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  • Ludicrous

  • The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors
  • By: Edward Niedermeyer
  • Narrated by: Roger Wayne
  • Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)

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Ludicrous

By: Edward Niedermeyer
Narrated by: Roger Wayne
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Summary

Tesla Motors and CEO Elon Musk have become household names, shaking up the staid auto industry by creating a set of innovative electric vehicles that have wowed the marketplace and defied conventional wisdom. The company's market valuation now rivals that of long-established automakers, and, to many industry observers, Tesla is defining the future of the industry. But behind the hype, Tesla has some serious deficiencies that raise questions about its sky-high valuation, and even its ultimate survival.

Tesla's commitment to innovation has led it to reject the careful, zero-defects approach of other car manufacturers, even as it struggles to mass-produce cars reliably, and with minimal defects. While most car manufacturers struggle with the razor-thin margins of mid-priced sedans, Tesla's strategy requires that the Model 3 finally bring it to profitability, even as the high-priced Roadster and Model S both lost money. And Tesla's approach of continually focusing on the future, even as commitments and deadlines are repeatedly missed, may ultimately test the patience of all but its most devoted fans.

In Ludicrous, journalist and auto industry analyst Edward Niedermeyer lays bare the disconnect between the popular perception of Tesla and the day-to-day realities of the company - and the cars it produces.

©2019 Edward Niedermeyer (P)2019 Gildan Media
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Why Tesla has succeeded (it’s not the cars)

For some time, I’ve been wondering why Tesla seems to win in the face of all competition with a substandard product. In this book, the author answers many of the questions and casts doubt onto the image of ‘they are just better’. The chance taking, the lies and deceptions and the cult of Musk are all covered in this wonderful book, I just hope the author does an update!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A sober view on Tesla

An amazing work on Tesla and automotive industry in general. Provides a thorough review of the company's history, operations, promises, deliveries and hype. Highly recommended to everyone who is interested in Tesla as a business and those who read Ashlee Vance's book about Elon Musk to have a broader view of the company.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Insightful look at the inside of the cult of Musk

The book chronicles perfectly how and why Tesla is now in constant deadlock of hype vs. reality. The chronic lack of understanding of automotive industry, continuous quality and manufacturing problems and who-cares attitude towards safety in favor of cool factor. Insightful read/listen for everyone, even for the cultists who will yell "FUD!"( explained in the book ;)) at all criticism and questions.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Lazy hitpiece

Pretty lazy assortment of hitpiece blogs. Author constantly contradicts himself. One minute he points out the pitfalls of Tesla’s strategy, next he says the rest of the auto industry should do it. Then he critiques Tesla’s projections but regurgitates the auto industry’s without any analysis. As the creator of the Tesla deathwatch it’s not surprising that the author has an axe to grind, but this is lazy at best. Give it a miss.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Biased

Whilst some the book makes fair comments of Tesla’s challenges and mistakes, its clear the author is grinding an axe. Very one sided and clearly trying to put Tesla and Elon down, focusing and comparing them to the archaic car giants like Ford, who he portrays in a good light.
Those car giants are still no where in this currently 1 horse race.
Finally, where Tesla and Autonomous driving are today (dec 2019) are leaps and bounds ahead of where this book ends.
I was looking for a balanced ‘counter’ view of Tesla from an investment perspective. This is clearly too one sided to give credence imo.

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It’s okay

Went straight to this after reading Walter isaacsons biography of Elon, and I would say don’t do that. In comparison this falls flat. The story is definitely there but it’s filled with such immense waffle that I found myself regularly tuning out.

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