As anyone who follows me will know, I'm a big fan of Tesla cars, having just bought my 5th Tesla in 6 years. At Navigator, we also have a fleet of Tesla Model 3s - all bought at different times over the past 3 years.
This gives me a little bit of an insight into how Tesla develop their cars compared to other brands.
Traditionally, a manufacturer will design a new model and will then put that into production. This model will then be made, largely unchanged for maybe 4 years. The only changes being minor cosmetic items in the main. Then the next generation of the model will be delivered. Any changes made tend to be done at one time, with the designation of a new model year. Any two cars from the same model year will be reasonably similar.
Tesla have a different philosophy. The cars are always under continuous development. Every Tesla Model 3 we own is different - even those bought a month or two apart. Over time, these differences cumulate though, and having just replaced by 2019 Model 3 Performance with a 2022 Model 3 Long Range, I am able to compare that evolution over the time. Spec wise, they are very similar cars. However, there are masses of differences.
Firstly, they are clearly built differently, Tesla not only upgrades the cars, but also the factory! The build quality of the newer car is far higher than the one it replaced. It is also quieter. The electric motors are different and the battery has longer range.
My 2019 car needed to be dechromed when I had it wrapped, but the 2022 is already dechromed.
The interior is completely different! Different seats, much higher spec interior materials and a new centre console.
The key to Tesla is it's tech, epitomised by it's big centre screen. The software in the car controlling every function is updated constantly with features being added. For example, just this week, I received a software update that added functions such as Disney+ in car (yes you can watch tv when not driving) as well as more subtle items such as improvements to the autopilot system (this one to make it less jerky when a car pulls in front of you).
This got me thinking of how we work at Navigator.
Our solution is now 25 years old. The company was born, along with it's software, back in May 1997.
But, the Navigator system our customers use now is very different from the one we delivered back in 1997!
We have never had a point where we have asked our customers to purchase a "new" version, nor in fact did we ever release a completely new version!
Each part of the application was migrated from the older "character" style to the newer graphical format, bit by bit, with the systems co-existing for a number of years as all features were transferred. Even today, the old system still runs! (the two screen shots above are from the same system made one after each other!)
Over the years, we've added functionality bit by bit, issued slowly over time as continuous evolution.
Just like Tesla, this is a massive benefit. We can deliver small updates, which users can easily absorb without having to invest or learn something new, but which over time, make the system very different and keep it feeling fresh and up to date.
This allows us to also deliver complete refreshes to parts of the application - so for example, all our customers will shortly be receiving our latest updates to our Sales 360 showroom system, and take advantage of a number of the new integrations.
Looking at the two images above, it's hard to believe that 25 years has gone past, nor how much Navigator has changed over the time (it wasn't even called Navigator until 2006!). Yet it's the same underlying system, just with 25 years of evolution!
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