Some squigglies actually work .... some of the time:- Meanwhile think you might be able get another shot @ $100 before too long.
https://www.chartr.co/stories/2022-11-23-1-tesla-recall-count-is-growing Recall: Tesla's vehicles get recalled a lot, but does it matter? On Saturday, Tesla announced the recall of more than 321,000 vehicles over a software glitch disabling the tail lights of some cars. That came just a day after the company recalled 30,000 Model X SUVs due to problems with the front passenger airbag. This follows on from multiple issues this year, including a September recall in which more than a million Tesla vehicles were potentially affected by a problem with the powerful automatic windows. All told, data from the NHTSAshows that Tesla’s tally of recalls this year in the US is now up to 19, with 3.8m vehicles potentially affected. That's a lot considering Tesla is not one of the largest volume manufacturers in the country. Indeed, only Ford drivers have been more heavily impacted by issues this year, with approximately 8.1m Fords caught up in the company's 63 recalls. Update required In fairness to Tesla, these days the word “recall” is something of a misnomer — gone are the days when vehicles always had to physically go into the repair shop. The vast majority of these recalls, including Tesla's latest, are now fixed by an over-the-air software update. That means almost no effort, or cost, is required on the part of owners to fix the issue. "Recalls" aside, Tesla’s market value has fallen $670bn from its peak last year, a decline equivalent to losing the value of 3 Disneys or 4 Nikes. Despite that, Tesla remains the most valuable automaker in the world, worth two-and-a-half times as much as Toyota in second place.
I don't know if that was meant as a positive statement about Tesla, but knowing your profound dislike for anything Tesla, I think not. Not only does Tesla have over 3x less recalls than Ford but most of Tesla's recalls are over the air fixes. Try that with Ford or GM ...
Tesla slashed its prices across the board. We're now starting to see the consequences February 2, 20235:01 AM ET CAMILA DOMONOSKE Twitter 4-Minute Listen Download " style="display: flex; align-items: center; min-height: 35px; width: 170px; margin-top: 14px; padding: 5px 10px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); background: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 400; user-select: all;"> A Tesla car is displayed at a showroom and service center for the auto maker in Amsterdam on Oct. 23, 2019. Tesla recently cut prices across the board, a move with big potential ramifications for the automaker as well as for the industry. John Thys/AFP via Getty Images Last month, Tesla dropped its prices dramatically — up to 20%. Auto companies offering discounts to promote sales is nothing new, but this move sparked a lot of reaction. So what was so special about these price cuts? And what do they mean? A lot, actually. Here's how the announcement is having ripple effects, from the impact on Tesla owners to the changes it could spur across the auto industry. Others are now under pressure to cut prices When a leading company cuts prices, all their rivals feel pressure to follow suit — it's economics 101. And the textbook scenario is playing out in the headlines. On Monday, Ford announced it was cutting prices on the Mustang Mach-E, an electric SUV that competes against Tesla's Model Y. Prices dropped by between $900 and $5,900, depending on the vehicle's options. BUSINESS Tesla's profits soared to a record – but challenges are mounting It was clearly a response to Tesla, and Marin Gjaja, the chief customer officer of Ford's electric vehicle business, confirmed to reporters that the company was "responding to changes in the marketplace." The big question now may be whether other companies can afford to follow suit. Tesla, which started out as an automotive underdog, now has become the overwhelming market leader in the EV sector. It makes healthy profits on electric vehicles that big automakers are, in many cases, still making at a loss — or struggling to make at volume. Sponsor Message On an earnings call this week, General Motors CEO Mary Barra said she doesn't plan to cut prices on the Cadillac Lyriq. The luxury SUV is supposed to be a Model Y competitor, but GM only managed to deliver 122 of the vehicles in 2022. "We think, right now, we're priced where we need to be," Barra said. The Ford Mustang Mach-E is on display during the 19th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai on April 20, 2021. Ford cut the prices for the Mustang Mach-E this week in response to Tesla's price cuts. Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images Used Tesla prices dropped overnight Lowering prices affects used cars too. Used car prices in general finally started trending down last year, after a precipitous rise. According to CarGurus, prices overall are down less than 2% for the month, while prices for Teslas are down 8%. "This is what we call the waterfall effect," said Jeremy Robb, senior director of Business Intelligence at Cox Automotive. "If new prices come down, used prices have to be pushed down as well." And it's not just used Teslas — used electric vehicle prices in general are being pushed down by this price drop, according to Cox Automotive. (Cox owns Manheim, the world's largest wholesale auto auction company.) EV sales are likely to get a boost Electric vehicles are increasingly popular with shoppers. And the cost of operating an EV is already lower than a gas-powered car. But the upfront cost has long been a hurdle. According to Kelley Blue Book, the average EV now costs more than $61,000. Sponsor Message At the Washington, D.C., Auto Show last month, attendees Xavion Butler and Frank Smart recently agreed that electric vehicles are the future. "Get on board or get left behind," Butler said cheerfully. "But everybody's gotta be able to afford them," Smart said. "They've gotta make them more affordable." Making the best-selling electric vehicle in the U.S. significantly cheaper, while also boosting production, would logically provide a direct boost to electric vehicle sales. Globally, Tesla delivered 1.3 million vehicles last year, and it plans to sell 1.8 million this year. The more rivals follow suit and cut their own prices, the more dramatic the impact could be. The GMC Hummer EV is seen behind President Biden as he speaks during a visit to the General Motors Factory Zero electric vehicle assembly plant in Detroit on November 17, 2021. Not all automakers are expected to cut prices for their electric cars. GM CEO Mary Barra said she doesn't plan to cut prices on the Cadillac Lyriq, for example. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images But price cuts annoy Tesla owners As you can imagine, people who bought a Tesla in late 2022 were not delighted to narrowly miss out on a bargain. "Feels like a scam!!!" one owner tweeted. Because of the way Tesla handles its pricing, the sudden drop is more transparent, and possibly more upsetting, than typical carmaker discounting. Most carmakers set a "manufacturer's suggested retail price" that is, in fact, just a suggestion. Dealerships and buyers negotiate the actual price. To boost sales, a carmaker, through a dealership, can offer a variety of discounts — like rebates, price reductions, discounts on loans — to reduce what customers actually pay without adjusting the MSRP. The MSRP tends to stay the same for an entire model year. BUSINESS He's the first buyer of the electric F-150. Why he's the future of the car industry Tesla sometimes offers incentives like that, but for the most part the price listed on Tesla's website is the price. And it can change whenever the company likes. Brian Levine, a physician in Tucson who ordered a Model Y last summer, definitely was not thrilled when he heard about the price cut. "The reptilian-brain part of [you thinks] 'That stinks,' " he says. Levine is trying to be philosophical. He says he understands not everyone gets every deal. But the immediate loss in his vehicle's value was a bitter pill to swallow. Sponsor Message Levine also owns a Model 3. But he now says he would think twice before buying another Tesla again. ... while attracting new ones to Tesla Someone in Levine's family was thrilled, though. His dad went out and ordered a Model 3. And that, of course, is why discounts and bargains are a huge part of the auto industry. Price cuts work: They boost sales. On Tesla's earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk said that orders for vehicles are coming in at almost twice the rate of vehicle production. "It's hard to say whether that will continue," he said, "but the orders are high." Meanwhile, the percentage of people using the automotive data site Edmunds to research Tesla, as opposed to other brands, more than doubled after the auto maker announced its price cuts, according to Edmund's head of insights, Jessica Caldwell. It's "a tale as old as time," she said. "You want market share, you're just going to increase your production, drop the prices." Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, left, and a Hyundai executive in India pose in front of the Hyundai IONIQ 5 during the Auto Expo 2023 in Greater Noida, India, on Jan. 11, 2023. Interest in electric cars is growing around the world. Money Sharma/AFP via Getty Images Teslas will get more accessible (which could affect the brand) Caldwell noted the price cuts could negatively affect Tesla's brand, which until now, has enjoyed luxury status. On the other hand, Tesla's not-so-secret "secret plan" has always been to become a mass-market automaker selling millions of affordable vehicles — like a GM or a Volkswagen, not a Ferrari or Porsche. And the price cuts could make some Teslas even more affordable than the price cut itself suggests, because they can now qualify for a $7,500 tax credit. The base Model Y, for example, is now eligible for the credit (though there's an income cap for the prospective buyer.Read all about it here.) YOUR MONEY Buying an electric car? You can get a $7,500 tax credit, but it won't be easy The price cuts are being welcomed by Tesla investors Investors had been questioning if Tesla still had the magic touch after the company faced increased competition just as Musk appeared distracted by his purchase of Twitter. Tesla still has other key advantages — including, crucially, a reliable and expansive high-speed charging network. (Teslas can charge at the Tesla Supercharger network; other brands rely on a patchwork of chargers from various companies, and malfunctioning or poorly maintained chargers are a common frustration for drivers.) Sponsor Message But would that be enough? Enter the price cuts. While some analysts had worried that they would cut too deeply into margins, overall, the stock market seemed relieved to see the company taking action to protect its dominance of the EV market. Investors now seem optimistic about Tesla's outlook after a miserable 2022 for the company's investors. Since the price cuts were announced, Tesla stock has risen more than 48% — less of a ripple effect, and more of a big, fat wave.
Which Automakers Have the Best Recall Rate and Timeliness? By Thomas Lee A new study by iSeeCars.com analyzed over 31 years of recall history and found that Porsche boasts the lowest “recall rate” and Volkswagen the highest, GM has the best "recall timeliness" of the major automakers, and Tesla earns the best “recall proactiveness” and Ford the worst. iSeeCars.com analyzed new vehicle sales data and recall data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) from January 1985 through September 2016 for each auto manufacturer to calculate three metrics: “Recall rate” demonstrates how often a manufacturer produces a vehicle with a defect relative to the number of cars they sell; “recall timeliness” is an indication of how quickly and willing an automaker is to identify problems with its cars and initiate a recall within three years; “recall proactiveness” reflects the extent to which the cars recalled by an automaker was a result of its own investigations or those of NHTSA. Recall Rate: Porsche Boasts Best Rate, Volkswagen Performs Worst Consumers who don’t like their cars getting recalled and wasting their time getting them fixed would want to buy a car from a manufacturer with a low recall rate. Porsche has the lowest recall rate, recalling just 531 cars for every 1,000 cars sold while Volkswagen is last on the list, with over 1,800 vehicles recalled per 1,000 sold. Why is that possible? The same vehicles could be recalled multiple times for different reasons. “This is surprising because VW cars are usually highly rated – Audi was Consumer Report’s top rated brand in 2016,” said Phong Ly, CEO of iSeeCars.com. But during the period analyzed, Volkswagen consistently maintained a high recall rate, resulting in its low 13th place ranking. The recalls (and sales stoppage) of diesel cars due to cheating on emissions tests have not yet been issued, but will make the company’s recall rate even worse. Over the 31-year period, the industry average was 1,115 car recalls per every 1,000 sold. Eleven of the 18 automakers ranked above the industry average. "It's interesting that over the long term, there’s no direct correlation to manufacturer size, country of origin, or longevity of U.S. sales, which points to the way recalls are handled as something very specific to the auto manufacturer," said Ly. Individual differences in manufacturers' approaches to recalls can be seen in the severity of the recall problems, and recall rates should also be considered in the context of the severity of the consequences. While a large majority of cars (88.1% of affected cars) are recalled for problems that could cause death, crashes, injury, fire, or accidents, some recalls can be for relatively minor problems, such as a misprinted phone number in the manual. For example, while General Motors ranks 6th for recall rate, 90.1% of the cars recalled are for issues with possible dire outcomes. Conversely, Volkswagen has the worst recall rate but has a lower percentage of vehicles with severe ramifications at 77.6%. Volkswagen's recall rate may be high because the company is more willing to issue a recall for a wider range of problems. Similarly Volvo, which has a reputation for safety, has a less than stellar recall rate. However, 71% of Volvo's cars are recalled for dire consequences—the lowest of any automaker. Recall Rate Trends: Volvo Is Most Improved The analysis of 5-year segments revealed that the industry average for recall rate skyrocketed in the last five years to 2,380 recalls per 1,000 cars. On the whole, the recall rate more than doubled in the most recent five years over the last period. But at the manufacturer level, there were some dramatic differences. Perhaps the biggest surprise was Volvo, which not only has the best recall rate from 2012–2016 by far, but went from a recall rate that was more than double the industry average in 2002–2006 to a rate that is now less than one-quarter of the industry average. Ly said, "It would seem that Volvo's process of reinventing itself, which most notably began in 2012 when it introduced the XC90 concept car, is having a positive effect on greatly reducing the number of recalls." Automakers that experienced dramatic increases in recall rates over the last five years include BMW, Chrysler, GMC, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Toyota. "A key reason for this increase is attributable to the very large recalls in recent years, such as the Takata airbag and the GMC ignition switch recalls," said Ly. “The large contrast for some manufacturers such as GMC between the last two 5-year periods could also be linked to the decline in overall sales due to the recession—recall rates in the 2007–2011 period could have been lower because fewer cars were being produced, making the increase in 2012–2016 even larger," added Ly. Recall Timeliness: GM is the Most Timely of the Major Automakers, Mazda is the Least Timely To assess timeliness, iSeeCars.com analyzed the number of recall campaigns from January 1985 to September 2016 and compared that to the number of campaigns involving vehicles within three years of their sale to determine how quickly automakers were issuing recalls. As an industry, manufacturers issued a recall within the first three years two-thirds (66.6%) of the time. Once again, there are no correlative factors between the automakers above the industry average, indicating that timeliness relates most directly to the individual manufacturer's process. "Timeliness is really a measure of how the car manufacturer handles recalls internally," said Ly. "Automakers know there are bound to be recalls, and how quickly they act has more to do with their process to assess reports of possible safety issues, conduct internal research or tests, and determine a course of action." Of all automakers, Tesla was the most timely at 100%, and General Motors had the best recall timeliness of the major automakers at 74.7%. “Despite the well-known ignition switch recall in 2014, GM’s recalls have historically occurred within the first three years after production,” said Ly. On the other hand, Mazda had the worst timeliness, largely due to major recalls in 2015 for ignition switch short-circuiting problems that affected vehicles going back 20 years. Recall Timeliness Trends: Mazda Had the Largest Decline The analysis of car recall timeliness in 5-year segments over the last 15 years is particularly telling. "When you break the data down, it's easy to see that timeliness dropped substantially with each 5-year segment," said Ly. "This is largely indicative of NHTSA's increased push on manufacturers to issue recalls for cars that have been on the road for many years. Takata’s massive airbag recall affected numerous automakers and so did Mazda's ignition switch issue." For the most recent 5-year period, Volvo was again the most improved – its timeliness went up to 100 percent from 66 percent in the previous period. On the other hand, Mazda’s timeliness dropped significantly – from 100 percent between 2002 and 2006 to 22 percent in the most recent 5-year period. While GM’s timeliness is the highest of the major manufacturers over a 31 year period, its timeliness falls to 51% in the most recent 5-year period due to recalls from its ignition switch problems. Recall Proactiveness: Tesla is the Most Proactive and Ford is the Least Recall campaigns can result from investigations initiated by either the manufacturer or NHTSA. NHTSA can influence an automaker to issue a recall based on its investigations into reports of problems filed by the public. While it’s fair to expect that not all problems will be caught solely by the manufacturer, it does reflect the automaker's proactiveness if a large proportion of its recalled cars were a result of NHTSA-initiated investigations over its own. It’s not a surprise that Tesla is the most proactive manufacturer as it only starting selling cars in 2008 and maintains a more direct relationship with its smaller customer base, but it is interesting to see that Ford ranked last, with only 29.6 percent of the cars recalled throughout 31 years resulting from problems it found on its own. This percentage is far below the industry average of 46 percent. Of the 20 recall campaigns that each affected more than one million of Ford's vehicles, 18 of them were initiated by NHTSA. While there are many factors to consider when purchasing a car, car shoppers should consider automakers with a low recall rate, high proactiveness and a high percentage of recall timeliness. "With this approach, consumers can have increased confidence that they’re buying from a manufacturer that will likely respond more swiftly to address safety issues and protect its customers," said Ly. Methodology iSeeCars.com analyzed the October 1, 2016 Recalls Flat File from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. For each manufacturer, recall data from January 1985 to September 2016 were analyzed. The recall rate was calculated by dividing the total number of affected units by the number of new vehicle units sold during a given time period. Recall severity was calculated based on analyzing recalls with consequence summaries that included any of the keywords “death”, “injury”, “injuries”, “injure”, “crash”, “accident”, or “fire.” The number of affected units from campaigns with such summaries was expressed as a percentage of all units affected. Recall proactiveness was calculated as the percent share of affected units that resulted from manufacturer-initiated campaigns. To calculate timeliness, the number of recall campaigns within a given time period were counted and compared with the number that occurred within three years of the affected vehicles’ model year. A campaign was counted once per distinct model it encompassed. About iSeeCars.com iSeeCars.com is an automotive data and research company that helps consumers find the best car deals by providing key insights and guidance. It turns new and used car shopping on its head by applying big data analytics powered by over 25 billion (and growing) data points and using proprietary algorithms to objectively analyze, score and rank millions of cars and thousands of dealers. Based in the Boston area, iSeeCars.com was founded by former TripAdvisor and SAP developers and executives determined to improve the car shopping experience for consumers.
It's interesting how data can paint a more accurate reality than one's own experience. I owned a 2nd hand Porsche still under warranty that ended up in the Porsche shop more often and for longer periods of time than my GTI VW, for which recalls were addressed whenever my service was due. From my experience, Volkswagen was better than Porsche by a long shot.
Anyone listen to Investor Day? Told ya. Forget the above, I even told ya 3 years ago. and this What was it he said tonight? "TSLA's ChatGPT moment is coming."