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Legacy Auto Is Losing to Tesla
Tesla is so far ahead, but other auto makers don’t even understand how.
After buying my first vehicle from a car dealership in 2018, I had some thoughts. I didn’t buy the fanciest car, just a 2017 Chevy Cruze from a Chevrolet dealer down in Cleveland, Ohio. I hated the entire process.
From feeling guilted — me, a 22 year old who could hardly afford rent — into a twisted contract with Capital One at a whopping 16% interest rate (yes, you read that correctly), to even small things most people overlook, like paying more than the car is actually worth through dealer fees, etc. So much about the car buying process is a rip-off and I hope I never set foot in a dealership again.
Thankfully, Adam Conover’s brilliant TruTV show that ran for four seasons, Adam Ruins Everything, criticizes dealerships for making this process suck as much as possible.
For one, if you want a new car, you are required to purchase from a dealership. Even online transactions directly from manufacturers go through a local dealer. It’s illegal to sell new cars if you aren’t a dealership and that law doesn’t look like it’s going away soon since states get nearly 20% of their sales tax revenue from dealerships.
The Tesla car-buying process is far easier.
Here’s how to buy a Tesla. Step 1: go to Tesla’s website. Step 2: purchase your car as if you were customizing it on Amazon. Step 3: fill out paperwork online. Step 4: done. It’s that easy.
Tesla’s plan to sell electric vehicles is a sort of genius that most people can really get behind. They don’t mass-produce their vehicles so it’s not built until you send in the deposit and they’re shaking up corrupt auto franchise laws that have benefited the industry since the 1930s.
If you’re in the market for an electric car, let’s break down your decision.
You want an electric car that gets good range. Seems easy enough, right. Most gas-powered cars get around 350–400 miles on a full tank of gas. My Chevy Cruze gets 340 — usually. Tesla’s premium sedan, the Model S, gets 402 miles of range, according to Tesla’s website. Even the Roadster, Tesla’s $200,000 sports car, gets 620 miles on a…
