All of the vehicles in the article were pre-delivery. As they were still owned by Tesla, it falls on the company to repair them.
I’m not justifying vandalism, but the impact to the buyer is a delayed delivery vs a monetary and PR impact to Tesla.
Europe licenses trucks and trailers differently than in the U.S. An American one-ton pickup can tow at a combined weight of up to 26,000lbs in most states on a standard Class D license. The same license you need to operate a Honda Civic. This weight would require a commercial license in Europe, raising the bar for entry.
The lengths of trucks and trailers is also regulated more heavily due to smaller European streets. A vehicle rated to tow a 26,000lb load in Europe would need to be much shorter in length to abide by these regulations. This is why you only see “cab-over” style “lorries” in Europe.
What follows is my opinion on some additional factors:
It’s more affordable for Europeans to hire a professional driver for heavy loads owing to the short distances between destinations. It’s also less likely that your average European owns land or has a need to haul a heavy load to maintain said property.
Figured a picture would be appropriate…
I always loved construction equipment as a kid. I had a full set of die-cast Cat construction machines and would play with them in a sandbox my dad built.
Three months ago I bought a Kubota U27-4 mini-excavator. Needless to say, my inner 8 year old is thrilled.
The vast majority of people won’t know how to manage a server in their basement. It makes no sense to invest in this capability that will be utilized by an extremely small fraction of car buyers.
I would very rarely advocate for a subscription service but this one makes as much sense as a mobile phone plan.
Annoyingly, many vehicles sold in the U.S. don’t have a tow rating except for large SUV’s and trucks. It makes it difficult to know if you can safely tow a trailer with your small crossover.
I owned a Honda HR-V a few years ago. In Europe, it was rated for around 1,500 lbs. In the U.S., they just slap “not recommended for towing” on it and tell you to buy something larger.