What should it take for other EV startups to reach Tesla levels of success and credibility?
#auto Major troubles for Byton now. It’s beginning to feel officially like the end of the road. At least in Santa Clara.
Tesla is untouchable because they are "doing it." Someone needs to introduce an affordable competitor but can't without doing the same 10yr ramp Tesla did with the roadster... Or invest billions in retooling a plant and take a huge risk / loan that you do it right the first time.
Essentially agree with you. The other thing that is needed today, however, is a much shorter ramp-up to at least 300,000/year. And therein lies the major trouble for every single entity but Tesla. No investors these days in a classic rounds-of-funding scenario have the needed business-case patience for us to say “We feel it’ll take more or less 10 years.” Especially any less-sophisticated-but-newly-rich China investors; they demand huge success in three years and in all major regions, not just starting prudently with one major market and mastering everything before expanding.
There is plenty of investor hunger out there for an aspirational American companies to “take on” Tesla, if even to be a company worth investing in long term. Not everyone is looking for a quick buck or to bet on a stock that exploded over night. Unfortunately for companies like Byton and Lucid they have little appeal to the majority of American consumers or investors (I.e. not the CA coast or NY) and have weak branding/pedigree. We will see how Rivian fares but based on my observations people are actively willing to seek out the next “big” thing even if it’s a long play.
Can you elaborate on why it feels like the end of the road?
Our CEO has spent the last year trying and failing to find investors to fully fund Byton. VPs and directors quitting left and right. Our colleagues in China have been unpaid since March, majority of Byton US employees are furloughed. Radio silence from our management lately is also not a good sign.