You may have seen that Tesla sales in Europe are down 45%, and the US stock is down 8% so far this year. It’s easy to blame these numbers on the fact that most Tesla buyers are exactly the opposite personality from Elon Musk. No doubt there is truth to that. But there is a deeper reason.
I bought my first Tesla 13 years ago, and the car was a remarkable achievement in its time. It redefined many aspects of how an automobile should work. Since then, I’ve owned one of the first model S Teslas, one of the first model X Teslas, and I spent five years driving my favorite, a performance model 3.
I got rid of the model 3 last year, because I no longer wanted to be associated with the brand. But I also found that the car had barely changed from the original model S. Yes it had added features that everyone expects to have in cars, like ultrasonic proximity sensors, and an air conditioner that worked well. But it was essentially the same car I had driven for 13 years.
During most of that time, Tesla’s focus has been on full self driving. But as anyone who has owned one can tell you, full self driving is close to useless. It’s like riding with your 90-year-old grandmother: frustratingly slow and careful, interspersed with terrifying moments of peril.
Of course, the Ioniq has adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, and collision avoidance, all useful and functional features.
Tesla thrived because it had virtually no competition. The other cars in the EV market were a joke, with poor acceleration, poor handling, and outmoded technology. But Tesla’s big breakthroughs, such as the glass cockpit, have now been copied by nearly the entire industry.
Elon Musk insists people will still buy Teslas despite their dislike for him because they’re the best car. He must not have driven any of the competing products, because today’s EV’s are often vastly superior to the outmoded Tesla.
I just purchased a Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited. It is an amazing car. Its glass cockpit is vastly superior to that of Tesla, spanning most of the dash and incorporating user-friendly controls and displays.
Unlike the Tesla, where most of the display screen is devoted to a useless view of the car, the Ioniq provides a brilliant snapshot of everything you need at a glance.
And the Ioniq’s incorporation of some physical buttons as well as touchscreen buttons makes it much more user-friendly than the Tesla, which often buries important features under layers of menu (I’m looking at you, glove box open button).
Other features that are superior in the Ioniq 5 compared to Teslas include:
- A luxurious and comfortable interior
- A better suspension
- A vastly superior user interface
- A superb heads-up display
- A fully automatic rear hatch with proximity sensing
- Rear wiper
- A motorized moonroof
- Qi charging
- Superior USB and AC outlets
- Better navigation and maps
- Support for Apple Airplay and Android
- A better phone app with car key stored in Apple Wallet
- Apple Watch App and use of watch as a key
- Killer Bose sound system
- 3 years of connectivity
- WiFi hotspot capability
- Interesting colors
- Direct plug-in support for Tesla chargers plus free adapters for all other types of chargers.
In short, as a longtime Tesla driver I am shocked at how much better the Ioniq 5 is. And it is not alone. There are plenty of other excellent EV choices now, including the Mustang Mach E and the Cadillac Lyriq.
Meanwhile, Tesla is screwing around, trying to get into the automated taxi business.
Tesla is toast.