Monday, December 26, 2022

Is Tesla Tanking?

Reading this article about the headwinds facing Tesla, one might wonder if they'll be around much longer.

I've opined before that Tesla was going to have its lunch eaten once the traditional car companies got into EVs in a big way.

Beyond that, Musk is committing one of the cardinal sins of a retail company: Getting openly involved in politics. It's probably not even debatable that the demographics of those who are open to buying EVs are nowhere near aligned with those who support the Asset, who think that Covid and climate change are hoaxes and who have bought into the Big Election Lie. But those are the people that Musk seems determined to alienate. The guy flying a TOFF '24 flag from his F-250, Siverado, or Ram truck isn't going shopping for an EV sedan anytime soon,

So if you are politically moderate or liberal and if you're looking into buying an EV, why the fuck would you now even entertain buying a Tesla?

8 comments:

  1. We made a down payment on an eMini months ago, should get here any day now.

    Never even considered a Tesla, and my next truck will be a Lightening.

    Have you seen the flying eMotorcycles ... !?

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  2. You have to wonder about the eventual liability of owning a Tesla if Musk tanks it in the own-goal of Twitter.
    Augustine's Law #Iforget states: "Anything that isn't in a design won't break". And boy howdy, there *so* much blart and bonkus space-age cleverness in Tesla design. As a Ferrari, you get a two digit MTBF with service and parts availability that is very, very thin. Already, GM is snickering up its sleeve about fixing Teslas:
    https://www.kbb.com/car-news/gm-dealers-have-been-quietly-repairing-teslas/

    And that's *now*. Imagine keeping a Tesla even marginally operable (and :) safe) if Tesla goes under, with all its specialty parts and weird/clever programming. You won't be able to give it away. Congratulations, you can use it as a lawn planter. Like being the once-proud owner of an Edsel (but worse): you will be the laughingstock of the neighborhood.

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  3. Tesla’s trump card is the Supercharger network they have established. Other than that, they are nearly identical to other EV producers, with poorer customer service. Tesla/Musk has said they would open the Supercharger network to non-Tesla vehicles, and did so in the Netherlands in mid-2021, with expansion across Europe over the past year.

    Given what I’ve noticed about the most recent Supercharger locations opened around here (North Texas), they aren’t on major roadways, but seem more focused on shopping locations. I’m wondering if Musk isn’t positioning Tesla to become a service provider instead of a vehicle retailer. His network tends to beat the crap out of anyone else’s in most major markets, and with a little modification, a Supercharger connection can be adapted to charge damn near any vehicle. With an assured profit for every kWh pumped through its connection, Tesla the power delivery provider would be a money tree, and would integrate nicely with the PowerWall and Solar Power roof tile elements of Tesla.

    There are stories of just how “little” profit Tesla plans to make from opening its network, but they miss a couple of points. Tesla currently marks up its electricity by a little over 100% at its Supercharger locations, and promises to “only” charge an additional 10% for non-Tesla vehicles (that’s an extra 20% clear profit). The estimate is an open Supercharger network would generate over $25B+, as is…without enhancements or consideration of the higher charging rates of newer vehicles which increases turnover.

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  4. He treats his employees like shit. They will eventually have their way with him, if Tesla lasts that long.

    -Doug in Sugar Pine

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  5. Tesla's future doesn't hang on its US sales. I doubt that the Chinese and Europeans care about his stance on US politics.Tesla is selling every car it can make just like everyone else that makes EVs but Tesla is selling millions of cars compared to everyone else that struggles to get out a couple 100,000.

    Ten Bears.Those are good choses.

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  6. The Chinese are making their own EVs. And I do expect that Musk's bullshit will have some resonance in Europe. Imagine what the world would have been like if the Asset had managed to wreck NATO.

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  7. Tesla’s stock has lost nearly 75% of it’s value over the last year.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TSLA/key-statistics

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  8. The Chinese like Teslas.Europe likes Chinese Teslas.I think the Model Y is the best selling car in Germany.
    The next biggest company making evs is BYD but a lot of their cars are hybrids and that market is shrinking world wide .

    Europe is looking at a fuel shortage. EVs are making a whole lot of sense for them and Tesla makes more of them than anyone else.

    I'm not a Tesla fan boy. Elon is not on my list of people I'd like to have dinner with but to to deny his accomplishments is nearsighted.

    Take a look at his competition.
    Toyota is the most indebted company in the world with shrinking sales.
    Volkswagen is the next biggest in the world and second only to Toyota in debt.They also have management issues since they got rid of Herbert Deis.
    Gm has a lot of debt as well and it's 4 years behind Ford in the electic pickup market.

    No car company is safe in this market,everyone is starting over from the ground up and the advantages that the OEMs had will be gone by the time they catch up .

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