusting will go a long way.
I read a comment recently that the flat shape of the panels are going to have a tendency to want to buckle inward or outward as they flex/torque. Similar to how metal sheets behave when used to make “thunder” sound effects on old radio shows. They didn’t put any curve or arc into the panel design to prevent this from happening. Wish I could find the link to share here.
And whose fault is that?
