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Tesla thinks a grabbing stick is a good replacement for right-hand drive in the UK.
(www.arenaev.com)
I genuinely can't tell if the headlines are satire these days
this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Technology
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That basically sums up everything that comes out of the emerald baby's fanciful brain farts. A walking joke that has gone on so long that the sad manchild has to do ever more expensive corporate stunts mixed with decade-old cringe humour to stay relevant. After all the shit he's pulled lately, I'm not even surprised any more.
I can't imagine that at this point it would be a good idea to invest in anything this clown has his fingerprints on.
Tesla is such a joke of a company lmao, cant understand why there are still people fanboying over it
I would have killed for one five years ago... Today, I have no interest.
While I don't buy that a great CEO can turn a whole company around, I DO think it's safe to say that a bad one can damage a good company.
It's not just things like reaching for ticket machines, anyone who's taken their car to a country on the other side of the road knows how disconcerting it is to drive. Oncoming traffic is now in the far side of your vehicle which just makes it less comfortable to drive. You get used to it of course, but it's never the same as driving on the correct side. No RHD is an absolute deal breaker for many UK drivers in sure
I thought this was a link from the onion at first. What are they doing LMAO
No finglonger? What is this? Amateur hour?
Seems like it'd be awkward and uncomfortable to steer with that thing but I guess you get used to it.
Hold up... Why are they not making them with the proper configuration though? I used to work at Tesla's Fremont plant and part of what I did required slightly different work depending on if the current thing on the line was supposed to be left or right-hand drive.
Just not making them at all anymore. The few countries that are RHD aren't big enough markets for them to bother making the S and X for them anymore. We here in AUS are stuck with just the 3 and Y now, and any existing S and X models.
They're making them for Australia, which is the same side of the road as UK.
We're not getting the S and X anymore. We're still getting the 3 and Y.
It just doesn't make sense not to make them when it literally was the same process to make a RHD as a LHD vehicle. It doesn't cost extra money or use extra parts. It's just "oh this part goes on this side instead of this side."
If they stopped making them entirely, it's more than likely out of spite than any other reason.
I dunno, there's retooling a factory as well as team training for QC, and surely some parts would differ as it would be mirrored.
Cool, guess I'll buy a different EV then.
Um is it legal to have the wrong side drive vehicle? In the US you have only have right side drive if it's a certain age, ie a collectible.
Btw the article doesn't say they think it's a good idea, it's more of a joke.
I could be wrong, but I don't think the 25-year import rule in the US has anything to do with what side drive the car is. It was a law passed in the 80s to shut down gray market imported cars. Importers would buy cars from countries where they sold for much cheaper than the US and then resell them for way less than official dealerships.
The law would've been targeting left-hand-drive vehicles, so the right-hand-drive stuff is just a byproduct of it. I mean, the US government had all of its postal service trucks built to be right hand drive.
The issue was also heavily lobbied by Mercedes. It wasn't about profit loss, it was about people importing base and utilitarian Mercedes vehicles. Think cloth seat sedans and offroad unimogs. Mercedes fought this imports in order to uphold their prestige as a luxury manufactuer. They refused to import those things
It’s legal. Before brexit it wasn’t uncommon to see French vehicles on British roads - most of Europe drive on the right after all.
Even after Brexit you are of course allowed to travel to the UK with a European car. This is still not uncommon lol
No, they bricked up the channel tunnel the day Brexit came through.
Wow. I wonder if anyone will actually accept that. I guess other markets with right-hand-drive like Japan, Hong Kong will get the same deal.
They've stopped selling the Model X and S entirely in Australia, rather than providing the option of LHD vehicles like in the UK. Though if I was hypothetically in the market for these vehicles, I'd rather not buy one than have inconveniences that a grab stick is meant to help with...
Tesla has plans to start production in India soon. I wonder how they'll cope up in India which also predominantly has left hand drive.
Well ... at least it's ..... well it's something
i guess thats better than nothing ..... apart from the negative press they are getting.
Well at least it's cheaper than keeping an LHD option!
Holy shit, I thought it was a parody article.
Ngl this is quite hilarious
Tesla bascailly pulled the S and X out of the UK market and from what I've seen on the forums people aren't interested in a left hand drive car. Not even sure why they even offered to sell them, unless they were worried about being sued by all the people with deposits.