- Investors, analysts and the general public seem deeply unimpressed with Tesla’s robotaxi event earlier this week.
- Tesla’s stock closed down 8% on Friday, when it was supposed to be a propulsive event for the company.
- CEO Elon Musk has vowed to make Tesla into an AI and robotics powerhouse, but proof of this plan feels in short supply.
Eh, I think their current products are fine (except Cybertruck, that’s ridiculous). Every company has recalls, and Tesla’s are generally pretty mild (again, except Cybertruck).
The main issue is that Elon really likes to overpromise and underdeliver. If he would flip that, I think people would be a lot more excited about this event. But saying “start production in 2025, available in 2026” means nothing when he’s been off by years with previous announcements. IMO, he shouldn’t have had the event until there was a firm delivery date. And that doesn’t just mean build capacity, they should be substantially far into the regulatory process before even presenting it publicly.
They are not doing anything better than anyone else other than marketing, which is tied directly Musk. Every bowel movement of his gets headlines so he brings the attention, without him it is a dated looking car with poor build quality.
Instead of addressing the current sleight of products and updating them, Musk is constantly overpromising and pivoting which is causing this unfocused nonsense of products - Truck, taxi, van, robot…
But if they get rid of him, the company tanks because their bread and butter products are only ok.
Don’t they famously have an issues with QC? It wasn’t all that long that their other cars had problems with panel gaps, or manufacturing material left inside, etc.
I mark panel gaps in the “minor” category. You’re not going to die because your panels don’t precisely line up like you would if your brakes fail, battery explodes, or steering failure.
Tesla has its problems, but mechanically, they’ve been pretty sound.
Their current products are not fine, and he kills people when he acts like they are. FSD is nowhere near ready for the road. It wouldn’t be such a problem if he wasn’t such a bitch about using lidar.
Sure, his messaging about FSD is absolutely dangerous and irresponsible, but mechanically, Tesla’s cars have been quite solid.