German automakers who once laughed off Elon Musk are now starting to worry

[Zorro]

It wasn't long ago when the German car industry was still laughing out loud about Elon Musk and his Tesla Motors electric car company.

The proud makers of the world's top-selling luxury brands such as Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Porsche could not fathom how a small-time, loss-making upstart from California could ever compete with the giants of the industry that had a century and a half of experience and expertise. In November, a former Daimler chairman, Edzard Reuter, even called Tesla "a joke that can't be taken seriously compared to the great car companies of Germany" and dismissed Musk as a "pretender."

But the patronizing laughter came to a screeching halt after more than 325,000 buyers from around the world lined up to put down $1,000 reservations to order Tesla's Model 3 in the first week — even though the company's electric car for the masses, priced from $35,000, won't go into production for another 18 months.

Some in Germany are now, rather belatedly, seeing Tesla as a long-term threat to the pride and joy of the country's economy: the car industry that employs 750,000 workers and indirectly accounts for 1 in 8 jobs.

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-0419-tesla-germany-20160419-story.html

Go Tesla!

[KeepItReal]

1. Maybe if BMW made the affordable but ugly electric i3 look more like the i8

Or at least as handsome as a 3 Series, they would not have much to fear from Tesla Model III.

The BMW i8 is one of the most beautiful cars ever made, the i3 just looks like it shouldn't stray far from an urban area.

BMW i3



BMW i8

[Zorro]

2. I totally agree

GM, Nissan, BMW, and Fiat all need to stop designing EVs that look like they came out of a Fisher-Price toy box if they plan to actually compete with Tesla.

That, and come up with a nationwide charging infrastructure to enable long-distance travel.