Is Elon Musk leading Tesla toward a DeLorean-style downfall?

[Kelly6]

Going too futuristic with less focus on current market to generate profit!

As Tesla which does not have many models and all models are look alike with no difference in them.

Tesla have very bad designers, compared to other EV around the world.

[FreyaRed]

Cars have to generate debt and are too expensive to buy from savings for most normal people, because banks wants credit papers which are real gold for financial world.
Quality and sustainability of cars as product is not only unimportant for car manufacturers, it's practically counter productive for their goals of debt generation. A car that falls apart after warranty time generates more debt than a car that drives 20 years and 300k km. This paired with the fairy tale that electro cars are the only way to stop human made climate change ™ reveals even more malice.
Tesla had a good run because it was new, fancy, loved as planet saver and offered exclusive charging infrastructure in US. Now this benefit is over and Cybetruck is an ugly coffin Tesla made for themselves.
Musk now tries to sell cars to US govt, and all his companies (SpaceX and Grok ) to reduce loses, but without real consumer market they are set to fail.

[Kelley1]

I don't know, Tesla and Musk have problems with lawsuits over excessive pay, losses in BitCoin, and other things, and competition from China. However, I suspect he will make adjustment to keep Tesla viable.

[Kelley1]

Thank you for the MHO.

[NathanDavis]

Tesla is not Musk... Musk is not Tesla

there's a group of ventures... of which Musk is the image, and Tesla has never needed to be profitable and it probably never was... most of these companies are/have been funded by US tax payers and managed by a group of very rich people...

Tesla already served it's purpose... which, was... to be a "cool rich toy" for entrepreneurs who have way too much money to spend on fancy things, and right now... their focus is on something bigger... which is Space (well, communications) and Data Mining

Tesla could fail and fall three times in a row, and it wouldn't really affect them much

[MrChinaski]

BYD is cheaper and better... just ask Volkswagen, who are cutting 150000 workers, if you don't believe me. Tesla is 20 year old technology behind a tariff wall. Nobody outside the US is buying them anymore. The have zero cachet anymore. Kitsch? Maybe they have nostalgic kitsch. Otherwise zero brand value.

And they are barely even profitable. Tesla is a meme stock. Always has been.

[Kelly6]

True

[abc3643]

Tesla has 3 problems although 1 seems to have gone away...
1. Musk. He's pissed off people with his racism and Trump associations. That seems to have settled down a bit as Tesla's board got on his ass.
2. Rush to market features that shouldn't be on cars like their mis-named auto-pilot. That's a suicide system. Reminds me of Stockton Rush who became fish food on Father's Day 3 years ago.
3. The competition so Tesla has to drive prices down a bit.

I wouldn't be worried about Tesla going under though. They are doing OK and will continue to do so. Their designers aren't bad, but, as is often the case, high level managers can screw things up. Lots of formerly great companies fell all because of bad management and decision making. As long as Musk is kept at a distance, Tesla should be safe. He's too focused on SpaceX now anyway.

[Just_Ken]

A big problem tesla has is that they are really existing based on brand name rather than product and are competing against manufacturers most of whom have over 100 years of mass producing vechiles. Fact is virtually any car manufacturer can easily mass produce hybrid and EV vechiles of superior quality and much cheaper. Musk isn't like Ford with his model T, Tesla aims for the upper middle class do gooder in San Francisco or LA that smell their own farts not the average working person.

But Tesla will be ok some car manufacturers will buy it up, Musk will make a fortune from the sale and Tesla will continue. I have an EV vechile, its 5 years old and I can't sell it, hell I can't even give it away. Might get it scrapped for the $100 recycle pay out i was offered. Want rid of it in case it catches fire.

[Sevenpointfive]

i'll put it this way. i have solved the electric vehicle problem of gassing up in under 5 minutes. and i know exactly why they don't do it. but not doing it is why the EV will fail. it is a really stupid reason too. HOWEVER, it will happen eventually. he was just a little early on it. if i played the stock market i'd probably heavily invest in Tesla before the oil runs out. i just want to know where he gets the energy? if you aren't generating the energy then he's stealing it from us. if he's paying a single cent difference for the energy then he's profiting off of the convenience. either way you might be paying for it if you don't even use it.

[Bricealan]

@Kelly6 Kelly, I can't agree with you on this since I am now driving my second Model S, and this time a Plaid. I think discontinuing the S and the X is a huge mistake even though model Y and 3 are selling more by a wide margin. S and X are he models that made him the capital to go on with 3 and Y, and it really irks me not to see him drop the two models that made him all that growth capital.

Models 3 and Y are big seller here in CA, and I don't see any downturn. although I don't claim to be a market analyst.

Musk is a brilliant guy and I don't see him making any huge blunders like John DeLorean made.

He is converting the plant in Northern CA to Robotics, which I think is a blunder, but I suppose we will see?

Good question

[OlderAndWiser]

It is certainly a gamble. As a new entry into a saturated market, Musk needs to do something to set his product apart from others. But creating six or seven models initially would require even more capital investment in R&D as well as marketing. I would not assume that Musk is going to fail. . . but it's possible.

[molonski2]

I was never tempted my Tesla scrip , that being said I think Musk is a generous , but the Chinese vehicles have it hands down , and on electric it's price , price , price.. look at an older Tesla.

But , he is so clever , I'm sure he has some grand plan if he can find the time , as the thing is Tesla is MUSK , no succession plan , wayyyyyy too much going out to him , he is the driver ( pun intended ) .

And that's big part of the problem , company lacks a lot..

[BonzoInBitburg]

No, they have fallen way behind on technology. BYD can flash charge a battery to a 250 mile range in 10 minutes and other manufacturers like NIO have battery swapping stations where they take out a depleted battery and replace it with a fresh on in 3 minutes. Chinese EVs are way more advanced and cheaper

[AviatorTom]

I doubt it.

DeLorean never really got off the ground, producing less than 10 thousand vehicles while Tesla has produced almost 2 million vehicles, and sales are still good, despite stuff competition from Chinese BYD.

Tesla has 3 models, 3, Y and Cybertruck, corresponding to sedan, SUV and pickup truck. That's not much different from major automakers.

[DryGermanGuy]

No, I don't think so, unless they really screw up technologically or administratively. Unlike Lucid, Rivian or Nikola, they have managed to built a critical core mass of car sales.

[BCRanger10]

DeLoreans didn't have a "downfall". They drove 30 years into the future.

[exitseven]

the tesla has not been redesigned in 4 years. I think Elon has moved on from it/The electric car is dead since Biden is gone

[loveslongnails]

Tesla and every other manufacturer of EV is already years behind the Chinese and BYD. Musk is more interested in amassing wealth than being a leader in technology. My guess is he will try and sell Tesla, or at least the car division of it.

[Alex-Snow]

It would do him good to have a reality check

[Dargil]

I think he should buy Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler and re energize them

[Jeff51]

Don't really care for any electric car. Tesla can fail is fine by me.

[fishbone77]

gotta love all the business pundits on this question.

[SmartAss06]

Biggest Competition is BYD. And yes Elon is visions but investors support him

[DirtyOldMan777]

They would've done much better going Hybrid first.

[Kelly6]

@dirtyoldman777
And have more designs to select from,
And first put cars on low profit price , as Tesla does not use dealership.

As iPhone first started will less profit or free with new accounts, which hooked everyone in smartphone , now people jump for new smartphone purchase as a it’s their life line.

[SparklingWine10]

Sounds like especially his yahtzee saulte.

[robocop666]

EV are failing worldwide and are useless. I hope they disappear.

[RareBreedOfMan]

Yes, he is doing so

[msc545]

Who cares, really?

[Bklynbadboy12]

Honestly who cares that guy is a weirdo

[canamlusciouslad73]

Hopefully.