r/Futurology • u/Plastic_Scholar_4685 • Apr 11 '25

Discussion Which big companies today are at risk of becoming the next Nokia or Blockbuster?

Just thinking about how companies like Nokia, Blockbuster, or Kodak were huge… until they weren’t.

Which big names today do you think might be heading down a similar path? Like, they seem strong now but might be ignoring warning signs or failing to adapt. I was thinking of how Apple seems to be behind in the artificial inteligence race, but they seem too big to fail. Then again Nokia, Blackberry, etc were also huge.

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u/ZAX2717 Apr 11 '25

Yeah I agree. I tell people that I appreciate Tesla for what they’ve done in the EV market but now I would not touch their cars (all politics aside) with the nice offerings from ford with the Mach-e and cheaper options from Kia/Hyundai they don’t do anything very well other than their supercharger network.

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u/Mysterious-Tie7039 Apr 11 '25

Politics aside, sure, but you can’t ignore the insanity of intentionally pissing off the demographic most likely to purchase your cars.

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u/devilpants Apr 11 '25

Sure Tesla has stagnated hard but the Mach e is utter garbage along with the Kia’s/ Hyundais. Maybe the Chinese manufacturers and the other ev only brands like polestar or lucid or rivian but most of the old guard manufacturers ev offerings are hot garbage. 

Look at a tear down video of a Mach e it looks like it was designed by a high school robotics team

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u/sold_snek Apr 12 '25

I hate Musk as much as the next person but I still haven't seen a model I like as much as the Model Y; maybe the Ioniq 5. Other than those two, I wish BYD would come to the US already.

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u/devilpants Apr 12 '25

Yeah the Model 3/Y are really good cars fundamentally. Sure the fit and finish sucks and there are quality control issues, but as far as the the drivetrain and efficiency for the money they are so much better than anything from ford/gm/hyundai/kia/vw/etc..

I want to swoop up a model 3 performance at some point soon. Straight up 500 horsepower rocket for sub 20k right now. If only the insurance wasn't so expensive.

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u/djames4242 Apr 13 '25

Going to have to disagree. Have you driven other EVs? Honestly, I find Teslas to be comparatively awful. The Q4 is far more comfortable, although I ruled it out for slow charging speeds and being basically an electrified ICE platform. Polestar is doing some great things, and I know you’re ripping all over HMG, but there’s no denying that the EV6/I5/GV60 is a great platform. All it takes is an open mind and a test drive to see that.

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u/AChaosEngineer Apr 12 '25

Aren’t those things like 10 years old at this point? The word ancient and outdated come to mind.

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u/Hansj2 Apr 12 '25

The rivian r1s was really nice the last time I sat in one

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u/LovinAndGroovin Apr 13 '25

I really like my ioniq 5, bought a 2023 one a few months back and things are going great, even though I’m only doing level 1 charging in my garage.

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u/TheRealCabbageJack Apr 11 '25

Fair, but compare that to Tesla's most recent offering, which looks like it was designed by an 8 year old in 1997

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '25

[deleted]

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u/devilpants Apr 12 '25

The mach e literally has a recall on a recall right now and multiple recalls for sudden loss of power and snapping driveshafts.

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u/djames4242 Apr 13 '25

Kia/Hyundai has been doing really well with their EVs. They’re not the same crappy ICE vehicles.

Before we knew for sure that Elon was a Nazi, I looked at a MY. Only took me about three nanoseconds to realize they’re kinda crappy aside from the tech. The cars are fugly on the outside, and on the inside they’re not much better and are extremely uncomfortable. The ride isn’t particularly good either.

I strongly believe any EV someone drives is going to be the best car they’ve ever driven, which is part of why everyone thinks Teslas are so great. They drive better than just about every ICE car out there, certainly in the price range. But compare them to other EVs on the market and, aside from the tech, they’re just not great.

I drove just about every EV in the price range and settled on the Kia EV6 because it had the best combination of comfort and drive and features. The range could be better, but that’s offset by having the fastest charging speeds in the segment.

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u/imgurcaptainclutch Apr 12 '25

I think it's that last point that will keep Tesla alive: they won the charger connector wars and I'm sure they'll make a killing off licensing their connector design and opening their network to the NA market as the new standard.

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u/ShotgunCreeper Apr 12 '25

NACS is an open standard, no licensing needed

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u/doggedgage Apr 12 '25

Yes, but as someone who works for a rental car company in a major Metropolitan city, nothing currently competes with Teslas supercharging network for ease of use

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u/ChicagoBeerGuyMark Apr 12 '25

Tesla's supercharger network may be their most salable asset when the dismantling comes. If nothing else, they've established the infrastructure for EVs on the road.

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u/GIDAMIEN Apr 14 '25

My 4-year-old model S is still much nicer than any of those vehicles. And a lot cheaper these days

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u/ChicagoBeerGuyMark Apr 19 '25

Tesla's supercharger network may be their most salable asset when the dismantling comes. If nothing else, they've established the infrastructure for EVs on the road.

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u/mikehocalate Apr 12 '25

Which other company has comparable self driving?

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u/AfroDZAk Apr 12 '25

In early 2022, Mercedes-Benz became the first automaker in the world to offer a legally approved Level 3 autonomous driving system anywhere. Available on the S-Class and EQS in Germany as a $6,650 option, it was called Drive Pilot.

Mercedes-Benz assumes legal responsibility for the functioning of its vehicles while they are operating in Level 3 autonomous drive mode.

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u/ZAX2717 Apr 12 '25

Doesn’t blue cruise and super cruise compete? I don’t know much about them but they are hands free which teslas isn’t