Enough

Tesla discussions have always brought very polarized opinion. Either trash and going bankrupt or the absolute leader in AI about to deliver autonomous driving (Full Self Driving - FSD) through a simple software update.

My point today is really not about Tesla but about the value of FSD in general. I wrote about this many times, with the Tyranny of Convenience being the most popular post.

Today the theme is similar. It is about the concept of "enough" which is one of the key enemies of capitalism. Prospering capitalist economies (the USA being the prime example here) absolutely depend on creating and expanding consumers' desires. People must want more for the wheels to spin. And the vision of consumers even remotely calling "we have enough" is the most feared. "Enough" must be eliminated.

In many ways I am a person who has enough of many things. Sometimes I even feel that my level of "enough" is definitely too high. I try not to chase new cars, new laptops, new iPhones, as the ones I have are perfectly enough. But still I have weaknesses such as I can spend hour browsing AliExpress to find a slightly lighter combination of titanium camping gear. Of course camping pots and utensils are small in comparison to cars and computers, but anyway, I too get carried away by some material desires.

Coming back to Tesla - discussions today are mostly revolving around the collapsing sales and the brand damage. Company advocates advocate though, there will be new models and Tesla cars will always be superior one way or the other, so buyers will be picking Tesla anyway. Maybe. But I think - when it comes to cars - the market is quite saturated already and increasingly more people are simply not obsessed with buying a new car every two years. Electric cars still come with many compromises. So buying one today to serve for the next 10-20 years is probably too early - better wait for the technology to mature. Combustion engine cars (Internal Combustion Engine - ICE) - on the other hand - matured about 20-30 years ago, when electronic engine control and ABS were widely introduced. A new ICE car today is rarely better than a 5-year old one, so there is limited practical motivation to buy a new one. In other words, a 5- or even a 10-year old car today is "enough" for many. I drive a 20-year old one and it is way more than enough for me (but it is special).

Long story short - declining sales of Tesla while definitely caused by on-par alternatives and the brand damage, also to some extent reflect the fact that people do not care (except for a few). They have an "enough" car which just serves them well.