Don't let the Scout become a status symbol; why $60k misses the point of the Revival

[oldgeeksguide]

I like the idea of what they (China) have done to us and the rest of the west for years. Just steal it. Of course, I mean just reverse engineer and improve. I think Ford did that with a Xiaomi.

They’ve been playing chess while we’ve been playing “pin the tail on the donkey”. They leveraged their strengths, access to a huge market, ability to streamline government regulation and access capital, to acquire and develop technology and expertise, while we’re focused on working spreadsheets to show quarterly profits. We’ve handed over the lead in a lot of areas because our system is inherently short sighted.

 

[Scoutsie]

True, but they’re not making particularly unique cars. That BYD pickup truck is the fugliest thing I’ve seen in a minute. There are probably some incredibly talented designers and engineers out there who can make some really good-looking cars, but they’re not working for BYD. They look like Japanese cars. That’s boring. There’s no unique design language that says “these are BYD.” Lame.

 

[Horn of Gabriel]

I stated I am a Veteran to give you context on who you are talking to, and your response was to double down and tell me that I'm spreading "talking points from the CCP"?
That says far more about your character than it does about my "ideology."

You still have not addressed any of the arguments above regarding CCP control of major industries like automotive, their ability to produce product without labor laws, lack of concern for profit, and most importantly the ethical implications of their documented usage of slave labor. That says far more about your character than anything you've written in this thread.

Moving away from your unnecessary second personal attack... let's stick to the data, since you claim you "do not see evidence" that the Willingness to Pay for EV trucks has dropped.
You must not be looking very hard.

And you are looking selectively. If you re-read my post, I specifically wrote that I didn't see evidence of declining willingness to pay for Scout. I've even bolded and italicized the relevant part again in case you missed it the first time, because below you cite a bunch of stats for Ford and other manufacturers, not Scout.

• Ford Lightning: Ford cut production by 50% in 2024 because inventory was piling up on dealer lots. They had to introduce thousands in incentives to move metal. That is the definition of "WTP dropping."
• Rivian: Their stock is down 90% from highs because they cannot find enough buyers at the current price point to scale profitably, forcing them to bet the company on the cheaper R2.
• Tesla: They slashed the price of the Model Y and Model 3 repeatedly to sustain demand.

Present your evidence for Scout. Last I've seen their reservations continue to climb.

You call my comparison to the global market "False Equivalence" because of labor laws.
The Consumer does not care about your labor law dissertation.

When a buyer looks at a $60-70k Scout, they vote with their wallet (as a reminder, we are a small representation of the enthusiast target market for Scout--the majority of the buyer are not on forums).

Nor does a Scout buyer care about what Rivian is doing. We are talking about the launch product pricing, not years down the road when they get to maturity and expand their line up.

Also, buyers do not have to be on a forum to be an enthusiast.

The market is brutal and efficient. It doesn't pay a premium for "Fortune 50" slide decks. You can scream "CCP Propaganda" into the void all you want, but the inventory reports from Ford and GM are written in English, and they all say the same thing: The $70k EV truck market is dead.

The good news is in a few short years, we'll have the data and one of us will be proven right. If Scout goes out of business, provides massive discounts on their launch products, offers under market interest rate deals to get people to buy, majorly de-features the Traveller and Terra to hit a lower price point, or undertakes a major pivot in 2027 due to not finding product/market fit for their launch product, I will eat crow.