Nothing new about this. Japan has spent decades making sure that both American and Korean vehicles will never get a foothold in the Japanese market. Do they feel threatened by GM and Kia? http://autos.aol.com/article/japan-bias/
This is different Xenos, and you know it. Dealers and GM used their political clout to keep out a company that is no threat to them. GM tried to sale cars in Japan (Toyota Cavalier, Toyota Voltz) but they were failures. In the case of the Cavalier, GM did not even up the quality for the ones that went to Japan. Toyota had to make some changes so that Japanese consumers could at least give them a look.
so dealers are threatened by tesla? give me a break, i would think dealers would be more threatened by the fact that they are in michigan, which is associated with detroit and a terrible economy with a net loss of jobs and people year over year.
tesla is breaking down barriers and i think it's great. screw dealers, i can't stand most of them anyway. for every good, quality dealer there are 5 terrible ones. i have a hard time understanding how some dealers stay in business for how bad they are. some of the dealers around here make my skin crawl with their obvious in-your-face sleeziness.
Probably has to do with territories, and limits on how many dealers can be in a certain radius. So this keeps even under performing dealers in business if the radius is wide enough. Seems like import dealers are generally further apart than domestics, and of course luxury dealers typically have only one for a 50 mile radius, not including major metro hubs like NY, LA, Dallas, etc.
I'm glad they're trying a different approach at selling cars. I'm also glad to witness the relative success of a new American automaker, better still, one that makes electric cars. There is a Tesla store just four miles from here, they're spreading!
it's nice when there are at least a few comments that are truly objective, not toyota fanboy knee-jerk reaction responses.
i, like Xenos, look at things objectively. i currently have 3 cars of different makes, 2 "foreign" and 1 "domestic". my wife and i have had fords, chryslers, kias, hondas and more in the past. we have both had gems, lemons, and some in-between. i pay attention to models and more importantly generations within those models when considering a purchase. i pay attention to where the car's main components are built and where it is assembled. all of that stuff matters. being an ignorant fanboy would just make me look stupid.
not surprisingly, i'm also an independent. i'd bet almost any toyota fanboy sits out on a wing somewhere. loyalists typically do. in reality, nothing is black and white, it's all a shade of gray.
Let's say I join a group of Harley enthusiasts, then every time one of them says something positive about his bike of choice I slam him with remarks on Harleys not being better than the rest. You're all a bunch of Harley fanboys, objectively they're no better than Goldwings.
Or I could join a group of Star Trek fans and continuously try to get my point across that Star Trek is in no way better than any other sci-fi franchise. What, I'm only being objective!
Again, I could become a member of a Fender collector community and rub it in their face that Fender guitars are just planks of wood with strings on them so that makes them equals to Gibson, Ibanez, BC Rich, Yamaha and so on. It's true, based on real world experience.
What is objectivity anyway? To some extent we all experience the world differently. We tend to gather with others who share the same views.
There's no point on being radically objective in an enthusiast community, we just happen to like something and stick to it. I like 1980's Toyotas. I'm an enthusiast because when I see another old Toyota I almost break my neck to watch it go for as long as I can. Because I enjoy sharing with other enthusiasts. Because it saddens me when one of us gets rid of his car, or totals it or has no money to fix it. And every now and then we welcome a newcomer and every time I hope he'll keep his car and stay with us for a long time.
Except that is not what happened here Phil and you know it.
This is about a member here who makes it a point to vilify GM precisely because he is a fanboy. It's one thing to be a fan of something but its another thing to do it at the cost of suspending reality. I couldn't care less if zythr spends all day long with the rest of the Toyota fans here singing glory and praise to the almighty Toyota. But that's not enough it seems. It must also be about pretending that the brand he doesn't like is some sort of evil entity that must be damned. Such was the point of this thread when it was started. Yet another attempt to paint GM as some big bad nasty bunch of guys who are picking on poor little old Tesla. As though the same treatment has not been visited upon GM in Japan. As though Toyota and Honda have not conducted themselves in the same manner at other times. They have all done something equally as questionable.
It must also be about pretending that the brand he doesn't like is some sort of evil entity that must be damned. Such was the point of this thread when it was started. Yet another attempt to paint GM as some big bad nasty bunch of guys who are picking on poor little old Tesla. As though the same treatment has not been visited upon GM in Japan. As though Toyota and Honda have not conducted themselves in the same manner at other times. They have all done something equally as questionable.
Haha! I get your point. Well let me tell you something: GM will be fine, Zythr or not. It's just that they do have a history of shady tactics and other shenanigans, maybe the Japanese are more secretive about theirs. The Ralph Nader affair comes to mind, that was low. The Tesla thing is low, pick someone your own size you know what I mean? John DeLorean in his book has depicted GM as a big bad bunch decades before Zythr did and GM is still there selling new cars so no stress, they'll stick around some more.
The FRS / BRZ combo clearly does not appeal to the same customers. Whenever I see a FRS, some young swagger dude is at the wheel. Whenever I see a Mustang, it's either a woman or an old man. I'll give the faster car to the old man / woman, the flashier but slower car to the young punk and keep our roads safe by doing so. :lol:
It doesn't matter who they appeal to. The facts remain that both are sports coupes that are in the same price range and the FR-S / BRZ delivers less car for the same money.
It could be that women and older men are smart enough not to pay the same money for less all around car then young guys with "swagger". lol "Flashier" is purely subjective. To my eye the FR-S is not more attractive than the Mustang. I would say the two have about the same visual appeal, both being attractive cars.
PS I should add that I'm not a fan of the 2015 Mustang from a visual perspective, but plenty of people think it looks great.
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