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Tesla FSD Is “Vaporware,” Says Ford Spokesperson

As wise men used to say, “them’s fightin’ words!” A Ford official and a longtime Tesla investor got into a heated word exchange on social media, revealing the ugly side of healthy competition among EV makers, along with a series of allegations.
The Mach-E has been compared to the Model Y from Tesla, and customers of neither company are ok with it 76 photos
Photo: Ford/Tesla
In every industry, healthy competition between respective players helps them develop a better product and it ultimately helps the customer, who gets the best bang for the buck. At least, that’s how things should be in (simplified) theory.

With the auto industry looking forward to full electrification, competition among carmakers is also getting more intense. And this brings us to the apparent face-off between Ford’s Mustang Mach-E and Tesla in general, and the Model Y in particular.

Amid increased buzz about how Ford dealers were offering the new Mach-E with markups as high as $10,000, Ross Gerber, a longtime investor in Tesla, tweeted at Mike Levine, North American communication manager at Ford (hat tip to electrek), saying Ford should give customers their money back because it’s ripping them off with “BS fees.” He also urged Mike to stop comparing the Mach-E to a Tesla because it’s not a Tesla and “it is not close.”

Mike did not take it kindly. “Why would Ford have to compare?” he shot back. “Don’t listen to me. Listen to the media. And return those $10K full-self driving deposits. Mach-E customers drive away with a car. Tesla customers drive off with vaporware.”

The “vaporware” claim is probably a reference to how Tesla offers a Full Self-Driving upgrade that is neither self-driving nor full, as Tesla itself admitted in legal docs. That is not to say that it’s charging customers money for nothing, but it is what the Ford spokesperson is suggesting.

Mike went on to urge Ross to get off the iPad and live life, while Ross argued that the Ford spokesperson said “utter nonsense about the most advanced car software ever created.”

Look at this dispute objectively, and you will probably see that both are right and wrong in equal measure. Ford dealers are overcharging customers shamelessly for the Mach-E (a phenomenon Ford is trying to put a stop to), and Ford did encourage comparisons with Tesla. At the same time, Tesla is selling an Autopilot upgrade—in Beta, no less—that does not make the vehicle autonomous, despite suggestions to the contrary. The only surprise here is that this spilled out on Twitter and that it got so heated so fast.
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Editor's note: Gallery photos show the Ford Mustang Mach-e.

About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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