Tesla erases history, silently removes key climate manifesto written by Elon Musk
Tesla erases history, silently removes key climate manifesto written by Elon Musk
You're viewing a single thread.
I noticed something stupid while on the interstate yesterday and passing or passed by multiple Teslas: they don't tell you which model they are on the back. If you see a Tesla you like and want to know which Tesla it is, I guess you'll have to figure that out for yourself.
Occasionally they will have the model on a license plate frame.
They only have 4 models (not counting the cyber dump truck) that are pretty easy to tell apart. Small sedan or big sedan, small SUV or big SUV. Then basically do they have a dual motor badge and is that badge underlined (or does it have a plaid logo on the back). There you go. Almost literally all the permutations of Teslas.
Ok, but letting people know what model of car they are looking at is just basic marketing.
My understanding is that this is a deliberate choice, at least for Mercedes and BMW having their models be letters and numbers instead of memorable names. The idea is that all models seem closer together, kind of elevating them all.
Compared to when you look at an Accord and think this is the nice Honda, unlike the other not nice Honda. The implication is that all of the Mercedes ones should be nice.
But what do I fucking know. I like quirky weird cars, I like shitboxes, I’m one of those simultaneous fuckcars car guys (I hope I don’t need to explain how I can be in both camps at once?). I’m not the person any of these companies are marketing for.
Right, but they at least have those letters and numbers of the back of their car.
Unless you know which Tesla is the model 3, you won't know which model it is when you pass it or is passes you. You'll just know it was a Tesla. The back of a BMW i3 has a big "i3" on it.
Do they need to market anymore than their name though? Marketing is getting you interested in the product. You say “oh that’s a nice Tesla” you go to the site and look from there most likely based on your budget.
(I am by no means a Tesla fan, frankly their build quality sucks) but I really don’t think that you need badges of every type plastered on a car.
Nope. Tesla is distinct enough that they don't need model badges. You know it's a Tesla, and they have very few models and model variations. Compare that to something like Toyota, who has 12 different models of sedan just in current production. There are quite a few more not in current production, but you'll still see them on the road.
You just had to explain that. Now imagine if thou didn't know.
My car doesn't have the model or engine size written on the back either, this is not exclusive to Tesla (although, depending on the make it might be an option to remove it when buying a car).
The manufacturer badge is usually enough, in my opinion. If you can't identify the model on the spot, as long as you can identify the brand and want to learn about the specific model you saw, you'll hit their website or dealership and identify it there. And with a brand like Tesla, that only has 5 fairly distinct models, it should be fairly easy to retroactively point out the model you saw - compared to a brand like BMW for example.
Which car apart from Tesla doesn’t have a model name badge? Just curious.
i have a bmw that came without any, it's an "extra" you can order for most cars
Zero cost option usually.
Mine is a Mercedes, but I have observed this on most cars around here that are younger than ~5 years. Just today when biking to work, almost any newer Mercedes, BMW, VW or Skoda didn't have a model badge on the back. KIA and Hyundai were like 50/50.
The exception for BMW seems to be their electric vehicles, which were all badged with their model.Also something I have noticed is that "performance badges" (AMG, STI, M, GTI etc.) don't seem to be affected by this - they often remain on the car.
The model badges have been opt-out on the Germans for ages. My W211 didn't have them and I'm pretty sure you could opt out of it on older models too.
I don't think I've had any cars tell you which model they are on the back. It's usually opt-out for most brands and for every car I've owned, the first owner has opted out. Maybe my first car, an Audi 80, had a model designation. If not, it had an engine designation at least. But the rest haven't had either.
I have no idea what you're talking about. Other than Teslas, I almost never see a model of car that doesn't tell me its model:
This is a BMW i8. I can tell, because it says BMW and i8 on the back:
This is a Honda Accord. I can tell, because it says Honda and Accord on the back:
This is a Tesla. I can tell because it says Tesla on the back.
What model Tesla? Well, guess I'll have to go look that up when I'm not driving.
Most of my cars have been old German cars. They have badge delete as a factory option and most people take it, it seems. Particularly on low spec models with 2 liter engines where if you opt for the badge delete, it looks the same as the big V8 models lol
Badge delete is always an option on higher end cars. I didn't have a badge on my M135i. Who the fuck cares what car I'm driving anyway, if they want me to advertise they product my fee is 100€ a month. Same with logos on t-shirts.
So, it did not say what manufacturer then?
Have you never seen any cars before. 99% of them have the car company and the model on them.
It costs nothing to remove the model for most premium makes so most people do. Granted, the most downmarket car I've ever owned was a Volkswagen.
Not because I'm rich - because I torture myself with ridiculously depreciated German cars so I can get more luxury out of €3000 than a brand new €50000 car lol
Most people do not remove the model/badge on their car. You might. But I guarantee if you walked out side right now, and look at cars at an intersection or parked on the side, they'll have the model name on them.
Like half of all cars I see have their model badges. Maybe fewer. Which is why it's weird to me that people take this for granted.
You'll see them on cheap cars or really high end cars (if it's an AMG, you're probably the kinda person who wants others to know), but otherwise most people seem to remove them when ordering the car.
Personally I haven't removed any badges because I've never ordered a new vehicle myself. But it's usually taken IMO. When I was looking at newer (not brand new) MBs, I'd usually go look up the build sheet and nearly all had the debadge option selected.
The debadge will still leave the manufacturer logo on so the car is still an advertisement lol