What would make you cancel your Mach-E reservation and buy something else?

Kamuelaflyer

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I just didn’t plan on a 10-week pandemic induced delay.
It's longer than that and the effects are going to be going on for a long time. The only reason Tesla was able to start producing vehicles somewhat fast is that they broke the law in Alameda County. I doubt we've seen the end of the effects on the automotive industry.

Your need for an SUV for the winter is understandable though. If you go that route, let us know how you like the vehicle.
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ChasingCoral

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It's longer than that and the effects are going to be going on for a long time. The only reason Tesla was able to start producing vehicles somewhat fast is that they broke the law in Alameda County.
Perhaps their cracker-jack QC was part of this as well? Maybe the assemblers figured it doesn't rain in southern California, so why seal the vehicles?
 

GoGoGadgetMachE

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Perhaps their cracker-jack QC was part of this as well? Maybe the assemblers figured it doesn't rain in southern California, so why seal the vehicles?
It never rains in California, but Coral don't they warn ya
It pours, man it pours
 

Kamuelaflyer

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Maybe the assemblers figured it doesn't rain in southern California, so why seal the vehicles?
Ok, I'll put my old man hat on.

Back in the day ...

When the plant was a GM plant, I vowed I'd never by anything made by GM at that plant. I knew a fair number of workers. Good thing drug testing wasn't a thing then. ;)

Yes, things change. And I was like 22 at the time, so I knew the 22-year-olds. Yeah nobody at that age is into partying. :p
 

efisher

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Same here after this "FE drop" nonsense. One foot out the door after years of hoping Ford would deliver a car really designed, not copied from Tesla. Sorry Mr. Ford - it is a compliance car. Prove me wrong and still be making them in 5 years with a dash board, not a computer screen hung off the dash. And maybe a door handle worthy of a $60k car !
OK boomer. ;)
 


tex

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OK boomer. ;)
Partially true, but I had a Tesla S wrecked in Honolulu port prior to 2013 delivery as part of the first shipment of 17 cars - they damaged a total of 5 cars - so no fear of technology here. Tesla gave me a full refund. I just expected a lot more from Ford after years of EV development than copying Tesla. Give me good user design and innovation and I am all for new technology. Give me marketing gimmicks and no direct customer contact and I am out. Not an age thing, just years of personal experience in high tech marketing and running a small, competitive company.
 

timbop

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Partially true, but I had a Tesla S wrecked in Honolulu port prior to 2013 delivery as part of the first shipment of 17 cars - they damaged a total of 5 cars - so no fear of technology here. Tesla gave me a full refund. I just expected a lot more from Ford after years of EV development than copying Tesla. Give me good user design and innovation and I am all for new technology. Give me marketing gimmicks and no direct customer contact and I am out. Not an age thing, just years of personal experience in high tech marketing and running a small, competitive company.
While I will agree with you that Ford's marketing department has been bad and the whole mach-drop thing was ill conceived and even more badly implemented, I'll disagree about the car. It is obvious a great deal of effort has gone into the engineering and UI, and they did not just "hang an computer screen on the dash" and call it a UI. They clearly went to a lot of effort not to mimic tesla but learn from them: the things tesla does well they copied, but they fixed the dumb things tesla does badly. It has the traditional controls on the steering wheel and column, the blind spot warnings are in the mirrors where they should be, the environmental and radio controls are affixed permanently in the expected place (even though most are "soft" buttons), and they even gave thought to removing the unneeded console space to provide women with 2 convenient locations to stow their purses. Ford gave thought to a lot of things about this car; it is not a rehashed escape with a battery. Of course there are a few things that could be better, but given that they started over in 2017 this car is anything but a ho-hum compliance car.

The engineers and designers did a fantastic job before production, and lets hope that shines through into the delivery phase.
 

agoldman

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I wanted an electric while waiting a year for the ME GT. Thought, I'll get a Y. They should have good resale value next year. How bad could the fit and finish really be? The answer was REALLY REALLY BAD! To the point of cancelling my Y order and loosing the $100. In fact I got in on the drop and ordered a FE to hold me over. Even a first run batch will be 1000 times better quality control than the hot messes I saw at the Tesla dealer, not to mention the owners who have taken recent delivery and their ongoing horror stories. It's mind boggling. Even the Tesla sales people realize what a mess it is off the record.
 

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I wanted an electric while waiting a year for the ME GT. Thought, I'll get a Y. They should have good resale value next year. How bad could the fit and finish really be? The answer was REALLY REALLY BAD! To the point of cancelling my Y order and loosing the $100. In fact I got in on the drop and ordered a FE to hold me over. Even a first run batch will be 1000 times better quality control than the hot messes I saw at the Tesla dealer, not to mention the owners who have taken recent delivery and their ongoing horror stories. It's mind boggling. Even the Tesla sales people realize what a mess it is off the record.
Yep. The impression I have gotten is "F* you, because we're Tesla"
 

agoldman

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Yep. The impression I have gotten is "F* you, because we're Tesla"
No, I think they just don't know how to manage it at all. The reason they are so sucessful is that these people are buying tech and range. Well that, and there is no real competition yet. If they don't improve bny 2022, they are in trouble. There will be some actiual competion by then from virtually all manufactures. But for now, they don't realize the urgency of the problem because they still have plenty of sales. But I'm telling you, they are ripe for a rude awakening. Hopefully the mach e proves a good worthy start. So tech and range and quality? That will be a winner. Can't leave any of those things out though.
 

dbsb3233

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No, I think they just don't know how to manage it at all. The reason they are so sucessful is that these people are buying tech and range. Well that, and there is no real competition yet. If they don't improve bny 2022, they are in trouble. There will be some actiual competion by then from virtually all manufactures. But for now, they don't realize the urgency of the problem because they still have plenty of sales. But I'm telling you, they are ripe for a rude awakening. Hopefully the mach e proves a good worthy start. So tech and range and quality? That will be a winner. Can't leave any of those things out though.
Yep. While I have no experience with Tesla, the pattern is familiar. Tesla's customer base is largely the "low hanging fruit" of the BEV market -- people I often refer to as BEV enthusiasts. Whom because of their dedication and intense desire for BEVs are willing to compromise more to get one. Including putting up with some flaws. They also have a tendency to be more interested in the tech (kinda like the Apple enthusiasts that would stand in line for days to pay premium $$ to get the newest iPhone on day 1).

But enthusiasts only make up a small% of the overall market. Ford (and others) are positioning for the meat of the market. That means competing with the quality of ICE vehicles. Those consumers aren't as willing to overlook build quality just to get a BEV. They're gonna be OK just buying a good ICE car instead if the BEV quality isn't as good.

So when Ford and others make BEVs that are just as good build-wise, Tesla will start to struggle to grow beyond their enthusiasts unless they find a way to catch up to Ford (and others) on build quality.
 

timbop

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No, I think they just don't know how to manage it at all. The reason they are so sucessful is that these people are buying tech and range. Well that, and there is no real competition yet. If they don't improve bny 2022, they are in trouble. There will be some actiual competion by then from virtually all manufactures. But for now, they don't realize the urgency of the problem because they still have plenty of sales. But I'm telling you, they are ripe for a rude awakening. Hopefully the mach e proves a good worthy start. So tech and range and quality? That will be a winner. Can't leave any of those things out though.
You should read some of the stories people tell. Check out insideevs (generally pro tesla), or search for tesla problems on youtube. One guy in the UK in particular was a huge fanboy, and on his third trip for a water leak was emotionally saying he was at an end with tesla if their service didn't fix it. Apparently throughout the saga both Tesla service and his own "community" were on him for making it up. The guy whose bumper ripped off when he went through a puddle was first told by Tesla that it wasn't covered under warranty because it was normal wear and tear. Musk himself tweeted that people who refused delivery of a clearly incompletely assembled Model Y would not be allowed to order another one for a year. No "we're sorry, it's unacceptable and we'll make it right", but instead a soup nazi-esque "no car for you! one year!"
 

MerryBrown

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Yep. While I have no experience with Tesla, the pattern is familiar. Tesla's customer base is largely the "low hanging fruit" of the BEV market -- people I often refer to as BEV enthusiasts. Whom because of their dedication and intense desire for BEVs are willing to compromise more to get one. Including putting up with some flaws. They also have a tendency to be more interested in the tech (kinda like the Apple enthusiasts that would stand in line for days to pay premium $$ to get the newest iPhone on day 1).

But enthusiasts only make up a small% of the overall market. Ford (and others) are positioning for the meat of the market. That means competing with the quality of ICE vehicles. Those consumers aren't as willing to overlook build quality just to get a BEV. They're gonna be OK just buying a good ICE car instead if the BEV quality isn't as good.

So when Ford and others make BEVs that are just as good build-wise, Tesla will start to struggle to grow beyond their enthusiasts unless they find a way to catch up to Ford (and others) on build quality.
Maybe it's because I live in the edges of the Silicon Valley and 50 miles from the Fremont Tesla factory but there are a whole lot of folks driving Teslas in this area. When Elon dropped the prices earlier this summer there were a lot of takers. I sure hope that we see that kind of enthusiasm for the Mustang Mach-E. Whatever else you say about Elon, he has snowed a lot of folks into buying into his idea of what a cool car is.
 

darren

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I think a certain amount of Tesla owners like the bragging rights to be the first off a red light. This group of customers will stay with Tesla. I don't see any lower price EV that has the same or better performance.
 

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Meanwhile, VW has released pictures of the ID4 dash:
https://electrek.co/2020/09/04/vw-id-4-interior-tesla-inspirations/

It's interesting that this article ends with a note that it won't be available in the US until production in TN starts in 2022. That's not what was previously speculated.
I guess we'll know more later in this month's reveal.
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