Mercedes-Benz USA boss, Steve Cannon, used his time on the New York motor show sidelines to fire a few mildly malicious arrows towards Tesla’s way; he did so not only because the Silicon Valley-based manufacturer was missing from the venue, but also because of the limitations he sees these electric cars imposing on their owners.
He explained that buyers are simply looking at Teslas “because they’re kind of cool, but if you’re a Tesla buyer, you have to have multiple cars,” though he still did, in the end, concede that “Tesla is great.”
His gripe with the EV manufacturer stems from the fact that “you’ve got plenty of well-established brands that mean luxury, like Porsche or Mercedes-Benz, and how long do you think we’re going to wait and let Tesla be out there alone [selling premium electric cars]?”
In other words, he doesn’t specifically have a problem with what Tesla is doing or how it’s doing it (the two brands are, after all, actively cooperating partners), but that they didn’t think of it first. It’s funny how the representatives of large automakers can just come up and say stuff like this, implying that if you’re a small manufacturer you ought to get out of their way, because even if you do make something innovative; they’ll figure it out, make it better, cheaper, faster and do everything in their power to discredit you.
Cannon expresses his concern in regards to Tesla’s market worthiness once the mainstream pack begins to close in on the sector, with their extensive dealer networks and the ability to offer “a complete luxury experience. Consumers want all of that, but they aren’t going to want to pay for it, and the potential of fully electric vehicles for the rest of my life and a good portion of the rest of your life will be limited,” he noted.
By Andrei Nedelea
Story References: Forbes
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