Not sure Tesla is desperate, I actually think this is what Musk intended from the beginning...raising production, selling more cars, making parts cheaper for Tesla (the more they order with suppliers, the cheaper these parts get), lowering prices, finding more customers.
I agree however that the competition is getting fierce for Tesla...I predicted this before.
Tesla needs a new fresh design. As soon as possible.
RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), BMW Z4 M40i (2022), Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2019 EU)
I thought that Tesla has bad build quality. But I have changed my mind after we hade the first one and now we have three more.
In our company we had have Polestar 2 - Tesla 3/y is far better. We have tested VW ID.x - you can forget it.
Audi e-tron (pre facelift) - nice build quality - bad range and efficiency bad.
BMW i4 - far to expensive.
I had even a deposit for Lucid air dream edition (for me, not for employees) - after an intensive test drive I canceled my reservation - for 100.000 € cheaper the Plaid does it even better.
Tesla is going right now for market dominance rather than for profit. It seams that he has the tools for that.
AM
A bit too late in the game for Tesla to try and go for market dominance.
They HAD the market all for themselves for the longest time. They did it via being first to the market. But now with all the competition coming in, cutting price is the only tool they have left to try and retain market share, consumers have options now, they don't have to buy a Tesla if they want a EV.
Range and efficiency isn't the only metric for EV anymore. All modern EVs have adequate range for 95% of the consumers, and they all can be charged at home and be full in the morning if one is able to. Tesla's only advantage was the Supercharger network, but with the EU and the Americans making them opening up their network to others, that advantage has vaporized also.
There are cheaper and better equipped EVs from Hyundai group, there are more luxurious EVs from the Germans or even Lucid, there are faster more capable EVs from Porsche. They don't have a truck yet so Ford and Rivian are by default trumping Tesla in that segment. GM's truck EV are just around the corner, they should arrive even before the Cybertruck. For a small city runaround EV, there is the Mini EV, Tesla's aren't even in that segment.
There isn't one area that Tesla is the leader right now, they are the also ran at the moment, just one of many choices, not the only choice. People are voting with their wallet, everyone else's market share are growing except Tesla.
Apr 12, 2023 5:19:40 PM
Apr 13, 2023 1:36:47 AM
Apr 13, 2023 3:35:22 AM
mcdelaug:I think Nick is right. Tesla is now surrounded by competitors, many of whom have far more experience at building cars. And Elon looks like more of a liability then a benefit these days.
That’s been the sentiment here for years; however, a handful have remained in denial.
Apr 13, 2023 5:07:32 AM
Leawood911:Have not been watching this site - now I remember why.
Why isn’t everyone jumping in and agreeing with all of the above? Even one of the paragraphs? Even a sentence?
Hmm, hmm, oops for you?
Your Lex Luthor really isn't god you know?
There is a difference between stating the truth vs repeating propaganda from a cult leader. Nothing I wrote is not true. Tesla is losing market share, Tesla still hasn't has a EV truck, Hyundai & Co has been eating away at the low end of the EV market and Tesla hasn't been able to crack the top end to break out from Mercedes and Porsche. Ford's Mach E has been the good enough car against the Model 3/Y for people to switch over in Tesla's own segment. And Lucid's offerings are offering longer range and faster acceleration and more HP rating. I purposely left off the 'autonomous' side of things as that makes Tesla look even worse, they can't even get level 3 certified while Mercedes did, and Ford and GM's have better level 2 driver monitoring.
It's ok if you want to go back to your hiatus and come back again a while later after the heat die down a bit, no one missed a beat here while you were 'gone' anyways.
Apr 13, 2023 7:51:32 AM
https://insideevs.com/news/661999/us-electric-car-sales-feb2023/
Total EV sales expanded by 67% from Jan-Feb 2022 to Jan-Feb 2023 to ~165,000 cars.
But Tesla's market share dropped from 72% to 58% in only one year.
Tesla only gained 35% extra sales even as the segment exploded. Their competitors have a sales increase of 151% in the same period.
Who was the one here that deny Tesla is losing market share again?
Apr 13, 2023 4:16:23 PM
Is it because they had no cars to sell before and now they do? Tell me if 58% market share is good or bad. Any of the ICE brands have that share of ICE. Now tell me if any of them are profitable with their EV cars? Can they match prices in a price war? Do they have a bit of inventory making them nervous as Tesla cuts prices? So many details that look really ugly.
I would not recommend a car to my friends based on Tesla losing market share. Though I see you are personally not afraid of buying up all other EVs to help and to steer your perfectly good friends into the same dead ends. To make a really really weak point again and again.
Mine just hit 50k miles. Zero issues. One refill of washer fluid and new pilot sports. Estimate electrical spend at $700. Hardly a grid concern in three years. Yet I don’t try to convince anyone to buy one here. Just that you need to see for yourself and ignore the FUD.
Just a few minutes of this and I’m going to need another 2 month break. Plaid is on order. Keeping the model3 forever.
Cheers
Apr 13, 2023 6:04:17 PM
I am sorry but Tesla is making more cars than they can sell, inventory is piling up since last year. One reason why they have to cut price in order to move them.
That fact is widely reported in the financial sector and automotive sector, please take your head out of the sand.
No one is saying Tesla is dying. Everyone is just stating facts, facts that Tesla has more cars stockpiled than they can sell and they are losing market share quickly even in an expanding market. Literally I have been reporting the stockpile since forever. They have a yard full of them here not 20 mins from where I live and I drive by that yard at least once a week to go somewhere. Physical proof.
Others living in California also drive by the factory and reports piles of car in the yard, that wasn't there before. In the good o days when Tesla was selling everything, that factory yard is empty.
Whoopsy:I wonder if the 'wonderful' OTA updates from Tesla will magically update all Model 3s to this look?Maybe Tesla has used magical plastics that can transform its shape from the OTA commands.
I wouldn't be too hard on Tesla about their Over the Air updates. In my family's experience, they actually work!, while Porsche's are meh.
I like the driving experience of my Taycan somewhat better than my wife's Model S, but her experience with downloadable updates is VASTLY superior to Porsche's. And, my wife's previous Model S (now owned by my daughter's family) still receives updates that continue to make it current, even with old 2012 hardware. My 2020 Taycan could NEVER be brought up to speed with its launch telematic hardware, even with 7-10 hour dealer-installed firmware updates. It took different MY2023 electronic hardware to vanquish the livability horrors with which I dealt for 2 1/2 years.
I almost left the Porsche EV sphere altogether (for good) over the daily driving bugaboos to purchase my own Tesla.
The legacy ICE manufacturers have plenty of experience making car bodies, but are suffering from their own incredibly steep learning curve trying to adapt ancient management habits to the EV age.
Mike
918 Spyder + 992 GT3 Touring + Taycan Turbo + Tesla Roadster 1.5 & Model S P100D AP2 + BMWs (Z8 + 3.0 CSi) + Bentley Arnage T
Yeah I know Tesla OTA actually works, Mike had said plenty about it. But those 'new' functions should have been included in the launch car in the first place is my view.
Porsche updates sucks, that's universally known also. They still having trouble deciding what their iPhone app can and cannot do. They are definitely lacking behind, even my Ford app works better. Way better actually.
Ford also have OTA updates, and made a big deal out of every update. They are mostly UI related however. Like, they finally decided to display the actual battery charge percentage on the dash, which should have been there to start off with. 'New' function 'added' means I can finally use the scroll wheel to change temperature and seat heating setting, which should have been there in the first place also. Little things.
Porsche's OTA break things. It lost my car on the Porsche Connect app. and because my original Porsche Car Connect account was an American Vodafone account, I was the first to sign up with the 918 9 yrs ago, and they have since started a Vodafone Canada account fro Porsche Car Connect, my cars see jumping between the 2 and keep losing connections and I have spent the last 4 months working with Porsche Canada and Vodafone to try and fix their problem. Still not done.
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Apr 17, 2023 5:47:25 PM
Volkswagen introduced its new ID.7 today. While the car appears somewhat bland, it is not the polarizing design of the Hyundai Ioniq 6. Technology seems to have gained over previous Volkswagen EVs and the recent model push by the traditional automakers makes the road more difficult for Tesla. https://youtu.be/jX-jPOCCH5o
Apr 20, 2023 2:41:27 AM
Apr 20, 2023 6:17:20 AM
Tesla profits, gross margin fall in Q1
Tesla CEO Elon Musk's plan to ride out a possible recession with price cuts and lower production costs was not enough to make up for strained consumer spending on big-ticket items.
Tesla missed market estimates for first-quarter total gross margin on Wednesday, throttled by a series of aggressive price cuts meant to spur demand in a sagging economy and fend off rising competition.
The EV maker's net income during the latest period dropped 24 percent to $2.51 billion.
Tesla reported total gross margin of 19.3 percent, compared with expectations of 22.4 percent, according to analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Excluding items, Tesla reported a profit of 85 cents, in line with estimates.
Tesla said profitability was also weighed down by higher raw material, commodity, logistics and warranty costs as well as outlays to ramp up ouput of 4680 battery cells, while it faced margin headwinds from the underutilization of new factories.
Deliveries of higher-priced Model S and Model X vehicles also slumped from the previous quarter, it said.
The electric-vehicle maker lowered sticker prices four times in the United States between January and March, sacrificing industry-leading margins to maintain dominance in the U.S. and catch up with rivals in China — its second-largest market.
But a murky economic outlook meant that Tesla CEO Elon Musk's plan to ride out a recession with price cuts and lower production costs was not enough to make up for strained consumer spending on big-ticket items. Tesla deliveries in the first quarter rose 4.3 percent from the fourth quarter.
The company reported first-quarter revenue jumped 24 percent to $23.33 billion, just below a consensus estimate of $23.21 billion, according to 14 analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn promised in January that Tesla would not go below margins of 20 percent and an average selling price of $47,000 across all models.
Tesla said its operating margin was 11.4 percent in the three-month period, down from 16 percent last quarter and 19.2 percent a year earlier. The carmaker downplayed concern about recent price cuts, saying its operating margins fell “at a manageable rate.”
The company has slashed prices several times in the United States, China and other markets since late last year, as Musk said Tesla could sacrifice its industry-leading margins to drive volume growth during a recession.
Analysts say, however, that Tesla may need to cut prices further, pressured by an ongoing price war, especially in China, and to prop up demand for its aging linup of models even as new factories in Berlin and Texas churn out EVs.
In the United States, where federal subsidies have recently boosted sales only modestly, Tesla has cut car prices six times so far this year, which has dragged on automotive gross margins. It has also expanded price cuts in Singapore, Israel and Europe. The price cuts helped drive sales of the Model Y in Europe, leaving it poised to be the overall top-selling car for the first quarter by a large margin.
"We also suspect Tesla's decision to consistently cut prices will prove a headache to competitors," Canaccord Genuity analyst George Gianarikas said in a note to investors. "While Tesla's industry leading margins will likely be sacrificed in the near term (as articulated on the company's fourth-quarter 2022 earnings call), many EV competitors are struggling to turn a profit."
Shares of the Austin, Texas-based automaker fell nearly 4 percent in trading after the bell.
Tesla on Wednesday reiterated that it expects to achieve deliveries of around 1.8 million vehicles this year.
The EV maker has previously said that logistics issues have caused it to deliver far fewer EVs than it makes. In the first quarter, it delivered about 18,000 fewer cars than it made.
Link: https://www.autonews.com/mobility-report/tesla-q1-earnings-net-income-gross-margin-fall
Apr 21, 2023 6:45:09 PM
That $0.85 a share profit is non-GAAP, aka fudged. The GAAP profit is $0.73 a share, quite a big difference.
While regular folks could tell the difference and think they did match, Wall Street saw through that and punished the stock accordingly.
Profit is also getting inflated by the regulatory credits, some $512mil, and also the countless 'payments' for FSD, which they have yet to fully delivered. Those FSD money are literally pure profit that again inflated the bottomline.
Apr 26, 2023 5:28:32 PM
Apr 26, 2023 7:17:06 PM
Apr 27, 2023 4:10:30 AM
Apr 27, 2023 11:21:54 AM
May 8, 2023 2:36:52 AM