http://www.youtube.com/embed/8_lfxPI5ObM?rel=0 5 min.
Impressed me... You could eat of those floors...maybe they can get the price down to where I can afford one, some day
Not long after I bought some Tesla stock at $130, Royce advised me to sell it. Today it's $238.
Well Ralph,.....think about it,......ya' see, there's no water pump on a Tesla, right?
........sorry,.......not tryn' to be nasty,......just couldn't resist!
Side note: Two of my sons put electricity to a bunch, if not all, of the robots at Tesla.
Can't buy one in Michigan (and a few other states) as state laws require cars be sold through a dealer network. Gov Rick just signed a new law reinforcing this.
I'm sure a neighboring state will be happy to collect the sales tax.
These robots are the same ones Candy and I saw at the Ferrari Factory a number of years back. Robots such as these have been used on car manufacture now for at least 10 years.
The windshield robot at Ferrari 1st measured the actual opening, then went over to the rack of windshields and measured the outside of the glass. It might take the 1st glass or go through the rack until it found the exact one that matched the body dementions. Then it took the best fitting glass, applied the correct amount of sealer and then installed the glass into the body shell. Interesting after the glass was installed and the outside edge of the windshield was measured to make sure it was placed correctly, it then bumped the glass to seal it in the body.
A friend of mine was involved with a major American manufacturer, his job was programming the paint robots. One night there was a power failure and when the power came back on the robots went wacko, painting everything in site including the walls, car bodies and everything in their path.
just sayin'
brasscarguy
I wonder how many techs it takes to keep the robots working?
The NUUMI plant where Tesla builds cars was automated when it was a Toyota and Generic Motors plant. All those robots are old ones.
When Toyota gave Tesla $50 Million and the plant in 2010, Tesla owner Elon Musk announced that the plant "should employ around 1,000 workers now to produce around 20,000 cars per year".
That has not happened. Tesla profits are imaginary, and the stock price is not supported by any true value.
Caveat Emptor.
Yeh, even Musk says the price is high. But nearly the whole market is overpriced, too.
Musk's SpaceX just got a competitive boost when that Orbital Sciences rocket blew up the other day. Several years ago he looked at the Russian motors like Orbital uses, and was not impressed. He builds his own.
Royce,
Ever ridden or driven one? I have and they are pretty neat. I'm sure scoring the best ever on the crash test rating was rigged too.
The states that are blocking them from being sold is an abuse of power and should infuriate any capitalist. Traditional automakers are clearly concerned about Tesla as they are the ones pushing states to block the sale. Personally I welcome competition because it pushes me to make a better product.
Surely 3,000 workers are or will eat into any profit. Solution is to reduce the workers, and use more modern products to produce cars. For example I would use Carbon Fiber Technolgy.
John
FWIW
The big, imaginary worker numbers are for the politicians to use. That goes on wherever there is a govt subsidy, like used to be with every new walmart.
Ned,I agree with you. I have to admit I don't know the whole story on the dealership only sales law, but I find it interesting the millionaire businessman turned governor, in a state with GM and Ford headquarters, was quick to sign the bill.
Ned,
Yes, I have rode in one last year. It is really fast. The sticker price was almost $125K!!!!! For that kind of money I would buy a really nice, equally fast AMG Mercedes and have $40K left for fuel, insurance, tires and whatever else I could think of.