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| The new Tesla S Model |
Tech writers love to compare Apple to almost anything. As Steven Johnson pointed out earlier this year—and as many other writers have as well—Elon Musk’s electric-car company seems to have Job's master plan drew up when he brought Apple back from the brink in the late 1990s.
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| Cornering at high speed, this model do shows elegant body line among other models |
Both sell high-end products that inspire evangelical favor in their supporters and incredulous, irrational hatred in their opponents of course. Consumer Reports just gave Tesla’s Model S sedan a near-perfect score, one of the best in their score history. (On the other hand, a New York Times reviewer did (controversially)have to call a tow truck.) Both Apple and Tesla strive for excellent and uncomparable customer service. When your Tesla breaks down, the firm will deliver a loaner vehicle to your location and pick up your old one for free, which is even better than when the guy at the Genius Bar gives you a new phone to replace the one you dropped in the toilet. And Musk, like Steve Jobs, is a fascinating figure <-- charismatic, pugilistic, unpredictable.
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| The front look is not bad as well. |
The most important comparison involves the two firms’ business models. When he came back to Apple, Jobs set out to do something unheard of in tech: sell luxury products at mainstream prices. The iPod, iPhone, and iPad weren’t just the most desirable gadgets in their categories. They were also very competitive on price: The first iPad was the cheapest tablet you could buy, the iPhone sells at the same price as other top-tier phones (when you include a service contract), and the iPod was available at every price point. But even though its prices were competitive, Apple was able to keep its profits high, thanks to their amazing manufacturing and in-house logistic efficiencies.
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| And the rear look. I do feel a bit of Mercs here, agree? |
Now Tesla seems to be following the same path. At $70,000 the Model S, its family sedan, is still a very expensive car, but it’s far cheaper than the $109,000 Roadster that Tesla launched back in 2009. This week, the company announced that in the first quarter of 2013, it earned its first-ever corporate profit. It sold 5,000 cars in Q1, and its list of orders is growing by 20,000 per year. Part of the reason Tesla has turned profitable, Musk say, is by making its production processes more efficient. Among other things, the company reduced the amount of time it takes to build a car by 40 percent. Over the long run, Musk aims to keep lowering the price of its cars—he’s hoping to release a $30,000 car in the next three or four years—while keeping the company’s gross profit margin at 25 percent, which is very high for the car industry. We looking forward to see how he make this happen.
