its a how many you can produce vs margins situation. not many companies want to take the risk on a high production low margin product, as failure would put you soo deep in the red that you wouldnt come out unless your first product knocks it out of the park.
its why moat. conpanies are doing the top down approach (e.g Tesla, Rivian) where you cater first to the high margin vehicles and then make your way down. given the sales of cars like the chevy bolt and nissan leaf, people are picky about cars they buy, and the problem new car companies have is the one that vinfast has, which is “would an average consumer buy a new cheap car, or a used premium car” and its usually the latter.
All these dumb companies chasing the wrong high margin class imo. Tesla did it right, start with the sports car: the EV powertrain plays well to its strengths, their big advantageous use case isn’t 600 mile road trips, and they don’t need to tow. Starting with the mom-mobiles and dad’s pavement princess puts you on the worst footing by needing obnoxiously large amounts of the most expensive component, needing to meet road trip or towing standards, and catering to a market that by definition has other big spending priorities, e.g. their kids or whatever they want to tow. If Ford’s first electric mustang had been a cobra equivalent rather than a sportier electric escape I suspect they would have had a much better time.
its a how many you can produce vs margins situation. not many companies want to take the risk on a high production low margin product, as failure would put you soo deep in the red that you wouldnt come out unless your first product knocks it out of the park.
its why moat. conpanies are doing the top down approach (e.g Tesla, Rivian) where you cater first to the high margin vehicles and then make your way down. given the sales of cars like the chevy bolt and nissan leaf, people are picky about cars they buy, and the problem new car companies have is the one that vinfast has, which is “would an average consumer buy a new cheap car, or a used premium car” and its usually the latter.
All these dumb companies chasing the wrong high margin class imo. Tesla did it right, start with the sports car: the EV powertrain plays well to its strengths, their big advantageous use case isn’t 600 mile road trips, and they don’t need to tow. Starting with the mom-mobiles and dad’s pavement princess puts you on the worst footing by needing obnoxiously large amounts of the most expensive component, needing to meet road trip or towing standards, and catering to a market that by definition has other big spending priorities, e.g. their kids or whatever they want to tow. If Ford’s first electric mustang had been a cobra equivalent rather than a sportier electric escape I suspect they would have had a much better time.