this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
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  • 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.
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

headline was more exciting before i read the last four words of it

[–] [email protected] 46 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Maybe Tesla should focus on fixing the quality of their current products before moving into other realms of production?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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).

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 days ago

Sure, his messaging about FSD is absolutely dangerous and irresponsible, but mechanically, Tesla's cars have been quite solid.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 4 days ago

Elon Musk is a Nazi toddler.

[–] [email protected] 80 points 4 days ago

Five years ago the audience would have fawned all over this kind of crap.

It's good to see people are wise to his stock pumping strategy now.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Still down 50% over 3 years! Let's go Elon, you can kill it dead!

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Here’s their all time stock price graph. Not exactly a death spiral, though that 3y performance number makes it sound so. The 1, 2, and 5 year numbers don’t tell the same story. You might even say it was a bit of a cherry pick.

Disclaimer: I own no TSLA shares. I just know how to manipulate stats for effect, so I know when it’s being done to me :)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Regardless of it's performance, it's astronomically overvalued. Tesla's market cap is larger than 5 of the nearest rivals combined. The value of their shares doesn't reflect reality.

But reality inevitably catches up. Their last quarterlies were not looking good. The market is saturated with EVs now and Tesla is going to struggle to attract new customers, especially with the divisive politics of Elon Musk. About the only reason Tesla is still dominant in North America is because they are still the cheapest in town, but that is reflected in the shoddy build quality and bare bones interior.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

It is hugely overvalued. We should scoff at their crazy highs instead of penalizing them for being below them. You can’t necessarily be blamed because at certain points investors wildly overvalued you. A lot of times the stock market punishes success. My employer for example doubled its business during COVID and when that spike eventually cooled off we were still on a good growth trajectory but a couple of quarters came in at negative YoY revenue and of course everyone lost their minds. This is why I always look at the zoomed out graph. It’s so easy to miss the real story looking at any one slice of it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Still doesn't look good for a company to lose 50% on its all time high

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

True, that’s never what you want over the long haul.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 4 days ago (2 children)

We are an AI company not a car company

Heres our new car

????

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

At least they can finally admit that they are not a car company.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago

We even let AI write our script!

[–] [email protected] 61 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Elon normally throws a dead cat like this onto the table every time he plans on either increasing his compensation or he plans on selling a bunch of shares as in the past the dead cat has boosted the share price. Funding Trumps campaign cant be cheap. I'm glad that the market seems to be finally cottoning on to his grifting with this.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

It was about time that people caught up with his schtick of straight up lying, remember the roadster announced 7 years ago? Where is that?

The semis? Stopped taking orders.

Cybertruck is a complete failure, took 5 years to deliver.

The cheap Tesla that was promisef, nowhere to be seen.

Your tesla becoming a self driving taxi while you dont use it and earning you money? Vaporwave.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago

Elon’s favorite combo: lying and kicking the can down the road 🦵

[–] [email protected] 65 points 4 days ago (1 children)

He is constantly moving into the new thing and investors (especially institutional ones) must be noting the executive neglect

[–] [email protected] 53 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It's about time, really. He went off the deep end 5-6 years ago and proved he was just an arrogant salesman; the engineers/workforce is what achieved the consistent, iterative successes in SpaceX and Tesla for the decade prior. Since then he's done nothing but pump the stock with hopes and dreams (and financial crimes), and he's probably been a negative weight on productivity in all of his companies.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

There’s little doubt that he squeezes high productivity out of people. He just does so in a combative and oppressive way that I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near.

I also believe that he pushes his engineering teams through problem solving challenges (which does not make him an engineer) by ruthlessly interrogating everything. That’s not salesmanship…. But I’m not sure what you’d call it. Product, maybe?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'd call it a load of bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago

Of course. He’s a jerk and we hate him now therefore everything he does must be utter bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Wonder what international event 6ish years ago brought that image to the forefront...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tham_Luang_cave_rescue

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

Pedo guy wanted to hog the spotlight with his billionaire death trap submarine stunt.