Tesla’s been present process some main adjustments, and now now we have a way of why: the corporate says it’s upending its product roadmap due to “pressure” on EV gross sales.
The new and accelerated plan now consists of “more affordable models” that the corporate claims will likely be launched subsequent yr. Or if Tesla CEO Elon Musk is to be believed — and that’s an enormous wager contemplating his observe document with timelines — presumably as early as the top of 2024.
The shock announcement despatched the corporate’s inventory hovering greater than 11% in after-hours buying and selling Tuesday. And the worth didn’t fall at the same time as Musk and different Tesla executives refused to share additional particulars on a name with traders.
This all comes following a bombshell report in early April from Reuters that claimed Tesla had deserted its work on a low-cost, next-generation automobile. That next-gen automobile was meant to be constructed on the identical EV platform Tesla is creating for its supposed robotaxi car. Tesla had stated this next-gen automobile may come as early as late 2025.
While Musk flimsily claimed Reuters was “lying,” each Electrek and Bloomberg News have since reported that the event of that exact EV has been delayed or deemphasized inside the corporate. Musk has since posted on social media web site X that Tesla will reveal the robotaxi August 8.
Tesla offered the replace in its less-than-stellar first-quarter earnings report, which confirmed income falling 55% year-over-year. The firm stated within the report it had “updated [its] future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025.” The slate of latest autos consists of “more affordable models,” the corporate stated.
These new choices will not be being spun out of complete material, although. Tesla says it is going to construct these autos on present manufacturing strains and that they are going to “utilize aspects of” the next-generation platform it has been creating, “as well as aspects of our current platforms.”
Bloomberg News reported earlier this week Tesla was engaged on new variations of the Model Y and Model 3 that borrowed expertise and processes from the next-gen EV, with an emphasis on the Model Y.
Tesla traders should wait to be taught any extra.
On a name with traders, Musk punted on the query of what Tesla’s new product roadmap really entails. “We’ll talk about this on August 8th,” he stated, referring to the occasion Tesla has deliberate to disclose its robotaxi, which he referred to as “Cybercab.”
When requested the same query later within the name, Musk stated “I think we’ve said all we will on that front.”
Tesla VP Lars Moravy stated there was “some risk” related to the brand new platform, and that Tesla may leverage “all the subsystems” being developed for it, like powertrains, drive models, in addition to enhancements in manufacturing and automation, thermal methods, seating,” and extra. “All that’s transferrable, and that’s what we’re doing — trying to get it in new products as fast as possible,” he stated. “That engineering work — we’re not trying to just throw it away and put it in a coffin.”
Cost versus progress
Tesla has labored to cut back the price of manufacturing the next-gen EV by 50% in comparison with the platform that underpins the Model 3 and Model Y.
The firm admitted Tuesday that by shifting to a method of blending the next-gen expertise and processes with present platforms and manufacturing strains, it is going to lose a few of that value financial savings.
The upside, in keeping with Tesla, is progress. The firm claims it could actually double 2023’s manufacturing (which was round 1.8 million autos) by 2025. And whereas it gained’t save as a lot on the price of the automobiles, it additionally gained’t need to construct new manufacturing strains to make these mysterious new autos. The firm has already slowed work on a brand new manufacturing facility in Mexico, the place it initially deliberate to start out constructing the next-generation EV and robotaxi.
Of course, Tesla had stated for years that it anticipated to succeed in 50% annual progress, averaged over a couple of years, and has persistently missed that focus on. As the corporate warned, it is going to develop at a “notably lower” charge this yr.
There are different challenges as nicely. Tesla is claiming it could actually launch this new product lineup after axing an enormous variety of workers from its international workforce — although Musk stated Tuesday the corporate is “not giving up anything significant that I’m aware of.”
“We’ve just had a long period of prosperity from 2019 to now,” Musk stated on the decision. “We’ve made some corrections along the way, but it is time to reorganize the company for the next phase of growth.”