Tesla May Get the Attention, But Chevrolet Will Win the Game
It doesn’t seem like a day goes by where we don’t hear some sort of news about Tesla. It could be something as simple as a new software update, or as complex as a new vehicle introduced. While they sell a decent number of vehicles in the United States, they have nowhere near the volume of a company like Chevrolet.
That’s important, because Chevrolet has the production capacity to make cars like their commodity items. This past week, we saw the Chevrolet Bolt at the 2016 CES show in Las Vegas, and it’s bigger news than anything that will ever come out of Tesla.
As you know, the Bolt will have a 200 mile-ish range and cost around $30,000 with federal tax incentives. That’s real-people money, and not something that only the elite can afford. Sure, Tesla is working on a Model 3 sedan that’ll be similar, but what’s the hurry when they’re selling every expensive Model S and Model X they can make?
The Bolt will be on sale before the Model 3, and it will be available for sale in more locations. There are Chevrolet dealers everywhere, and while surely not all of them will be certified to sell the Bolt, there’ll still be a closer Bolt dealer to you than a Tesla dealer.
The Bolt will also sell within the confines of the law of many states. While I personally don’t see what the big deal is about letting Tesla sell directly to customers without franchises, there are serious franchise laws in many states, preventing Tesla from selling there. Chevrolet will not run into that issue when they ship their electric car for the people.
The only thing the Bolt doesn’t have that the Model 3 will have is access to Tesla’s Supercharger network. But as more and more Teslas are on the road, the congestion at those free charging stations is growing. It might be worth paying a few bucks to charge right away, instead of waiting hours for access to free charging.
In the future, Tesla will still get a lot of the news coverage. They’re based in California and Elon Musk knows how to make news. They don’t even have to go to auto shows or CES and still be the talk of those shows. They have to spend zero dollars to get the media coverage they desire.
But no matter how many stories talk about how great Tesla is, none of that necessarily equates to more sales. None of that news coverage helps Tesla increase their production capacity and push out more units. While Tesla might be getting all the news, Chevrolet is going to do something even better. They’re going to do something that the shareholders will care more about than being on the front page of the New York Times. They’re going to do something that Tesla is still a long ways away yet from doing.
They’re going to make and sell electric cars for less, to more people, and make more money than Tesla ever will.
What do you think? Let us know over in the forums!
