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Decent Quality Since 1847

A Winning Loser

9/4/2015

1 Comment

 
Back in the 2012 presidential debates, Mitt Romney -- who fancied himself something of an automotive industry expert, including because his father had been head of American Mothers -- slammed the Obama Administration loan to Tesla by calling the company a "loser."

It's therefore with a bit of whimsy to note that in its current review of the Tesla P65D (which is an all-wheel drive version of the Model S), Consumer Reports magazine was so bowled over by the car that it broke the publication's rating system, getting 103 points out of a possible 100.

Jake Fisher, the head of automotive testing for Comsumer Rpoerts told Bloomberg News in an interview: “This is a glimpse into what we can expect down the line, where we have cars with the performance of supercars and the comfort, convenience and safety features of a luxury car while still being extremely energy efficient.  We haven’t seen all those things before."

Because of the scores being so high, the magazine had to readjust how it weighted several factors.  In acceleration, the Tesla was twice as fast as the competition.  “Once you start getting so ridiculously fast, so ridiculously energy efficient," Fisher added, it didn’t make sense to go linear on those terms anymore.” 

The magazine ended up rounding the score down to 100, since...well, that's the point scale.

On its Buyer Survey, the model topped its category, getting a score of 98 (out of 100), repeating its success of last year, when it got a 99.

In addition, it's worth noting that Tesla's stock has been equally successful.  Last week, on August 26, it rose 8.1 percent to close at $242.99.  Shares have gone up 9.3 percent this year.

But that's not all.  Lest it go overlooked and ignored, back in 2013 this "loser" company wrote a check to the government for $451.8 million, to entirely pay off its loan plus interest.

All of which helps go to explain, at least in small part, why the only actual loser in all this was Mitt Romney.


1 Comment
Paul
9/5/2015 09:44:22 am

Robert, thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts on several of your opinion pieces.
If I was to bring up the name Tesla to any American citizen, I bet that 50% of the responses would be, "What is a Tesla?".
Now, if I explained that a Tesla was an extremely efficient electric car, I bet that at least 70% of the responses would invoke some type of jargon saying basically, "Who can afford a new car?".
Now, if I described Tesla as a automobile manufacturer that was doing real well in the stock market, more than half would say they have no investments.
Now, if I said that it was the company that Romney ripped back when he was campaigning, they would say, "Yea, and in what way does that matter regarding the problems we are facing now?".
With regards to your thoughts on the actual intelligence of the qualified American voter, I must share a story.
I have played Texas hold-em tournaments at many casinos across the US. During the breaks I will go over to the blackjack tables and watch people gamble. On one particular occasion a young man celebrating his 21st birthday sat down with $50. He was sitting at a $10 limit table and bet the minimum. The cards were turned and the dealer showed a ten and the kid a 16. When it came to be his turn, he asked for advice from the clearly veteran group of gamblers sitting with him. The response was in unison, "You have to hit, the odds say that the dealer has a winner under there. All she needs is a seven.". I winced. Of course he drew a ten and busted. Actually, five times in a row. As he got up, I had to offer some fatherly advice. "Hopefully you could afford to lose that, don't come back with fifty more trying to win it back!".
And then I posed a simple question to all still at the table. "If the odds show that the dealer will win the hand with a 7 or better, would those same odds not apply with regards to the card you will draw? Only about a 38% (5 out of 13) chance you will draw a that helps (17,18,19.20,21). Now, even with this knowledge, I watched gamblers continue to bet against the odds, and of course lose their money.
Now I know this does not pertain to all Americans, and no, this was not a plug for my book, "What Vegas doesn't want you to know!".
And on this beautiful Saturday morning I will close with the following.
And if I told people that Tesla was the guy who invented the current form of electricity that we use. I would also tell them that it was him against the guy who invented the light bulb as to which form, AC or DC, we would use. Tesla paid off some govt. officials and viola, AC. I hazard a guess that 95% of the responses would be, "Huh, didn't know that!".
Now I would even venture to say that 99% of the responses would be the same if I told them that China has already disproven the AC v. DC theory by sending electricity over 1000 miles from a dam to a city using DC current and gridding it out along the way.
Knowledge is a powerful thing, and unfortunately, it is not spread about equally.

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    Author

    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.



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