[ 42Group·Community ]
Preface to the Interview
Any new technology will inevitably go through the stages of toy, tool, and art from the laboratory to market promotion and popularization.
In the beginning, during the laboratory and small-scale application stages, new technology was expensive and immature, serving as a toy for only a few enthusiasts. As production costs decrease and product technology continues to mature and improve, it gradually becomes the choice of most people. This is also the process of popularization. With the introduction of newer alternative technologies, previously popular technology products are gradually eliminated and sent to museums, waiting to become retro art for a few people to enjoy years later.
Elon Musk is well aware of this, so in his strategic layout, he first produced two high-end models to attract a small number of wealthy people, and then used mass-market products to truly promote the popularization of electric vehicles. This is the Model 3.
As a pioneer in electric vehicles, what kind of people are fans or owners of the Tesla brand? I believe that many Tesla owners or prospective owners have this question in mind when they occasionally see a cool Model S or Model X running down the street.
Recently, we met a very typical Tesla owner, Ryan, who owns both a Model S and a Model 3. He can be called a senior owner, and I believe that many Tesla owners or prospective owners have seen his shared experiences of using a Model S on Zhihu.
Additionally, he is the first Chinese car owner to share his experience of picking up a Model 3, and he is the only car owner in our group who has mentioned the Model 3 so far. All of his shared experiences of car use are sought after by car fans and are reposted by major technology media, making him a renowned figure on Zhihu and among KOLs.## Introduction
Ryan, an Aquarius, is a programmer who works in Silicon Valley. He loves digital products and is also passionate about mountain climbing and photography. He likes to share his experiences and is a Tesla fan. In his “most respected people” list, Elon Musk ranks first and Bill Gates second.
First Encounter
In the summer of 2012, Ryan, who was studying computer science in Silicon Valley, received an internship invitation from a company called Tesla, which claimed to be an electric car company. Before this, he had never heard of the company, only that Tesla was the inventor of alternating current. Due to schedule conflicts at school, Ryan did not accept the internship invitation, but still took the time to look up the company. After seeing the appearance of the electric cars designed and produced by Tesla, he was a bit shocked, as electric cars before were small and ugly.
In March 2016, Model 3 was released.
In five years, Tesla has become an undisputed star worldwide, and in Silicon Valley where the world’s top technology talents gather, its presence is at its peak. You can see Tesla cars on the road every few minutes. On March 31st, after Ryan and his friends watched the Model 3 launch event at home, everyone reserved one.
At that time, we thought we could just reserve one and get a refund if we didn’t buy it, so we all reserved one.
At that time, we didn’t have a clear demand. After reserving it, I quickly forgot about it.
Owning a Tesla
One day, three months after the release of Model 3.
Dragging his slightly tired body, Ryan and a few friends went to a hot pot restaurant. As he planned to buy a car, he went to the 4S stores to take a look around during the day and test-drove a BMW X5 and a Mercedes-Benz GLC. He was demotivated by the aggressive sales tactics of the 4S store’s staff.
The Camry hybrid owned by his family for many years is a Japanese car known for its worry-free reputation, but it lacks passion.
During the meal, his friend suggested taking a look at the Model S. A desire that had been lurking in Ryan’s mind seemed to come to the surface, and he began to seriously consider the possibility of buying a Tesla Model S – previously, due to inertia recommended by family and friends, Tesla was not at all within the scope of consideration, and no one around him drove a Tesla.
After researching, he found that the price of Model S was completely within his budget – it wasn’t as expensive as it looked.> S is like a car that looks like it’s worth $100,000, but the base version sells for less than $70,000 after subsidies, while compared to small cars like the Bolt and i3, which you think would be enough for about $10,000 to $20,000, the price is actually $30,000 to $40,000. This feels completely different.
Ryan went to the store to test drive the Model S. The accompanying staff encouraged him to try out various different road sections for autonomous driving assistance and various new features, instead of just talking about price like the staff at traditional car dealerships. This sales approach, which matched the super technological sense of Model S, deeply impressed Ryan. In addition, driving the Model S was too easy, and the steering wheel was effortless to use, which was much better than the experience he had with the hybrid Camry at home.
After the test drive, Ryan ordered a Model S.
Three weeks later, Ryan picked up his car.
Thus, a typical Tesla owner was born.
Ryan’s response about his Model S experience on Zhihu has over 3000 likes, spanning 20,000 words. Here is a screenshot of his feedback:
In addition to detailed information, first-hand pictures, and quotations of sources, his response even has a table of contents:
Since he is a Model S owner, Ryan also became the first person in the 42 Garage owner group to mention the Model 3, and his friends who reserved the car with him two years ago have not even mentioned the car yet.After mentioning Model 3, he shared his experience of picking up the car on Zhihu. At that time, it was the first Chinese article about Model 3 pick-up sharing. Garage No. 42 also reposted his article.
Ryan has harvested many fans on Zhihu, especially Tesla owners and prospective owners. Many people actively communicate with him. Ryan told me that when someone tells him that his article has changed their view of Tesla and made them love Tesla, he feels very happy.
As the first person among his friends to buy a Tesla, he undoubtedly became the opinion leader of Tesla. His friends have experienced his Model S and Model 3, and they all plan to wait for the Model 3 to come out. If they change their car, they will definitely choose this one.
What does a typical Tesla owner look like?
I arranged an interview with Ryan and listed about ten questions. The first one was self-introduction.
He hesitated for a moment, as summarizing himself suddenly seemed difficult. He proposed that we casually chat, and then extract the conclusions.
The topic started with his passion for digital equipment and sharing.
As he mentioned in his self-introduction on Zhihu, his label as “equipment lover” has existed for fifteen years. He started to share his experience and insight of using cameras and mobile phone hardware on various forums back then. His first point to me was about the promotion and popularization process of new technology products, which is firstly popular among a small group of fan players, and then becomes a mass product.
The entire interview lasted for three hours.
As we had set at the beginning, after chatting about many topics without boundaries, we drew some conclusions about Tesla and Tesla owners. As for the conclusions, I still list them as bullet points.
1. Tesla’s product design is a reduction of traditional cars, just like Apple doesn’t sell itself as a phone seller, Tesla doesn’t sell itself as a car seller.Ryan told me that he was impressed by a sentence said by Steve Jobs when the second generation of iPhone was released. In 2008, Apple launched the Apple Store when releasing the second generation of IOS system. Jobs said at the press conference, “This is not a simple personal phone, it is a powerful personal computer.”
He was impressed by this sentence.
Apple is still the undisputed innovation leader in the mobile phone industry today. Even if many competitors can share its market share, they cannot shake Apple’s leading position in innovation, just like Tesla, which, although has various shortcomings, currently maintains an absolute advantage in the direction of automotive intelligence.
This is because they look at the future direction in the long term.
The overall design of the iPhone was almost like this ten years ago, and so was Tesla. The appearance of the Model S has hardly changed. The changes in hardware are basically expansion. The mobile phone screen has become larger, and the memory has become larger, while the car continues to update software and functions.
Apple’s keyboard has not changed in ten years. For example, the HOME button has remained unchanged, and the design language has not changed at all, with an intuitive and strong design language. The design language of the Model S and X has also hardly changed.
This is rare in cars. Other traditional car products, even small changes in appearance will become new selling points. But Tesla’s hardware has never changed, and the software is constantly updated.
Most of us can sometimes predict things in the next one or two years, but Apple and Tesla predict things in ten years. It’s pretty scary to think about.
As Apple continuously iterates and updates its software, it often encounters situations where the upgrade bricks the device. However, as such a complex car product, Tesla can continuously achieve software upgrades without almost any obstacles over the past ten years. This is very impressive from the perspective of software design and hardware compatibility.
As you are well aware, due to Tesla’s constantly updating software, even if you bought the car a long time ago, you always have a car that is as advanced in performance as the new one.
Tesla’s software update frequency is very high. According to statistics, there may be a small update every week, such as the recent update to the seat adjustment function when leaving the car, which I use every day.Ryan says that, “the emergence of Tesla makes a difference to traditional cars, just like the difference between carriages and cars.”
At the time, consumers said they needed faster and more convenient carriages, but no one said they needed a car.
As a professional in the software industry, Ryan has great admiration for Tesla’s powerful software upgrade capabilities, and knows that behind this is an unremitting effort of a strong software team, which is currently one of Tesla’s most important market-leading advantages.
Ryan believes that the real profound change that Tesla brings to the automotive industry is intelligence, not the form of electric power.
- An electric car should first be a beautiful car.
As someone who has been labeled as “detail-oriented” and “research oriented”, while also being interested in photography on Zhihu, Ryan’s understanding of the Model S is consistent with that of Tesla’s Chief Designer Franz.
“Electric power should not be the main selling point of a car.”
For example, when my family sees that “this is a pretty spacious car,” I would tell them that this car doesn’t need gasoline, and charging it is quite convenient.
I have introduced the design process of Franz and Model S in a previous article. It is well known that the first designer of Model S was Henrik Fisker, who is now the founder of Fisker Automotive. However, he gave up halfway through and Franz spent three months drawing sketches of the Model S. According to Elon Musk’s requirements at that time, the product should have a sexy streamline, referencing the styling of Maserati and Jaguar.
Before Tesla appeared, most of the electric cars on the market were small and ugly, with the goal of being environmentally friendly and energy-saving, but did not consider upgrading to meet demands beyond these goals, such as beauty and high performance. From this perspective, Tesla upgraded the demand for environmentally friendly products, designing beautiful and cool electric cars that catered to people who did not want to sacrifice aesthetic taste for the sake of environmental protection.
Tesla and Elon Musk hit this group of people very accurately.
3. The Polarizing Distribution of Tesla Owners
When I said that Ryan is a very typical Tesla owner, he did not agree with my conclusion. He was very strict and said that he could only represent a part of Tesla owners.
Which part?
It is the more geeky part of Tesla owners.
Ryan admitted that he enjoyed the power brought by the Model S, but that was not the main reason why he was so impressed by the Model S.
What he couldn’t resist was the relaxed and enjoyable driving experience and the sense of technology brought by the Model S.
He is willing to share his driving experience with car enthusiasts and exchange his experience of each upgrade just as he shares the experience of using digital products. (He has shared very professional and detailed information on this topic on Zhihu, so there is no need to repeat it here.)
However, among Tesla owners, there are also a considerable number of people who pay for the high-performance power of electric cars.
Elon Musk’s smartest move was to sell a car that he didn’t even think of as a car, while still fully considering the biggest point of fun in cars: the feeling of speed. Of course, this is also one of the visible benefits of direct motor drive.
Last year’s release of the Roadster 2 announced a terrifying speed of 60 miles (96 kilometers) in 1.9 seconds. On the Model S and Model X, Tesla also developed the Ludicrous mode, which is a mode with amazing speed.
Ryan said that he did not regard the Model S and Model 3 as toys, only as everyday vehicles that are very suitable for him.
I think he didn’t finish saying that this car just met his needs for transportation: a good in-car experience, including operation and interaction. The mechanical and speed fun are not his reasons for buying, but only icing on the cake.
When we talked about this topic, we also found it very interesting. Tesla owners seem to have a polarized tendency. One group is particularly fond of the traditional fun: speed and passion, while the other group pursues intelligent fun.
Returning to the topic we discussed earlier, new technology enters the market first as a toy and becomes popular among a niche group of enthusiasts. Tesla has captured two different groups of fans at the same time. One group is obsessed with the traditional fun of speed and passion, while the other group is obsessed with the future fun of intelligence.
Ryan belongs to the latter group. To him, the Model S and Model 3 are transportation, and as transportation, they are large electronic devices.4. Tesla has a more open product development process
Ryan mentioned some examples. After an incident where a child was trapped in a hot car and died, Tesla quietly updated a feature. When the temperature inside the car is above a certain standard, the air conditioning will automatically turn on and the windows will automatically open to allow ventilation. And in some areas of the United States where tornadoes occur, Tesla unlocked the batteries of local vehicles to allow them to travel further, so that drivers would not be victims due to range anxiety.
Obviously, being able to do these things depends on two things: the electrification of the vehicle and the attitude towards consumers.
As Tesla’s all models are equipped with fully functional hardware, and different levels of features will be unlocked according to the selected configuration, so even the cheapest Tesla can be upgraded to the highest level in minutes to achieve corresponding functions. Ryan is most impressed by the fact that no matter when you buy a Tesla, your car will basically be the latest model every week.
Isn’t that exciting?
Another point is that Tesla is willing to listen to consumers’ needs and criticism and try to improve.
Traditional cars usually focus on safety features and power. Due to their complex structure, they cannot achieve comprehensive software upgrades for products. So, even if you want to make any changes, you can only wait for the next generation of models. The entire operating philosophy of the automotive industry is production-oriented, because the production process is too complex and closed.
But smart cars represented by Tesla are different. According to Ryan: “The places that car owners complain about often get improved in the next generation of models, sometimes through upgraded features to achieve improvement. In short, you can feel that the voices of consumers can be heard and adopted.”
“I think Tesla has included consumers in their own production and R&D system.”
Upgrading, anyone?
5. The difference between Bill Gates and Elon Musk
According to Ryan, if he had to make a list of the most respected people, Elon Musk would be first and no one could be second. But then he changed his mind and said, no, Bill Gates would be second.> Musk is listed as the first, followed by Bill Gates ranked second. What Bill Gates has done is not yet on the same scale. He has done a lot of public welfare, such as poverty alleviation and so on. Poverty alleviation is important, but cannot save a race.
>
The last sentence is quite important. Public welfare actions aimed at helping vulnerable groups seem to be more like compensation, while Musk’s actions are for creation.
Remember the speech that Musk gave about the Mars program at the SXSW not long ago?
Life can’t just be about solving one miserable problem after another. That can’t be the only thing. There needs to be things that inspire you, that make you glad to wake up in the morning and be part of humanity. – Elon Musk
I asked Ryan, “Are you an elitist?”
He laughed and said, “Not really. But I’m a geek.”
After the article was written, I added another question, “How do you view Steve Jobs? Is he ranked third?” His answer was:
I haven’t really thought about that before, but privately, I think what Elon is doing is for the future of mankind, and Bill Gates’ foundation is to save those forgotten people in the third world. It’s like one is the hope of humanity and the other is the conscience of humanity.
As for Jobs, I think his focus and insight were on personal devices. Without him, the product line for Apple has become longer and covered more people, but there is no longer the same focus as before. I don’t think he made much contribution to the “humanity” group when he was alive. The goal was to make money and do what he liked.
Without Elon, Tesla would not have existed, and electric cars today would be low-performance and ugly commuting tools. Without him working on rockets, colonizing Mars would just be a pipe dream.
All quotes in this article, unless otherwise indicated, are from the interview with Ryan.
* Breaking news! The first domestic Model 3 delivery and test drive report
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.