Yearly Archives: 2012

Seems like +Tesla Motors is trying to be a high-cost version Spirit Airlines by… 12

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Seems like +Tesla Motors is trying to be a high-cost version Spirit Airlines by nickel and diming customers on everything after they buy. $600/year for a service contract is ridiculous when most automakers are now including as much as 4 years of scheduled maintenance (oil changes, tire rotations, fluids, inspections,etc at no extra charge). Even my wife's $27k +Volkswagen USA Jetta TDI wagon got 4 years of free maintenance.  My 7-year-old +Ford Motor Company Mustang costs me less than $150/year. 

Charging for software updates is ridiculous, no other automaker does this to my knowledge. Ford offers regular updates to its SYNC connectivity system through its website and earlier this year they shipped over 300,000 USB drives to customers to update the MyFord Touch system.  All automakers provide updates to powertrain and other control systems at no charge. 

Voiding a warranty for rotating the tires anywhere but a Tesla store is also unconscionable. 

Reshared post from +Green Car Reports

Will Tesla really void the Model S warranty if owners don't pay $600 a year for maintenance?

Tesla Model S Service Contract: $600/Year, Or Warranty Voided
One big advantage of electric cars is reduced maintenance. With no internal combustion engine, there is no oil to change, no exhaust system, no transmission, no myriad of moving parts to break or wear…


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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-10-08

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When I first interviewed +Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard more than five… 17

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When I first interviewed +Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard more than five years ago, he told me that Tesla was planning to use company-owned stores to sell its electric cars http://green.autoblog.com/2007/03/12/autobloggreen-qanda-tesla-motors-ceo-martin-eberhard-pt-2/ and later then-SVP Marketing and communications Darryl Siry elaborated on that plan http://green.autoblog.com/2007/03/17/tesla-to-open-customer-service-centers-in-2007/

Now, more than four years after the first Tesla store opened in Santa Monica, CA, traditional dealers are realizing that the EV startup might be around for a while and they aren't happy about Tesla's retail strategy. Over the past century, dealer groups have influenced state legislatures to strengthen franchise laws that make it nearly impossible for automakers to compete directly with established dealers.

Tesla had an out because it had no existing dealers to compete with, but now dealers are concerned that other automakers might follow Tesla's path and eventually undermine the franchise system.

Frankly, I'm not sure that's such a bad thing. As the business environment changes, automakers like other companies need the flexibility to shift strategies.As we saw during the 2008-9 meltdown, having too many dealers makes it a lot tougher for automakers to make money but franchise laws make it near impossible to shrink the retail footprint to match sales.  

What do you think?

Front Page — Automotive News
First Shift: What’s weighing on MPG. Study: Obesity rise a challenge to boosting fuel economy; GM adding shift for new Impala; Honda CR-V recall; CA pump surge. … >> watch the video 12:01 …

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Outstanding! Major media outlets always prepare obituaries for celebrities well in…

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Outstanding! Major media outlets always prepare obituaries for celebrities well in advance so that they can push them live as soon as the Twitter hordes announce their death. Apparently, one outlet has broken the embargo with its Rupert Murdoch obit

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Hold-for-release obit for Rupert Murdoch. 

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Many Eagle scouts are returning their badges in protest of the Boy Scouts of America's…

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Many Eagle scouts are returning their badges in protest of the Boy Scouts of America's ongoing discrimination against gay scouts and leaders. It's good to see American's increasing acceptance of the LGBT community among us and I hope BSA changes its attitude but I'm not hopeful.

Eagle Scouts Returning Our Badges
October 5, 2012. BSA National Executive Board 1325 Walnut Hill Lane PO Box 152079. Irving, Texas 75015. To the ignorant and intolerant,. As has been documented very clearly in historic record across t…


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Here's the video to today's discussion of small business on +Up with Chris…

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Here's the video to today's discussion of small business on +Up with Chris Hayes https://plus.google.com/114133424228405038490/posts/TgaB2vtzec5

The truth about small business
Video on msnbc.com: Rep. Peter Welch, D-VT, Temple University business professor Chris Rabb, former deputy in the Obama Commerce Department Ro Khanna, and MSNBC host of Your Business JJ Ramberg join U…

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Some fascinating discussion this morning on +Up with Chris Hayes about small businesses… 1

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Some fascinating discussion this morning on +Up with Chris Hayes about small businesses and specifically "what is a small business?" You may have caught Obama's line during the debate the other night about Donald Trump being a small business. 

Most of us think of the local restaurants, dry cleaners and countless other independently owned and operated companies as small businesses However, it turns out that under the rules that Mitt Romney references when he says 97% of companies are small businesses, that actually includes the likes of Trump.

Companies with less than 500 employees are small businesses even if they are nothing more than S-Corporations or holding companies that exist solely for the purpose of avoiding certain types of taxes. These holding companies often have only a handful of employees to do little more than own a much larger enterprise and there are sometimes multiple levels of these holding enterprises each of which counts as a "small" business. 

While Romney's policies may very well benefit all of these small companies, they are unlikely to actually generate any jobs in the process.

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Vote BACON for President! 

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Vote BACON for President! 

Reshared post from +Koushik Dutta

Another victory for bacon!

The Nitrate and Nitrite Myth: Another Reason not to Fear Bacon
Beyond just being loaded with “artery-clogging saturated fat” and sodium, bacon has been long considered unhealthy due to the use of nitrates and nitrites in the curing process. Many conventional doct…


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