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Comment by rb808 | Hacker News Reader

So about the same as Ford, GM and FiatChrysler combined. Crazy times. Wow even Uber market cap is higher than each of those three. Feels like 1999.

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GM is a recent bankrupt and Ford isn’t doing much better, so they are not a good comparison. 100b is half of Toyota’s market cap, so it is anticipating massive success, a little high for Tesla right now, but not a bubble valuation yet IMO.

The Uber market cap is explained by a bet on worldwide autonomous taxis, though I think Tesla is better placed to take that market, again it anticipates future success.

WRT Uber, market seems to value recurring revenue streams higher than non recurring streams (ie average customer buys a new car every 7 years, likely from different manufacturers, but an Uber customer uses the product a few times per month). Auto makers could be valued more highly if they can sell subscriptions to something.

Tesla recently started billing $10/mo for internet service[1] (might be at a break-even price). They've also started to release in-app DLC ($2k) that makes your car accelerate quicker[2]

[1] https://www.tesla.com/support/connectivity

[2] https://electrek.co/2019/12/18/tesla-acceleration-boost-upgr...

Most of the major auto makers are trying to sell various tack-on services to get that ARR honey. Car-based internet is one of them.

It's tough though: most people don't care about car based internet when their phone already has it.

It doesn't feel like anyone has yet found a recurring revenue stream for vehicles that has met any actual demand.

I did not purchase the GM connectivity because it didn't provide any value, the features were lame or useless and it was no loss not having them after the trial period ended.

The Tesla connectivity is really part of the whole car experience and I would probably be willing to pay quite a bit more, I was surprised by how reasonable the price was.

Elon Musk knows a thing or two about 1999. That's when he received $22 million for CitySearch. Some HTML stitched together with Perl scripts.

At least Tesla is a real thing.

yeah, it's not like they came up with the first vector-based mapping and door-to-door directions or anything like that. Just some simple HTML stitched together /s

Also, get your facts straight. Citysearch and Zip2 are not the same company.

What is crazy is to want to own a internal combustion engine car factory in the future. What happens when electric cars cost less to own and operate than a gas car? How is GM going to retool fast enough to keep up?

Tesla has only been around for 16 years. Given most car companies have a good start already, they should easily replicate what Tesla has done in 5 at most 10 years.

They’ve been trying for 10 years and are behind Tesla. Power pack cost and supply is a huge problem.

What are they waiting for?

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