Probably, if this is in reference to the new scrappage charge being introduced, but likley only if yo uchop it in against a "zero emission" car

I would assume that the £6000 will include the current £3000 grant for a new electric vehicle, assuming that the rumours of this discount do turn into something of substance, but if not then a £9000 discount would be pretty impressive!

I think you have to have owned the banger for a certian period of time

True, but there is no clear sign that any of the big players will achieve that goal anytime soon. The only aspect that other companies seem to have a genuine advantage on so far is fit and finish, which isn't insignificant, but still. Actually, having had a bit of a think, there is also the aspect of being able to use the battery in an electric car to power a home and vice versa. Nissan is certainly starting to do that (and maybe others) but Tesla isn't.

I bought quite a lot of Tesla shares.

It was a drunken thing.

Probably after each time musk drops a clanger on Twitter. Fastest way to drop the share price

He didn't technically start Tesla, but was certainly in there early and can take much credit for driving it to success. Shame about his recent behaviour...

The zero marketing spend thing is a myth (which Tesla are pleased to perpetuate).

Take Tesla vs BMW as an example. I’m looking quickly at Googled figures from before the Model 3 here, I’m aware sales have risen a lot since then. Annual sales around 400k vs 2.5m. Marketing spend around £60m vs £200m. Tesla’s marketing spend per car sold is actually massively higher than BMW’s.

The big difference is in how Tesla spend that money. They don’t produce traditional advertising. They focus on promoting word of mouth etc. So their marketing budget covers things like a referral programme (persuade a friend to buy a Tesla and get charging network credits for yourself, or new wheels, etc) and giving away free cars to YouTubers who refer lots of people.

I guess Tesla could say ‘$0 spent on direct advertising’ instead of marketing. Then it’d be totally truthful.

https://youtu.be/vF7BTUntx98

In response to an earlier post, the Toyota Celica 189 engine noise has to be one of my favourites. Not a hugely fast car but it just sounds so good!

poprock wrote:

The board must hate him by now. Credit to him for starting the company, but the man’s become a liability.

He just hates shareholders, which is fair enough. I wouldn't invest if he wasn't in charge though and if he died I suspect the stock price would cliff-edge. What's really impressive is just how much stuff is done in-house, just like SpaceX, and that's Musk. They even ditched Nvidia and produced their own GPU (via Samsung) for the AI driving. That's confidence. Also he didn't start the company but did stop it from becoming bankrupt. Only just mind, but they're on a roll now.

I was looking at cars on the BOTB website (spot the ball game, win a car thing).

The selection of cars is pretty good. However, in theory if you won a RS6 for example how could you afford to insure, service, tax it etc. Oil change, new sets of tyres would be eyewatering, never mind fuel.

So if i ever did take part, I'd go with something (in the unlikely event of me winning ) that i could afford (just about) to run.

A security guard won an RS6 during lockdown. How on earth is he going to run a 100,000 pound car? Nice problem to have.

The website btw: https://www.botb.com/prizes/cars

Ps. Before anyone says its a scam or fake its not. Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Its fun just browsing through the cars even if you have no intention of playing.

That would be so much fun to take to a track. Did you get a go driving it?

Are track days and the like opening up again now? Really wanted to have one of those experience type things with Scott for my birthday which was in April. Ever since I passed my test a year ago I just want to drive something faster and faster and faster. There's ones where you spank an MX5 about, that's right up my street.

I did a single-seater experience thing at Knockhill for my thirtieth birthday (which is quite a long time ago already). There was a group of around eight of us (I didn't know anyone else whow as taking part) and it consisted of a briefing with some race theory, a few laps in a road legal car (a SEAT hatchback of some kind as I remember) with an instructor, several laps in the single-seat 'Formula Race Car' and then a debrief with some awards. It was pretty cool but I was incredibly nervous, possibly more so when driving the SEAT because I hadn't owned a car for a couple of years at that point and the gearbox and clutch were massively different in feel to my old car (the gearbox in the race car was also massively different, but was actually easier in most ways what with the semi-automatic gear shift paddles). I managed to spin the race car at Clark's as I was accelerating out of the corner with the tyres inadvertently on the painted lines, ending up stuck in the gravel, so had to wait a while to be recovered, although they put me in another car and let me finish my allocation of laps which was nice of them. Needless to say, I was not awared a trophy, although it's kind of surprising there wasn't something for spinning... Definitely worth doing if you can. I'd love a go in a Tesla...

This seems to be the current equivalent: https://www.knockhill.com/experiences/racing-car-experience