Tesla made some serious waves last week when it debuted its Model 3 electric car. These weren’t your “gently lapping the shoreline” waves, either. Think “Laird Hamilton monstrous big-time waves.” We’re a data-driven, internet-focused company, so to demonstrate this point, we ran some basic Google searches. “Chevrolet Bolt” (the Model 3’s most direct competitor, and a car set to beat it to market by almost 2 years) returned 2.3 million results. “Nissan Leaf” (by and large the most popular electric car currently on sale) yields 4.9 million results. “Tesla Model 3?” 90.4 million results. So yeah… tidal waves.
Search Results for: tesla "model s"
Day Two at the Javits Center: The New York International Auto Show
Day Two began with the World Car Awards. Backed by a surprisingly loud, club-ish soundtrack and some odd song choices (maybe intended to help attendees wake up after a very long Day One?), the Toyota Mirai fuel-cell vehicle got the World Green Car Award, the Audi R8 Coupe took the World Performance Car Award, and the BMW 7 Series won the World Luxury Car Award. Mazda managed to take two trophies, as 2016 World Car Design of the Year and World Car of the Year, with its MX-5 Miata, and having driven the car ourselves, we heartily applaud the WCA jurors’ decision.
10 Kinds of Cars We’d Buy to Share
With the exception of a home, a car is the most expensive purchase a person will likely make (and we hope that home and car aren’t the same thing). Considering the improvements in safety, powertrain, and infotainment technologies, it’s not surprising to see vehicle prices rising at or above the rate of inflation. So, with the fiscal scope of a vehicle purchase firmly in mind, we have to ask: why don’t more people share cars? We posted an earlier article about the prevalence of ride-sharing services and their impact on consumer purchasing trends. While Uber and Zipcar have certainly given drivers more ways to get around, car ownership still seems to be the clearest path to unlocking the flexibility and freedom that a set of wheels can provide.
Buick’s Terrific Trifecta: Avista, Cascada, and Envision
In 2008 I thought Buick should be sent to the chopping block. Its vehicles were aged, staid, not exciting, and overly bland for the tastes of most young Americans.
Yet instead of discontinuing the Buick brand, GM thought it would be more beneficial to send Pontiac packing. Pontiac was just beginning to get its chops back thanks to the beautifully crafted G8 GXP, but it died at the hands of a bankrupt GM that desperately needed to reorganize.
And reorganize it did. Here we are in 2016 and Buick is not only still here, it’s becoming a real player in the affordable luxury market.
This year we have three Buicks in particular to thank for that, though only two will likely be available for purchase.
Nissan Could Rule the EV Mass Market
Conversation tends to drift toward Tesla and its competitors when the topic of discussion turns to electric cars.
That happens because Tesla is a sexy topic. Its cars are fast, beautiful, expensive, and represent some of the most advanced technology in the auto business. Both mainstream and upstart automakers want to compete with Tesla.
Audi and Porsche are scrambling to field a competitor to the Model S, while Karma Automotive teases us with the rebirth of an early EV. But these are all cars that will require an executive salary to afford.
The real money, though, is probably found where very few are currently looking: the mass market.