It's a car. Nobody updates them. Certainly nobody drives to the dealership to get updates. Nobody outside of tech circles even know what that means.
> Can you buy it outside of the dealer?
So Tesla is going to win because they can do something their competition is legally prohibited from doing? If it actually started to hurt existing automakers you would see those regulations disappear faster than you can say, 'protecting the American auto industry'.
Exactly. You don't think people will get jealous when their friends and neighbors rave about how their Tesla just got this great new feature that installed itself overnight for free?
This is exactly what the author was talking about: automakers are still fighting the last war and trying to match feature bullet points. Tesla has changed the game.
> If it actually started to hurt existing automakers
Automakers are already aware of how much everyone hates buying a car because of the Stealership Experience (TM). This is just another way Tesla has changed the game and for structural reasons their competitors won't be able to catch up.
It has many parallels to cell phones and Apple with the iPhone: for years the old giants (Nokia, RIM, Sony-Ericsson) floundered without a competitive response. There were deep structural problems in the way the manufacturer-carrier relationship was setup that prevented them from responding. They also lacked the ability and will to develop a platform ecosystem - a feat only a few companies have ever really accomplished and almost all of them are on the US West Coast.
There is another parallel: for the first few years their profits and stock kept rising. In 2008 RIM had no idea they were about to be evicerated - they posted record profits! Ask them how well things turned out here in 2017.
I still rave to people about the Software update that increased the breaking efficiency on my Model S by 25%. It was a noticeable difference in the way the car slowed itself down, and was just amazing!
Yup, there was also a software update in the first 4 months of the non-P dual motor cars that shaved a full second from the 0-60(5.4s -> 4.2s) once they found out from real world testing that they had underrated them.
That type of stuff is why you'll see Tesla succeed.
> So Tesla is going to win because they can do something their competition is legally prohibited from doing? If it actually started to hurt existing automakers you would see those regulations disappear faster than you can say, 'protecting the American auto industry'.
I'd like to introduce you to a giant lobbying organization called the NADA...
[Edit]
To flip that on you, the NADA has enacted laws that legally prevent Tesla from selling cars in certain states. But you know, the free market will sort all that out.
That's just matching feature-for-feature which is exactly what the article is arguing existing players are doing and won't keep up with Tesla.