Comments on: Tesla Model S Named 'Automobile of the Year'

By: Mr. Fusion

Mr. Fusion — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:59:35 +0000

Couldn't have picked a better car for this award.

Congratulations Tesla!

By: Notnats

Notnats — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:43:41 +0000

Dude Nelson… Are you a typical “thinking” American? Geezus… how can one misinterpret quantity for quality, innovation and execution. Look at the iPhone… which garners more than 60% of the cell phone profits globally! Produce less for more!
Best,
D

By: DownUnder

DownUnder — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:06:50 +0000

N, give us a break!

By: MrEnergyCzar

MrEnergyCzar — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:39:11 +0000

Hands down the winner.....

MrEnergyCzar

By: Thomas Fisher

Thomas Fisher — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:47:39 +0000

It's only "low volume" because they are still ramping up production. They have had nearly 15,000 people put down a deposit of between $5,000 and $40,000 for these cars (the higher number is for the Signature Series, which is now sold out). They are currently averaging over 1,000 new reservations per month, and that number has been rapidly increasing since the official launch party at the end of June.

Those numbers are already serious sales figures in the luxury market, despite the fact that the company doesn't advertise and only has a handful of showrooms. Tesla expects to sell 20,000+ cars next year and likely the only barrier to them achieving that goal is their ability to ramp up production from the 125 cars per week they achieved in October to the 400 cars per week that is their goal. So far they have managed to push up production every month and are well on their way to where they need to be.

Your points about the environmental impact are your opinion. I think they are wrong, but it doesn't matter. The Model S won the award because its a better car than the competition, whether you consider the environment or not. It's likely the quickest sedan in the world, has outstanding handling, class leading cargo space and seats 5 adults. It is priced the same or cheaper than it's primary competitors like the BMW M5, Porsche Panamera or Mercedes AMG.

The fact that it costs about 1/10th the fuel cost for it's competitors is just a bonus.

By: Mister E

Mister E — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:05:25 +0000

It's not about the sales volume. It's about a car that competes with some of the the finest cars, breaks down the world's perception of environmentally friendly vehicles, and paves the way for a dramatic shift in the auto industry which allows us to become enviromentally responsible, energy independent, and have a boat load of fun all at the same time.

Automobile of the Year...Very well deserved!

By: Modern Marvel Fan

Modern Marvel Fan — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:16:12 +0000

Good Job Tesla!

I think Tesla deserves it b/c for the first time in the history of EVs, it came out with something that is equal to the ICE cars in terms of price, performance and space. No compromise. Even in terms of range, it has enough to match what most people would need on daily basis...

Now, continue to work on that $35k version. I will save my money for that.

By: EV Enthusiast

EV Enthusiast — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:49:18 +0000

Nelson-

That's okay - we forgive you.
I stopped reading your post after "I'm sorry"; after all, that's what forgiveness is all about.

Welcome to the future.
Congrats Tesla.

By: Volume Van

Volume Van — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:48:52 +0000

It deserves it. Its is first Production Electric car which can seat 4 or more passengers and yet goes more than 250 miles / range and has proper doors and windows.

Many low volume performance cars have won this award even though they may not deserve it.

C-Max sold 3,182 units in October and that's 3 times the number in September. Lets hope C-Max rises further to close the gap with Prius and in the next year it will be named the Car of the Year along with the C-Max Plugin.

By: Nelson Lu

Nelson Lu — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:19:10 +0000

I’m sorry, but it’s completely stupid to name something as low-volume as the Tesla Model S the “Automobile of the Year.” Its environmental impact and, even if you disregard that, market impact is essentially negligible. I mean, the Ford C-Max can and should probably be considered a niche model, and it is likely that it will sell more in a month than the Model S will sell in a year. It would be akin to giving a community theater actor who has only performed in front of 5,000 people total the Tony for best leading actor, no matter how good that actor is. (And, in Tesla’s case, the price of the admission is close to prohibitively costly.)