News broke today (18.01.2019) that EV Playboy and star of media and soundbite Elon Musk has taken the unenviable step of cutting 3,000 jobs after the “most challenging” year in the car maker’s history.

Whilst growth had been strong Mr Musk was pained to admit that Tesla’s are still “too expensive for most people”.

This message is both a damning indictment of his company’s inability to keep innovation high and costs low and a shamefully arrogant statement from the Bruce Wayne of cars about his views on society in general; “Most People” meaning, everyone bar him!

While thoughts do go to the 7% of his workforce that will no doubt have to seek employment elsewhere, we ask where have Tesla missed the mark.

It is not unusual for a carmaker to get pricing, styling or even naming wrong and to those in the know and over 35 you’ll all be thinking of at least two examples of badly marketed cars that bombed like Peter Kay off a diving board. Tesla though have missed the mark on so many fronts, which one to discuss first?

Price – Starting at around  £75K for the Model X and S they are easily outpriced by their competition, the Jaguar I-Pace is £10K cheaper and if it’s only EV you want you can save £50K with the Renault Zoe.

Styling – Let’s say it now, Gullwing doors are cool, for a bit, when they are on a 1958 Mercedes 300SL they are stunning, but on an SUV, you have to be a brave owner; which is why perhaps so many I’ve seen on the road have a phone number on the side and a Hackney Licence on the back. The Model S could be anything!  Part Ghibli part insignia coupe and with a Corvette rear, it’s neither brave, out there, or astounding. Nor does it shout £80,000’s worth of car!

Running it – Thanks to numerous problems, all beyond Elon’s control, EV has not swooped across the UK and been the runaway success many hope for, and precisely because of this finding somewhere to charge it is problematic.

Apparently, in Dec 2018 there was 202,000 plug-in cars on the UK roads, but only approx. 19,000 charging points and this is clearly not enough, especially if you’ve weighed out £90k on a car and you’re left pushing it into a filling station and it’s been switched off owing to underuse!

I’ve said before in blogs, that like any emerging technology cost and solution are always the worries.

Elon’s and Tesla’s issues are simple, they have a great product but economies of scale have prevented many from buying them at an affordable price.

Would you buy a Tesla and if so where do they need to be priced?