All posts tagged: Tesla

Tesla’s board reportedly sought a successor while Musk wheeled around Washington

Tesla’s board reportedly sought a successor while Musk wheeled around Washington

Published by skeptic

According to a new, brow-raising WSJ report, Tesla’s board quietly began searching for Elon Musk’s potential successor about a month ago, approaching executive search firms as the carmaker faced protests, plummeting sales, and shrinking profits while Musk waded into Washington to slash government spending. Board members reportedly met with Musk to express concerns about his divided attention, telling him he needed to spend more time on Tesla and to publicly commit to doing so; per the Journal report, Musk didn’t push back and subsequently told investors he would “allocate far more time to Tesla” starting in May. Musk’s government work led to Tesla’s first annual sales decline in over a decade; it also tarnished the company’s brand image among some consumers due to his political alignment. The impact has been fast and furious: Tesla’s market value dropped from $1.5 trillion in December to about $900 billion currently. Despite these challenges, Musk sounded optimistic about Tesla’s future during last week’s earnings call, where the company reported a 71% profit decline and 9% revenue drop.”We’re not on the …

After Tesla’s Earnings Slide, Pressure’s On for Cybercab

After Tesla’s Earnings Slide, Pressure’s On for Cybercab

Published by skeptic

Earlier this year, Musk told investors that Tesla would launch autonomous driving technology in Austin and California this year, with a robotaxi service launching in the Texas city in June. (The service is slated to launch with Model Y’s rather than Cybercabs.) Tesla has since obtained a permit to operate a driver-ed taxi service in California, though will need to apply for and win several more permits to operate that service without drivers behind the wheel. It has entered talks with the city of Palo Alto, where its engineering teams are headquartered, to eventually offer a ride service there, according to emails obtained via public records requested by WIRED. (Because of Texas’ less stringent regulations, the carmaker does not need extra permits or government sign-off to operate a driverless service in Austin.) The success of Cybercab, which is set to go into production in 2026, is especially important because Tesla does not seem to have many other car projects on the horizon. A long-awaited, more affordable electric vehicle was downgraded last year to a modified …

Tesla whistleblower says Musk wanted to deport her team for raising brake issue

Tesla whistleblower says Musk wanted to deport her team for raising brake issue

Published by skeptic

Former Tesla engineer Christina Balan, who was fired in 2014, said in an interview that her entire team was threatened with deportation for taking her side when she brought up a brake safety issue directly to Elon Musk. She’s now succeeded in throwing out Tesla’s arbitration case against her, and hopes to meet Tesla directly in open court in a case that could influence corporate policy nationwide. Christina Balan is a Romanian-born engineer who formerly worked for Tesla on the Model S. Her contributions were significant enough that her initials appeared on the Model S’ battery pack. But in 2014, she brought up what she considered a safety issue directly with Elon Musk. She thought that the Model S’ floor mats could cause a brake safety issue, similar to a situation that Toyota had recently gone through (though that also led to a media firestorm that blew the issue out of proportion). She said that Tesla had chosen suppliers based on friendships, not quality. And she brought it up directly to Musk because… he told …

Trump’s Tariffs Are Wrecking Elon Musk’s Hail Mary to Save Tesla

Trump’s Tariffs Are Wrecking Elon Musk’s Hail Mary to Save Tesla

Published by José

Elon Musk has gambled Tesla’s future on the Cybercab — a small, autonomous vehicle intended to spearhead the automaker’s charge into the robotaxi business and give it a pathway for growth as other electric vehicle makers increasingly eat its lunch. It was an already questionable move. And now, in a grim irony for Musk, it’s looking even dicier thanks to the Trump administration he helped usher into the White House with hundreds of millions of dollars in highly visible support. As Reuters reports, Trump’s steep tariffs on Chinese goods have forced Tesla to suspend its plans to import parts for the Cybercab and its electric tractor unit, the Semi, from China.  While it’s unclear how long the suspension will last — or for that matter Trump’s tariffs, which have see-sawed back and forth — it could be a major disruption, given that the development of both vehicles already face significant hurdles. Per the reporting, Tesla was scheduled to start receiving parts shipments over the upcoming months to start trial production of the Cybercab and Semi in …

Tesla Accused of Hacking Odometers to Rip Off Customers

Tesla Accused of Hacking Odometers to Rip Off Customers

Published by José

Tesla has been accused of manipulating the odometers in its cars to avoid repair responsibilities and warranty agreements. As The Street reports, a class-action lawsuit filed in February claims that Tesla has been trying to dodge warranty-related obligations by intentionally overstating the distances its vehicles travel. The plaintiff, a man in California who bought a used 2020 Model Y with 36,772 miles, noticed an “abnormal spike in average daily miles driven” — despite a “consistent driving routine” — while he was taking it to the shop multiple times for suspension repairs. As a result, his warranty expired after reaching the 50,000-mile threshold “well ahead of schedule,” according to the lawsuit. However, after the expiry, the “reported average daily miles” suddenly dropped off, becoming “more closely aligned with his historical data on his other vehicles,” making him suspicious that the EV maker was fudging the numbers. “Tesla Inc. employs an odometer system that utilizes predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers that manipulate and misrepresent the actual mileage traveled by Tesla vehicles,” the lawsuit reads. …

Tesla Shows Off Cheaper and Slower Cybertruck That’s an Even Worse Deal

Tesla Shows Off Cheaper and Slower Cybertruck That’s an Even Worse Deal

Published by José

Nerfed. Bargain Basement Tesla has introduced a cheaper, entry-level Cybertruck — and by all accounts, it’s still not looking like a great deal. The new Long Range Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) was announced by the EV maker on CEO Elon Musk’s X-formerly-Twitter on Thursday evening. But at $69,990 — eye roll, please — before a $7,500 federal tax credit, it’s still a considerably expensive option compared to the steep competition in the space. That makes it $10,000 cheaper than the Long Range All Wheel Drive trim, but that “long range” in its name? Turns out it only ekes out an additional 25 miles of range as a result, from 350 to 325 miles. And that’s not to mention the truck’s rapid depreciation, making it a highly questionable investment. As Electrek reported earlier this week, the company is sitting on almost 2,400 unsold Cybertrucks, worth roughly $200 million, and is no longer accepting them as trade-ins. Oh, and did we mention the truck’s eight recalls? The Cybertruck has also quickly become a huge target of protestors furious with Musk’s embrace …

Wedbush’s Dan Ives Cuts Tesla Price Target, Says Brand Has Morphed Into A “Political Symbol Globally”

Wedbush’s Dan Ives Cuts Tesla Price Target, Says Brand Has Morphed Into A “Political Symbol Globally”

Published by skeptic

US equity futures plunged early on Monday, with the S&P 500 teetering on the edge of a bear market. The sell-off comes in the wake of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff blitz, which aimed to reshape global trade in accordance with his ‘America First’ doctrine. Market tremors are already rippling through individual names —Tesla tumbled another 5% in premarket trading in New York, compounding Friday’s brutal 10.5% decline.  On Sunday, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives (uber bull) told clients that he slashed his Tesla price target by 43%, citing a brand crisis sparked by CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with DOGE as the Democratic Party melts down over fraud, waste, and abuse being cut out of the bloated federal government.  “Tesla has essentially become a political symbol globally,” Ives said, whose analyst rating on the stock remains “Buy” rated with a $315 target, down from $550. He added: “It is time for Musk to step up, read the room, and be a leader in this time of uncertainty.” Ives pointed out that the possibility of Tesla getting caught in the crossfire of the …

Tesla Stock Is Crashing Real Bad

Tesla Stock Is Crashing Real Bad

Published by José

The world economy is reeling today as businesses and investors try to unpack Donald Trump’s so-called “reciprocal tariffs.” Trump aims to curb the United States’ reliance on foreign goods by raising the import cost for different countries, which is throwing the US-dominated global supply chain into chaos. Wall Street is in shambles as a result, with some $5 trillion in market value being wiped out in the past two days — the worst performance for the S&P 500 since the pandemic shock of 2020. Tech stocks were hammered especially hard after China announced its own tariffs of 34 percent in response to Trump’s moves, thanks to their dependence on Chinese minerals and labor. And of all the tech companies bleeding out on the Stock Exchange floor, Tesla is in particularly rough shape. Elon Musk’s EV company posted losses for ten of the last 11 weeks, and this one was no different. On Friday, Tesla’s stock plummeted almost immediately after China announced its return volley, and continued to fall throughout the day to the tune of a …

Tesla Stock Is Soaring for the Funniest Possible Reason

Tesla Stock Is Soaring for the Funniest Possible Reason

Published by José

Tesla released some terrible news about sales this morning, but then a funny thing happened: after an initial crash, its stock started to rise significantly. Why? Well, it seems a lot like it has to do with a Politico story reporting, per three unnamed insiders, that president Donald Trump had been telling confidantes of Musk’s upcoming departure in a few months — purportedly to focus on his many businesses, and not because he can’t get security clearance due to drug use. Though both the White House and Musk himself have spun the reporting as “garbage” and “fake news,” the writing was nevertheless on the wall. By the time the markets closed, Tesla was trading for about $282 a share, in a 5.3 percent increase from the $254 price per share it held when markets opened this morning. The stock jump is all the more telling in context, considering that just 48 hours ago, Musk’s electric vehicle company was trading at $259 per share — right after the multi-hyphenate himself admitted that his government work was hurting Tesla’s stock price. …

Elon Musk Backlash Turns Into Global Sales Slump for Tesla

Elon Musk Backlash Turns Into Global Sales Slump for Tesla

Published by skeptic

If there is anyplace Tesla should be thriving, it’s Norway. Electric vehicles account for more than 90 percent of new car sales in the Scandinavian country, and buyers here are among the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to understanding the nuances of batteries, charging and range. So it hardly bodes well for Tesla that its sales in Norway, as measured by registrations, have declined more than 12 percent so far this year. Sales for the first three months of the year were even worse in Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. In fact, Tesla’s sales have been on a steep downward trend around the world: The company said on Wednesday that its global sales in the first quarter fell 13 percent from a year earlier. Tesla said that it delivered nearly 337,000 cars during the quarter. That is down from 387,000 in the first three months of 2024 and fewer than in any period since the second quarter of 2022. The company’s tepid sales at a time when electric vehicle sales were …