Today, on another episode of “Who Cares?” we are considering the implications of what Consumer Reports says about the Tesla Model S, who seems to be talking out both sides of its mouth.
On the one hand, Consumer Reports (CR) has, on multiple occasions, given the Tesla Model S all thumbs up. Indeed, it’s hard to beat CR’s methods, but the Model S has repeatedly been shown to meet and exceed customer expectations, and even CR’s own rating system. In 2013, the Model S got CR’s coveted “Recommended” status, which is difficult enough, on its own. Then, just a couple of months ago, the Model S actually broke CR’s rating system, scoring 103%.
Interestingly, CR has just given the Tesla Model S, in a new predicted-reliability report, a “worse-than-average” rating, which means that the 2015 Tesla Model S has been stripped of its “CR Recommended” status. In typical fashion, fickle investors immediately started dumping TSLA shares, and TSLA stock dropped in value in a wild two hours of fervent investor stupidity. Indeed, TSLA stock rebounded and stabilized, which would have been a perfect time to buy shares in the company, still worth some $27 billion and is, according to Morgan Stanley, the world’s most important automaker.
In all of this, we bring up a very important question, “How and why do people buy cars?” Consumer Reports comments that Tesla Motors is insanely responsive to customers, and that almost every single one would buy one again. Clearly, these people are not paying attention to CR. The key to good car sales is making a good product that people actually want, and then standing behind it. The car practically sells itself! What other reason could there be for the fact that there’s a waiting list to buy a Tesla Model S? There will likely be a waiting list when the Tesla Model X comes out, and likely when the Tesla Model 3 comes out, as well.
