This. Apple is already a luxury brand and has the money to make what Tesla cannot: a truly no-compromise electric car. Teslas, while perhaps faster than traditional ICE vehicles, have comparably less luxurious interiors. Additionally, Apple has such brand power that they could release a car tomorrow and have a guaranteed level of sales. Few companies would have the cash, expertise and brand value to develop such a product.
Seriously. No amount of design savvy and fandom is going to allow Apple to displace Tesla's core competency that easily.
The Model S is the best performing electric car on the market. It is a luxury vehicle with nearly every modern accommodation for comfort, the ability to accelerate to 60 mph in as little as 2.5 seconds and well over 200 miles to a single charge.
I can't even conceive of how someone could say Apple is the company to make a no compromises car to beat Tesla with a straight face. I can't even see a compromise.
Several of the Model S features (enhanced unibody strength due to friction stir welding, the fuse that enables Ludicrous mode) are enabled by tech sharing from SpaceX. This is not something Apple (or any non-integrated manufacturer really) can easily replicate.
I don't understand the obsession with ‘luxury’ interiors and I think it's a symptom of what's wrong with the car industry.
No, I'm obviously not in the target demographic for an expensive BMW but I don't think everyone who can afford to buy an expensive car is simply looking for luxury. If the trade-off is between driving around in hihgh luxury in a smelly, polluting car or driving around in modest ‘luxury’ in a car that is a much more elegant technical solution to private transport than I know which side of the fence I fall.
Yes, an electric car should look good, have good performance and be elegant. But I don't think it needs to reach the high end of luxury, even in the present price bracket in which the model S sits.
A $40,000 3 series BMW has a nicer interior than a $130,000 Tesla. That's what people are referring to. Not comparing to equally priced cars, comparing to cars that are literally 6 figures cheaper.
People who are buying the S don't care. You're getting the third fastest production vehicle in existence (at the price point you quoted) with autopilot that runs on electricity.
But this would be their 4th car. Tesla has been in the car industry for 13 years, building brand awareness.
Additionally, a lot of the people still buy Teslas with the motivation of saving the environment and abandoning fossil fuels. Where as hopefully Apple would just make an all around superior car.
> Tesla has been in the car industry for 13 years, building brand awareness.
... and building domain expertise. Apple is at the top of the smartphone game and still gets manufacturing significantly wrong at times - see the bendy iphone or the antenna-case that can't call if you hold it the wrong way. Jumping the fence to the world of vehicles is a brand new domain to make mistakes in.
Keep in mind also that Apple has gone back on things they've said in the past. Radios in ipods were never going to happen, then they did. Mocked users of a stylus, then released Pencil. The iPhone is the perfect size for your hand... then they embiggened it. Getting it right the first time is something Apple sometimes does, and sometimes fails at.
Apple has also released a lot of turkeys over the years that people conveniently forget about. I just can't see them jumping the fence to a significantly different product domain and simply beating everyone else there at the game.
Could you name one of the turkeys? Sure, some of the things you name weren't ideal, but I don't think they bothered most people and it certainly didn't seem to hit the bottom line.
If you want to save the environment, a Leaf or Prius is far cheaper and has been around much longer than the Model 3 will have been. It's mostly a status symbol masquerading as an environmental benefit, something that I think Apple could play to easily.
I disagree with your implicit premise that Tesla has any significant compromises to be corrected. I enjoy driving Tesla vehicles more than comparable BMW, Audi and Mercedes vehicles. Most cars as fast as a Tesla look more like supercars, but they're smaller and less luxurious on the inside. And most cars as luxurious as Teslas internally are not as fast or have the same technology (to say nothing of the car being the best performing electric car).
I agree with your argument that few companies could leverage the needed resources to compete with Tesla on a comparable electric vehicle, but I strongly disagree that Apple would be the company to do it.
