Is Elon Musk hurting Tesla? (Mod Note Post #1)

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2025/0520/1513922-musk-says-committed-to-tesla/

so much for Tesla being cleansed of all its problems if it changed its CEO (like every other company on the planet would do in this same situation).

It’s honestly hard to see much sales momentum coming from this announcement. I really can’t see it anyway, it feels like he’s toxic to pretty much all sides now, and does nothing to change that - he doubles down every single time.

edit: as it’s behind a paywall:

“Mr Musk (53) downplayed the extent of Tesla’s challenges, saying “it’s already turned around”.

When challenged on this – the carmaker’s vehicle sales continued to plunge across Europe’s biggest electric vehicle markets in April – Mr Musk said that the region is the company’s weakest, but that it’s strong everywhere else.

“Our sales are doing well at this point,” he said. “We don’t anticipate any meaningful sales shortfall.”

Tesla isn’t screwed - they’re just going to sell far fewer cars than their CEO think they will.

He’s bored of selling cars anyway - he’s long since moved on to the vaporware projects

plenty of coverage about BYD overtaking them anyway!

The Cybertruck is very niche. It's target audience would be preppers, people preparing for the apocalypse or an American civil war.

It should never have gone beyond a concept car. It was never going to be a big seller. It wouldn't even fit on most roads outside the US.

It's definitely a blip in the Tesla success story.

Nevertheless they were the target audience. I don't know anything about them falling apart to be honest. I guess it depends what social media bubble you are in.

There definitely a strong private security vibe off the pitch for the CT, probably aimed at those gated communities that are becoming more and more common in the USA. A non open flat bed keeping the flame thrower from getting lifted.

Looking at the sales figures from MarkN's post it really does look like whatever first mover advantage Tesla has well and truly been eclipsed.

That was the eighth recall since launch. That's not normal and has clearly had an effect on sales. And that doesn't include the other issues such as rust spotting on the bodywork. Owners being warned not to wash their cars in the sunshine.

they pumped billions into its development and bringing it to fruition, and told the stock market to price in 250,000 sales per year. It was never supposed to be niche as such, just ‘different’ (even if we all knew what was going to happen).

I know I’m a broken record on this, but I’ll say it again - the CEO of a public company has a legal fiduciary duty to deliver shareholder value and not mislead shareholders.

So when they say 250,000 annual sales, that’s the legitimate potential.

in reality the biggest ever month for CT deliveries was 5000 (July 2024), and in 2025 to date it’s running under 2,000 deliveries per month, with 5-6 full months of stock sitting idle, and production of the CT has been almost reduced to zero, with staff on those lines moved elsewhere

No I got your point. But based on he initial interest and reservations for it, the interest was much higher than just a niche market. Reportedly over a million people had signed up and paid deposits.

The subsequent delays and faults put a lot of people off and demand fell like a stone.

Except it wasn't me who said that. You're having a bit of a mare here. 🤣

relax 🙄, boards on safari doesn’t quote the right post even when you quote that post, and reverts to quoting the last post in the thread.

Indeed, boards on safari is barely usable lately

Some of us avocado on toast lovers also own iPhones and Macbooks!

here’s the Tesla CEO’s reply to that -49%, at the Qatar visit with Trump last week:

“Mr Musk (53) downplayed the extent of Tesla’s challenges, saying “it’s already turned around”.

When challenged on this – the carmaker’s vehicle sales continued to plunge across Europe’s biggest electric vehicle markets in April – Mr Musk said that the region is the company’s weakest, but that it’s strong everywhere else.

“Our sales are doing well at this point,” he said. “We don’t anticipate any meaningful sales shortfall.”

So - Nothing to see here, everything is fine. Until the Q2 deliveries come out in early July and it turns out he’s just lying again.

I was looking at a video last night about the Cybertruck and he was basically saying in it that when you buy a Tesla the car will appreciate in value. The person showing the clip didnt know whether he meant the Cybertruck or all Teslas as he said Tesla when talking about the Cybertruck. I would take to much notice of the share price. Probably maninly held by large investment funds who wont ditch it en masse. Im sure anyone on this thread with a private pension fund has some of it invested in Tesla.