In Payback and Plugins we talked about Wrightspeed and their strategy to target the automobile segments with the highest payback for using EV technology. In Luxury and Innovation; I suggested how luxury cars like Tesla will drive innovation.
Now, the former CEO of Tesla (now the President of Technology), Martin Eberhard has a discussion with David Pogue and he spells out Tesla’s strategy in simple steps.
DP: That’s handy. Now, you have bigger plans than this one model . . .
ME: Yeah. This is our first car. We come in at the top of the market, changing the way people think about electric cars fundamentally. Electric cars don’t have to be goofy little golf carts; they can be something that we all want to own. Maybe we can’t all afford one of these things, but we realize that electric cars can be hot cars. O.K.
It allows Tesla Motors to develop the brand, to develop the relationships we need with suppliers, to build and buy things at prices that allow us to make more affordable cars.
With that progress, then we consider the next car. We look for a car that’s in the $50,000 range that can seat five adults as our next model. Still kind of expensive, but a step down, for sure, from the $100,000 roadster.
If we pull that off, then the next car should be higher-volume still and lower priced.
It’s how you get into the market. If you try to come in from Day 1 and build a car that everyone can afford, it’s a recipe for disaster—as all of the electric car companies in the last 30 or 40 years have proven.
Well, you cannot get a better explanation. Now, the same blueprint can be used by other companies to enter the “sustainability and environmental” markets and drive innovation and growth.
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