Tesla downplays removal of RHD vehicles in UK with The Reacher grabbing stick for Model S & Model X owners

[Redaktion]

After recently cancelling left-hand-drive variants of its Model S and Model X vehicles in the UK, Tesla has started shipping a grabber stick with new orders in the UK. The Reacher, as the grabber stick is called, is supposed to lessen the inconvenience of having to reach over the passenger seat to collect drive-through takeaway meals. Resorting to a solution like The Reacher downplays potential safety implications of driving a LHD vehicle in a RHD country, making it seem like a mere inconvenience, instead.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Tesla-downplays-removal-of-RHD-vehicles-in-UK-with-The-Reacher-grabbing-stick-for-Model-S-Model-X-owners.729668.0.html

[Silent Majority]

Since 70% of the world drives on the right (as in correct) side of the road, perhaps the lesser 30% should look at changing....

[Vincero]

Perhaps those other countries had road laws before the invention of any self propelled vehicles (gasp, shock horror)...

And perhaps, some other countries didn't care until they came about - road laws were pretty simple back in the horse and cart days. And before now there are actually some countries that have switched from one to the other.

There is no correct side - many people might prefer one or the other but I suspect a greater percentage would probably just get in and drive without caring.

The reality is it makes little difference and shouldn't be a big deal in terms of manufacturing, especially with the very modular design of parts and cars in general (even some crash structures are bolted on). I expect many of the Tesla controls are 'by-wire' meaning that they could probably even be in the back seats.

This is absolute penny pinching and probably is due to some typical Musk/Tesla a-hole decision like not wanting to pay for extra SKU parts or certifications, or some such.

Yeah sure they may save a few dollars / unit, but seeing as Tesla is already starting to loose out to much stronger competition, they should really be fighting for any market they can - they are still a small manufacturer.

[S.Yu]

Since 70% of the world drives on the right (as in correct) side of the road, perhaps the lesser 30% should look at changing....

Who are you kidding?🙄
https://www.worldstandards.eu/cars/list-of-left-driving-countries/

[na6cet]

Since 70% of the world drives on the right (as in correct) side of the road, perhaps the lesser 30% should look at changing....

30% drive on the right side... The other 70% drive on the wrong side 😁

[Gadget]

Since 70% of the world drives on the right (as in correct) side of the road, perhaps the lesser 30% should look at changing....

Good point. While we're at it, we should fix the couple of backwards countries who write the date the wrong way (it should be DD/MM/YY) and get everyone using the science-based metric system rather than the archaic imperial measurements. 😙

[Zimmerphrame]

Tesla shooting themselves in the foot if this is true(highly unlikely) as you are not allowed to sell cars en Masse in the UK unless they are UK spec, i.e. RHD... The exception being imports on limited numbers, and classic vehicles..

[heffeque]

Tesla is already starting to loose out to much stronger competition, they should really be fighting for any market they can - they are still a small manufacturer.

What? Tesla has a 50% y2y growth... every-single-year (sans covid year). Tesla is selling everything they can build, and on top of that, at the highest margins compared to it's competitors.
Some people our really out of touch with reality.

While we're at it, we should fix the couple of backwards countries who write the date the wrong way (it should be DD/MM/YY) and get everyone using the science-based metric system rather than the archaic imperial measurements. 😙

It should be YYYY-MM-DD. Period.

As for metric system... The only countries that don't use the metric system are Liberia, Samoa, Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands... and of course, same as 3rd world countries, the USA. (Burma, UK and Canada using a mix).

[Mr Price]

Left side... Right side... Just drive in the shade!

[Tee-Rex]

It would seem we had no disagreements on what side of the ocean to Sail on when it comes to boats. Funny how we all have different views on driving on the roads.. it's evident that there is no financial sense (with limited orders)in continuing with production of the high end Tesla models in Right hand drive in Europe. With that being said, given the hash the Brits made of Brexit, changing to left-hand drive would be a total disaster. so please let's not suggest that..😳

[Vincero]

Tesla is already starting to loose out to much stronger competition, they should really be fighting for any market they can - they are still a small manufacturer.

What? Tesla has a 50% y2y growth... every-single-year (sans covid year). Tesla is selling everything they can build, and on top of that, at the highest margins compared to it's competitors.
Some people our really out of touch with reality.

That may be so and I'm not knocking or commenting on their growth since the roadster back in to mid-late 2000s, but taking the UK market as the example here (as that is most applicable), Tesla's share (for all models of everything sold) is less than 4% - it was only just higher than Skoda which just offer rebadged VW's.

In the grand scheme of things that's not bad, especially considering the general supporting road infrastructure is still lacking, but Tesla is still not a big player. Bigger than 'niche' but a long way from being in the same sphere as the VW/Audi, Ford, Stellantis, Kia/Hyundai, etc., groups.

Just because you sell everything you build (badly in some cases) doesn't change the size of the operation compared to your competition - especially if you plan to take an approach which hands that competition an advantage.

[heffeque]

That may be so and I'm not knocking or commenting on their growth since the roadster back in to mid-late 2000s, but taking the UK market as the example here (as that is most applicable), Tesla's share (for all models of everything sold) is less than 4% - it was only just higher than Skoda which just offer rebadged VW's.

In the grand scheme of things that's not bad, especially considering the general supporting road infrastructure is still lacking, but Tesla is still not a big player. Bigger than 'niche' but a long way from being in the same sphere as the VW/Audi, Ford, Stellantis, Kia/Hyundai, etc., groups.

Just because you sell everything you build (badly in some cases) doesn't change the size of the operation compared to your competition - especially if you plan to take an approach which hands that competition an advantage.

That explanation has nothing to do with your comment "Tesla is already starting to loose out to much stronger competition".

Saying that Tesla in UK only has 4% is extremely short sighted, you have to look at two things: y2y groth patterns (their groth is not stagnating at all, and not showing signs of future stagnation), and percentage of fully electric vehicles Tesla is selling vs competitors, and... VW and other European brands are doing terrible. Basically Tesla (American) and MG (Chinese) are the ones pushing sales in Europe on the fully electric part.

[Vincero]

That may be so and I'm not knocking or commenting on their growth since the roadster back in to mid-late 2000s, but taking the UK market as the example here (as that is most applicable), Tesla's share (for all models of everything sold) is less than 4% - it was only just higher than Skoda which just offer rebadged VW's.

In the grand scheme of things that's not bad, especially considering the general supporting road infrastructure is still lacking, but Tesla is still not a big player. Bigger than 'niche' but a long way from being in the same sphere as the VW/Audi, Ford, Stellantis, Kia/Hyundai, etc., groups.

Just because you sell everything you build (badly in some cases) doesn't change the size of the operation compared to your competition - especially if you plan to take an approach which hands that competition an advantage.

That explanation has nothing to do with your comment "Tesla is already starting to loose out to much stronger competition".

Saying that Tesla in UK only has 4% is extremely short sighted, you have to look at two things: y2y groth patterns (their groth is not stagnating at all, and not showing signs of future stagnation), and percentage of fully electric vehicles Tesla is selling vs competitors, and... VW and other European brands are doing terrible. Basically Tesla (American) and MG (Chinese) are the ones pushing sales in Europe on the fully electric part.

As every financial product advertisement states, previous performance is no guarantee of future success.

Well, that growth can't continue indefinitely - at the end of the day there will be only so many people willing to buy a Tesla (and these PR things work both ways) - unfortunately it would take a lot of research to know at whose expense that growth is coming from - I doubt it's the bread and butter cars from Ford, Toyota, etc, and most likely is impacting the Mercedes and BMW like crowd. There's only so many of them.

Whilst they haven't officially taken half their model lineup away, effectively they have - even if they are not their largest seller, having seen the amount of Tesla's on the road, they still sell a decent amount of the model S.
Obviously they are expecting the 3/Y to be their main sales short term - maybe they are willing to loose S/X sales to others until a replacement is due...

Also, there is an issue with comparing sales of incumbent brands selling ICE vehicles alongside EVs - they have no impetus to improve their EV sales as long as the ICE vehicles are still selling at a profit.

Tesla has the biggest growth as an EV supplier, which has been hard earned, but it would be foolish to think it would continue unabated - at some point a couple of the big ICE manufacturers will become EV only and some of them will have a lot more R&D money and a better mastery of their supply-chain/logistics compared to Tesla to drive their sales and profits.

Also, Tesla are gonna need to sell more than just the 4 model variants they have - small hatchbacks dominate European roads still as that convenience of small engine and energy dense fuel is much more convenient and cheaper than an equivalent EV (right now) - once the tables turn Tesla are actually behind a few manufacturers in terms of having an offering or platform for such a vehicle.

I'm not knocking Tesla, just being a realist. Think of how many diverse models the others sell. Tesla can't fill those markets with just the 3/Y or S/X, not in EU anyway.

[heffeque]

As every financial product advertisement states, previous performance is no guarantee of future success.

Well, that growth can't continue indefinitely - at the end of the day there will be only so many people willing to buy a Tesla (and these PR things work both ways) - unfortunately it would take a lot of research to know at whose expense that growth is coming from - I doubt it's the bread and butter cars from Ford, Toyota, etc, and most likely is impacting the Mercedes and BMW like crowd. There's only so many of them.

Whilst they haven't officially taken half their model lineup away, effectively they have - even if they are not their largest seller, having seen the amount of Tesla's on the road, they still sell a decent amount of the model S.
Obviously they are expecting the 3/Y to be their main sales short term - maybe they are willing to loose S/X sales to others until a replacement is due...

Also, there is an issue with comparing sales of incumbent brands selling ICE vehicles alongside EVs - they have no impetus to improve their EV sales as long as the ICE vehicles are still selling at a profit.

Tesla has the biggest growth as an EV supplier, which has been hard earned, but it would be foolish to think it would continue unabated - at some point a couple of the big ICE manufacturers will become EV only and some of them will have a lot more R&D money and a better mastery of their supply-chain/logistics compared to Tesla to drive their sales and profits.

Also, Tesla are gonna need to sell more than just the 4 model variants they have - small hatchbacks dominate European roads still as that convenience of small engine and energy dense fuel is much more convenient and cheaper than an equivalent EV (right now) - once the tables turn Tesla are actually behind a few manufacturers in terms of having an offering or platform for such a vehicle.

I'm not knocking Tesla, just being a realist. Think of how many diverse models the others sell. Tesla can't fill those markets with just the 3/Y or S/X, not in EU anyway.

I can tell you if you want: VW recently said that they are reducing production of electric cars because "there's no demand", while Tesla, SAIC, etc. are building new factories as fast as they can because they can't meet demand. So basically what VW should have said is "there's no demand... for VW electric vehicles" because their price/quality is terrible, so people prefer to buy from other brands.

Now go and check how European and Chinese markets are going regarding fully electric vehicles, and you'll understand that all countries are doing a slower version of Norway's graph: so basically non-electric vehicles are a dying technology as electric vehicles get better and cheaper every year, and as combustion-based vehicles get more expensive with no major advantages left vs electric vehicles.

Check what is happening with VW, Ford, Toyota, etc. in China (they'll be out of business there soon, when just a couple year ago they were dominating the market), and you'll understand what will happen with VW, Stellantis, etc. in Europe if they don't change their strategy soon.

[Vincero]

Well, China is a bit of a different market - they have a lot of home grown makers who sell cheap and don't sell abroad and would probably struggle to get their cars certified in some markets. The other totally international brands (e.g. Toyota, Ford, etc.) are at a disadvantage in that scenario, especially with import taxes.

Only now are we seeing some of them branch out with their EVs (even though Great Wall have tried in the EU with ICE models before, and BYD part own other established makers).

Yes the writing is on the wall for mainstream ICE usage, but a long way to go in some areas.
At this point the only thing that will kill off ICE cars is legislation and / or someone managing to squeeze 2-3 times the energy density into battery storage for a negligible cost increase.
This is why, despite its complexity, Hydrogen fuel cells are always looked at - the energy density payback.

Still plenty of time for most of these companies to get their s**t together, but dealing with the 'race to the bottom' by some companies (like some of the China brands) will be their biggest issue.
Ironically VW have killed the eUP but in reality need to figure out how to make a successful replacement.

I see the legislation coming but not the battery developments needed to match the government timeframes.

Once that energy density issue is resolved we might actually even see commercial battery powered aircraft.