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Comment by Maarten88 | Hacker News Reader

In the Netherlands there are many Tesla taxis, especially around Amsterdam and Schiphol airport. Taxis drive more than regular cars so I see them all the time, to the point that most Tesla's on the road are taxis.

I think this creates an "interesting" marketing challenge for Tesla here: taxi drivers are not well respected and most people do not want to be mistaken for a taxi driver. Being seen as a typical taxi brand will impact the image of Tesla in a negative way, like it has done here with Mercedes (another typical taxi here, if you see a Mercedes E series here it's usually a taxi, so normal people looking for a premium car buy a BMW or Volvo)

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I'm not sure that Tesla considers it's current luxury status very important. Ever since Musk's first master plan he's maintained that producing luxury cars at all is just a means to an end of affordable electric cars.

Maybe we can debate weather a $35,000 car is "affordable", but at least Tesla seems to think so. Prius's seem to have a lock on the cab market where I am, and those things just keep flying off the lot into private hands. Personally, when I see a car as a taxi, I can't help but think that thing has got to be reliable as hell.

$35k is about the average price of a new car.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/05/04/new-car-...

That makes it affordable enough to make a difference.

That doesn't mean the average person can afford it. More likely that the average person purchases a 10,000 dollar used car.

In a few years, perhaps a 10,000.00$ used Tesla.

..with a battery that no longer holds charge!

Batteries improve or get cheaper...

Teslas are designed for quick swap service of the battery allegedly...

Tesla has treated previous generation owners, such as the sport coupe, to free battery upgrades...

If there are enough used teslas on the market and replacement of the battery drops to a $1000 for a new-equivalent or even better battery, then teslas will be awesome used commodities.

An irrelevant statement, right? Tesla becomes profitable with electrics, others join in, then someday there are used $10,000 used electric cars. You didn't understand this?

I live in Amsterdam and indeed I see them all the time. They are all white, however vs many other Teslas people have so I see no problem there.

Moreover, in many countries taxis have a specific colour, and I personally never liked white for my own car because it would look like a taxi :-)

This is double blade sword. You may look into taxi drives cars and think - this is good, reliable car, with low maintenance cost if taxi drives, who drives those all day is using. I know in poorer countries this research for new car happens a lot.

Hey Ifx, the saying is "double-edged sword" not "double blade sword" [0]. Just letting you know in case English is not your native language. Personally when I am learning other languages I love to be corrected. Feel free to ignore this - you have the right to say the idiom any way you please.

[0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/double-edged_sword

Thanks kevinstubbs!

I would argue that taxis are usually recognized by color and not brand.

It's hard to be confused for a taxi without the livery...

I drive a used (ex-police) 2009 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor because I've been seeing the police and taxis drive them my entire life. I like it for the same reason they do, it has incredible reliability and is perfectly designed for manoeuvring the city.

I owned a PI Crown Vic and disagree that it's perfectly designed for a city. It is HUGE. It's a very long car which can make it hard to park and maneuver in tight roads.

That said, it's a fantastic highway car. Go 10-15mph over in the passing lane and everyone gets out of your way, especially if you still have push bars and a spot light.

Agreed, it is a full sized sedan. I did find that frustrating until I got more familiar with it. It's great on the highway too... the roar of that V8 in the cabin with all the windows down at highway speed is about as close to nirvana as I'll ever come.

I have a spotlight but no push bar. I'd probably remove the spot, but it's very difficult to fill the hole as it leaves a gap in both the pillar and door.

Sounds to me like you're talking about how your cars are often confused for police cars. Despite the lack of livery.

His did... because it had a push bar at the front. Not many civilian cars with battering rams out there.

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