Follow us today...
Here is a brand we haven’t heard in a while: MG, which just took the top spot in Australia from the Tesla Model Y, is doing surprisingly well there. It is also interesting to note that in Australia, gas and diesel vehicle sales dropped 12.3% and 19.5%, while EVs are up 5.9%, somewhat mirroring trends in many parts of Europe but lagging, as pretty much everyone is; electric car growth in Norway and China.
Tesla Is Just Becoming Another Car Company
For a long time, Tesla has enjoyed being the only car brand that delivers complete electric car lines. As other companies entered the market, they tended to be tentative with EVs and never seemed to get that people like cars and SUVs of more than one size. In addition, Tesla also rolled out public charging stations that were initially free to help with range anxiety. And their service initially was terrific. They’d come to your home with a new car, pick up your car to be serviced, and then you’d swap back when your car was done. In addition, if you liked the loan vehicle, you could swap your car for one at a seemingly reasonable cost.
Tesla’s rollout was very impressive, given that electric vehicles weren’t really a thing before they brought the initial Tesla sportscar to market and then ramped up to volume with the Model S, which was, and still is an impressive vehicle.
Over time, however, Tesla has changed its service process, opened up its charging stations to other brands, and reduced its customer care. In addition, Tesla’s inexpensive manufacturing process makes Tesla cars expensive to repair after an accident, and its unwillingness to supply parts to independent body and repair companies has made the cars increasingly hard to get fixed.
These changes have mostly offset Tesla’s unique customer care advantages. As other companies move to EVs in configurations Tesla doesn’t offer, the company is evolving into just another car company.
MG Breaks Through
MG, a storied brand dating back decades and somewhat infamous for marginal quality but known for inexpensive fun, has stepped in to provide a powerful line of EV alternatives to Tesla. MG is bringing out cars that Tesla doesn’t offer (a two-seat sports car, for instance, that I’d have bought myself if it was sold in the States). It is interesting to note that MG has a UK heritage and is now a Chinese brand, having been sold to SAIC Motors in 2007.
China is rapidly becoming the leader in EVs, with far faster adoption of the technology and far more full-line EV car companies than exist in the West. It looks like the Chinese strategy is to execute the EV replacement cycle as a way to dominate the world’s automotive markets. The only things restraining them at the moment are sanctions and tariffs. Their execution and quality are impressively high.
In Australia, MG is strongly competing against Tesla and, as noted, has bypassed Tesla to take the top sales spot.
Wrapping Up:
As Tesla matures, it is facing more and more direct competition, and the advantages it once had in customer care and unique public charging opportunities are evaporating rapidly. By reducing customer care, making it challenging to get Tesla fixed by third parties, and an ongoing problem with quality control, Tesla is going from being unique to just being another car company. With Tesla opening up its public charging stations to other brands, it is evolving into another car company. New EV firms like MG are increasingly standing out with what appear to be better choices.
Musk’s political leanings don’t help the company because he leans right while EV buyers tend to lean left, and Musk’s public positions drive buyers away from Tesla. While their cars are becoming more mainstream and less differentiated, Tesla is also moving on to robotics and AI, making the company relatively unique in the market.
Rob Enderle is a technology analyst at Torque News who covers automotive technology and battery development. You can learn more about Rob on Wikipedia and follow his articles on Forbes, X, and LinkedIn.
Follow us today...
