Mark Rechtin of Automotive News has a good opinion piecce today about the decidedly mediocre coverage given to the production launch of the +Tesla Motors Model S last Friday. Aside from +Motor Trend Magazine's Frank Markus who had a longer drive a day earlier and I believe one one other journalist, no one on Friday had more than 10 minutes in the car.
That's barely enough for a cursory evaluation and on a prescribed course it doesn't tell you much except the basics of maybe acceleration and braking. While Frank's evaluation was generally positive no one can seriously provide a proper review yet. With over 100 media in attendance, there also nothing exclusive about anyone else's report so calling it that is bogus. We've got more media outlets than ever out there and unfortunately most of them have little to be proud of.
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When journalism becomes shilling
SAN JOSE, Calif. — George Orwell said, “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” So what does it mean when a car company carefully orchest…
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A relevant article, for sure. I object to a couple of things said, however.
"Things you would never notice in 10 minutes — the Karma’s thrashy driveline, gaping interior panel gaps and claustrophobic back seat — became readily apparent over the course of a day."
Both of the bolded could easily be seen in the time the press and the public were around the car. There are several videos of test drives with people riding in the back and no complaints. One thing missing I've noticed is there are no handles above the passenger seats to grab when the driver is flogging the car.
"So, as of today, no one outside of Tesla knows if the Model S can actually achieve its vaunted mileage claims that are at least double that of any other electric vehicle."
There are six people as of right now that know if the mileage claims are true or not and soon to be three more when they get the Model S' delivered. Also, I'm sure the EPA checked how far the batteries could actually go when testing them. I doubt they would put out false numbers.