HOW ELON MUSK OUTSMARTED THE AUTO INDUSTRY'S SUPPLY CHAIN CRISIS

[Ice Age]

The Tesla grudge for me is a lot of things and yeh Musk is creative and setting new standards. But and huge butt the Carbon Foot Print Tax Credit’s us ICE AGE enthusiats contribute to his business is huge. Government mandates have forced other ICE AGE manufacturers to purchase Tesla Green House credits in the billions of dollars. Meaning Tesla collects off of us Billions of dollars paid by the manufacturers to avoid EPA fines. Just incredible to say the least and I could go in and on. And no hate just sharing information

Sponsored

 

[Ice Age]

That article is a little dated (1/10/22), especially in light of tonight's news from Tesla's own earnings report and subsequent teleconference with Wall Street analysts after the market closed.

See four separate articles below, all published this evening, with the relevant text in highlighted red.

Suffice it to say, the global semiconductor shortage is clearly affecting ALL automakers, including Tesla.

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1) CNBC: Tesla beats on earnings and revenue, says supply chain issues were ‘main limiting factor’
Published Wed, Jan 26 20223:34 PM EST, Updated 2 Hours Ago

Tesla reported fourth-quarter results that came in stronger than expected on Wednesday. Shares fell as much as 5% in extended trading on Wednesday after the automaker warned supply chain issues could persist throughout 2022, but later rebounded into slightly positive territory.

Here’s how the company performed:

• Earnings (adjusted): $2.52 per share, vs. $2.36 per share expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv
• Revenue: $17.72 billion, vs. $16.57 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv

Revenue rose 65% year over year in the quarter, while automotive revenue totaled $15.97 billion, up 71%, according to a statement.

Energy generation and storage revenue was $688 million, which was down 8% and below the StreetAccount consensus of $815.1 million. It was the lowest revenue for that division since the first quarter of 2021.

Net income, at $2.32 billion, was up some 760%, and Tesla said it had a 27.4% gross margin, compared with 26.6% in the previous quarter.

“Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue through 2022,” the company said in a shareholder deck.

CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s earnings call that he expects Tesla to remain “chip-limited” in 2022, and that the company would introduce no new vehicle models this year as a result.

“We will not be introducing new vehicle models this year. We will still be parts constrained.” He said the company would instead work on engineering and tooling to create those future vehicles.

Shareholders had been waiting for progress updates on the company’s long-delayed heavy duty Semi truck and experimental Cybertruck pickup.

The CEO also said the company is not currently working on a $25,000 compact electric vehicle, contrary to the ambitions he announced at a Tesla Battery Day presentation in 2020.

Musk alluded to ongoing supply chain issues in a tweet Last November, writing, “Oh man, this year has been such a supply chain nightmare & it’s not over! I will provide an updated product roadmap on next earnings call.”

Despite those challenges, Musk said, Tesla had been making quite a few cars in Austin and Berlin starting in late 2021. He noted, “In Texas, we’re building Model Ys with the structural battery pack and the 4680 cells. We will start delivering after final certification of the vehicle which should be fairly soon.”

Tesla’s first U.S. factory in Fremont, California, achieved record production in 2021, the company noted. The company aims to expand capacity at that facility beyond 600,000 cars per year.

In its shareholder deck, Tesla revealed that it has expanded its experimental driver assistance systems testing program, dubbed FSD Beta, to around 60,000 users in the U.S.

“Full Self-Driving (FSD) software remains one of our primary areas of focus,” the company wrote. “Over time, our software-related profit should accelerate our overall profitability.”

The California DMV and federal vehicle safety regulators at NHTSA are both investigating Tesla’s approach to testing new, and unfinished driver assistance features with customers on public roads in the US. The California DMV is also investigating Tesla’s use of the term “Full Self-Driving” to describe its premium, driver assistance package.

A spokesperson for the California DMV told CNBC in mid-January, “The DMV shares the concern held by many other safety stakeholders about the potential for driver inattention, misunderstanding, or misuse as these systems become more prevalent. Industry, government, safety organizations, and other stakeholders must work together to ensure that automated driving technologies are developed, tested and ultimately rolled out in a manner that builds public trust and provides for the safety of all road users.”

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated Tesla’s automotive revenue for the quarter. It was $15.97 billion.

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2) CNBC: Tesla will not introduce the Cybertruck this year, and is not working on a $25,000 car now, says Musk

PUBLISHED WED, JAN 26 20226:15 PM EST; UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call that the company won’t release any new models this year, and isn’t currently developing a $25,000 car.

In his opening remarks, he said that the continuing chip shortage would make it impossible to release new model vehicles without resulting in fewer total vehicles being delivered.

“If we had introduced say a new car last year, we would — total vehicle output would have been the same because of the constraints — the chips’ constraints particularly.” He continued, “So, we will not be introducing new vehicle levels this year. It would not make any sense.”

Without a Cybertruck electric pickup truck to sell this year, Tesla risks ceding ground to Ford, which is poised for deliveries of the fully electric F-150 Lighting pickup in the first half of this year. Ford also recently said it plans to triple production of its Mustang Mach-E, a would-be Tesla Model 3 and Y competitor, expecting the Mach-E will surpass 200,000 units per year by 2023.

Another likely competitor, the GMC Hummer EV, first rolled out to customers In December 2021. General Motors fully electric take on the truck is the first to incorporate the company’s Ultium platform, motors and batteries, which GM developed in-house and plans to use as the foundation for its new electric vehicles to come.

Later, in response to a question about a lower-priced Tesla for mainstream consumers, Musk said that project is not currently underway.

“We’re not currently working on the $25,000 car,” Musk said. ” At some point we will. We have enough on our plate right now. Too much on our plate, frankly.”

Musk has repeatedly suggested a $25,000 Tesla is possible. He said in 2018 it would take Tesla about three years to develop, though he didn’t provide a timeline for when it might happen. And, in 2020, Musk suggested at the company’s shareholder’s meeting that Tesla would launch such a car within the next three years.

“About three years from now, we’re confident we can make a very compelling $25,000 electric vehicle that’s also fully autonomous,” he claimed in 2020. Musk is notorious, however, for being overly optimistic with his predictions.

Bernstein Senior Analyst Toni M. Sacconaghi Jr. followed up, asking, “If there is no $25,000 vehicle being worked on, is it really realistic to think that you can sell more than 3 million vehicles with 2 very high volume cars and Cybertruck in 2024?”

Musk peevishly replied, “I mean, it is apparent from the questions that the gravity of Full Self Driving is not fully appreciated.”

The CEO then suggested that Tesla’s driverless vehicle tech, still in development, would become so good that it would make the company’s cars even more appealing over time, resulting in the anticipated high volume of sales with or without adding new models at lower price points.

Despite saying Tesla has too many fish to fry to make new model vehicles in 2022, Musk talked up plans for the company to develop not just robotaxis, but also a humanoid robot, nicknamed Optimus, which could be put to work handling parts in factories.

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3) Reuters: Tesla forecasts 2022 growth above 50%, despite supply chain challenges
— 7:37 PM ET 01/26/2022
By Hyunjoo Jin and Nivedita Balu

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA) on Wednesday forecast vehicle deliveries would comfortably grow by more than 50% year-over-year in 2022 despite persistent supply chain issues that it expects to be alleviated only next year.

The upbeat outlook from CEO Elon Musk came after the world's most valuable automaker posted record quarterly revenue that beat Wall Street expectations.

But the cautious note about supply chain woes showed that even Tesla cannot avoid the shortages that were pitfalls for many larger automakers last year. Shares fell 0.8% after hours.

Tesla, which produced a few cars at its Berlin and Texas factories last year, said scaling up production there would depend on supply chain headwinds and the successful introduction of new technologies.

Musk said that Tesla would not roll out new models this year but hopefully would launch its Cybertruck https://www.reuters.com/business/au...cybertruck-production-delayed-2023-2022-01-26, Semi and Roadster next year. Tesla said it is not currently working on a $25,000 model that Musk promised in 2020 would launch in three years.
Revenue rose to $17.72 billion in the fourth quarter, above analyst estimates for $16.57 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Tesla has fared better than most automakers in managing supply chain issues by using less scarce chips and quickly re-writing software. The automaker last quarter handed over a record number of vehicles to customers despite supply chain headwinds.

"We still expect to be partly or primarily chip limited this year," Musk said during a conference call, saying that chip limitations should be alleviated next year.

He said Tesla's volume growth would comfortably exceed 50% from last year, meaning that Tesla expects to deliver more than 1.4 million vehicles this year.

Tesla said the goal would be achievable even with current factories at Fremont, California, and Shanghai.

Tesla said its Texas factory will this quarter deliver its first vehicles equipped with its next-generation 4680 batteries made in California as planned.

Musk said he expected Tesla's vehicles to achieve full self-driving capability this year. Currently humans are required to sit behind the wheel to drive the car if needed.

"I would be shocked if we do not achieve full self-driving, safer-than-human this year," he said.
The number of full self-driving beta vehicles in the United States increased to nearly 60,000, up from a few thousand at the end of September. Tesla has been testing the improved version of its automated driving software on public roads, but it has said the features do not make the cars autonomous.

Tesla's $4.09 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) beat the consensus estimate of $3.89 billion, according to Refinitiv. That appeared to qualify Musk for an additional options payout under his 2018 compensation package.

Quarterly profits took a $340 million hit from payroll taxes related to Musk exercising options related to his 2012 compensation package.

The profits also reflected rising raw material, commodity and logistics costs and expenses related to warranties and recalls. Tesla is recalling more than 475,000 of its Model 3 and Model S electric cars to address rearview camera and trunk issues that increase the risk of crashing.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Joe White in Detroit; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Peter Henderson)

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4) Jalopnik: Tesla Delays CyberTruck to 2023, Posts Record Earnings
The Semi and Roadster are also delayed again, and the $25,000 compact is dead

By Bradley Brownell, Today 7:00PM

On Wednesday Tesla announced that it saw record revenue, beating even Wall Street’s estimates, of $17.72 billion in Q4 of 2021. While analysts were optimistic for Tesla’s fourth quarter, the electric automaker managed to post even better numbers. The world’s most valuable car manufacturer actually managed to turn a decent profit last quarter, good for them.

In other good news, the company announced that Model Y production has begun at Gigafactory Texas, using the new structural battery pack and more efficient 4680 battery cells. Keep in mind that neither of these advancements will be rolled out any time soon at the company’s California facility, so if you’re looking to buy a Model Y in the near future, make sure it’s a Texas car. The company plans to begin deliveries once final certification has been completed, but did not specify a timeline.

Now let’s get on to the disappointing things that were also announced during the call to stakeholders.

“Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue through 2022,” Tesla said in a statement on Wednesday. That’s right, supply chain issues will plague this year as well, because of course they will. Investors saw this as troubling, and the company’s stock dropped a few percent when the announcement was made. Tesla is perhaps among the better automakers at surviving the chip shortage, but it does that by changing chip suppliers mid-stream and re-writing software on the fly to reduce chips per car. There’s no telling what effect this will have on the cars and production long term.

Tesla Head Honcho Elon Musk confirmed that the company would not be introducing any new models in 2022. If you read between the lines, that seems to mean that Cybertruck, Roadster, and the Semi have all been pushed out to at least 2023. The Roadster was supposed to be a 2020 model, and the Cybertruck was a late-2021 launch when it was announced, so it seems the company is biting off way more than it can chew. Don’t forget that Tesla claims to have sold out all 1000 of the reservations for the Founders Series Roadster at $250,000 each, taken over a million $100 deposits on Cybertrucks, and has a standing order with Budweiser for forty Semis. At some point selling things that don’t exist is going to catch up to the company.

The $25,000 Tesla compact that the company announced in 2020 seems to have been shitcanned entirely. It doesn’t seem likely to me that the company ever actually spent any time developing this car. It didn’t even get a name. Musk stated on Wednesday that “it’s just sort of the wrong question.” I know I was really looking forward to an actually affordable Tesla, but I guess not.

Musk once again doubled down on automated driving, saying the tech would be perfected this year. I’ll believe that when I see it. Full Self Driving, which is not full or self or driving, is said to be the reason that a cheap Tesla makes no sense, because Musk claims deploying Teslas as robotaxis will somehow reduce the cost of driving to so low that people won’t need to purchase smaller and more efficient cars. That all seems like backwards doublespeak to me, so I guess we’ll wait until I’m proven wrong.

Ultimately I can’t tell if today was a good day or a bad day for Tesla. Delivering an incredibly profitable quarter, shipping nearly a million cars in 2021, and getting the Texas facility up and running are all laudable for the company. However, many of the things that it has promised in the last half decade continue to be broken promises, or at least seriously bent ones.

I am abreast to Tesla and the posting is COMPLIMENT to Tesla being more creative than the other car manufacturers just so you know

 

[prospectfour]

Nowhere did I say the car(s) are not excellent. I said they ship with parts missing - which they do.

The article is a fluff piece that acts like Tesla hasn't felt the supply chain crunch like other manufacturers. Maybe it's because Musk has conditioned everyone to listen to his bombastic predictions and then let deadlines pass with little fanfare.

You can point to just about any of the models and see botched roll outs, missed deadlines, QC issues.

They took reservations for the next Roadster like 2 years ago ($1k) and have pushed that out for at least another year.

It’s all smoke an mirrors. Tesla delays the Cybertruck another year and the same day Musk tweets they’re accepting Dogecoin for accessories. Plays the media coverage like a fiddle…

 

[1975U15]

That article is a little dated (1/10/22), especially in light of tonight's news from Tesla's own earnings report and subsequent teleconference with Wall Street analysts after the market closed.

See four separate articles below, all published this evening, with the relevant text in highlighted red.

Suffice it to say, the global semiconductor shortage is clearly affecting ALL automakers, including Tesla.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1) CNBC: Tesla beats on earnings and revenue, says supply chain issues were ‘main limiting factor’
Published Wed, Jan 26 20223:34 PM EST, Updated 2 Hours Ago

Tesla reported fourth-quarter results that came in stronger than expected on Wednesday. Shares fell as much as 5% in extended trading on Wednesday after the automaker warned supply chain issues could persist throughout 2022, but later rebounded into slightly positive territory.

Here’s how the company performed:

• Earnings (adjusted): $2.52 per share, vs. $2.36 per share expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv
• Revenue: $17.72 billion, vs. $16.57 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv

Revenue rose 65% year over year in the quarter, while automotive revenue totaled $15.97 billion, up 71%, according to a statement.

Energy generation and storage revenue was $688 million, which was down 8% and below the StreetAccount consensus of $815.1 million. It was the lowest revenue for that division since the first quarter of 2021.

Net income, at $2.32 billion, was up some 760%, and Tesla said it had a 27.4% gross margin, compared with 26.6% in the previous quarter.

“Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue through 2022,” the company said in a shareholder deck.

CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s earnings call that he expects Tesla to remain “chip-limited” in 2022, and that the company would introduce no new vehicle models this year as a result.

“We will not be introducing new vehicle models this year. We will still be parts constrained.” He said the company would instead work on engineering and tooling to create those future vehicles.

Shareholders had been waiting for progress updates on the company’s long-delayed heavy duty Semi truck and experimental Cybertruck pickup.

The CEO also said the company is not currently working on a $25,000 compact electric vehicle, contrary to the ambitions he announced at a Tesla Battery Day presentation in 2020.

Musk alluded to ongoing supply chain issues in a tweet Last November, writing, “Oh man, this year has been such a supply chain nightmare & it’s not over! I will provide an updated product roadmap on next earnings call.”

Despite those challenges, Musk said, Tesla had been making quite a few cars in Austin and Berlin starting in late 2021. He noted, “In Texas, we’re building Model Ys with the structural battery pack and the 4680 cells. We will start delivering after final certification of the vehicle which should be fairly soon.”

Tesla’s first U.S. factory in Fremont, California, achieved record production in 2021, the company noted. The company aims to expand capacity at that facility beyond 600,000 cars per year.

In its shareholder deck, Tesla revealed that it has expanded its experimental driver assistance systems testing program, dubbed FSD Beta, to around 60,000 users in the U.S.

“Full Self-Driving (FSD) software remains one of our primary areas of focus,” the company wrote. “Over time, our software-related profit should accelerate our overall profitability.”

The California DMV and federal vehicle safety regulators at NHTSA are both investigating Tesla’s approach to testing new, and unfinished driver assistance features with customers on public roads in the US. The California DMV is also investigating Tesla’s use of the term “Full Self-Driving” to describe its premium, driver assistance package.

A spokesperson for the California DMV told CNBC in mid-January, “The DMV shares the concern held by many other safety stakeholders about the potential for driver inattention, misunderstanding, or misuse as these systems become more prevalent. Industry, government, safety organizations, and other stakeholders must work together to ensure that automated driving technologies are developed, tested and ultimately rolled out in a manner that builds public trust and provides for the safety of all road users.”

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated Tesla’s automotive revenue for the quarter. It was $15.97 billion.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2) CNBC: Tesla will not introduce the Cybertruck this year, and is not working on a $25,000 car now, says Musk

PUBLISHED WED, JAN 26 20226:15 PM EST; UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call that the company won’t release any new models this year, and isn’t currently developing a $25,000 car.

In his opening remarks, he said that the continuing chip shortage would make it impossible to release new model vehicles without resulting in fewer total vehicles being delivered.

“If we had introduced say a new car last year, we would — total vehicle output would have been the same because of the constraints — the chips’ constraints particularly.” He continued, “So, we will not be introducing new vehicle levels this year. It would not make any sense.”

Without a Cybertruck electric pickup truck to sell this year, Tesla risks ceding ground to Ford, which is poised for deliveries of the fully electric F-150 Lighting pickup in the first half of this year. Ford also recently said it plans to triple production of its Mustang Mach-E, a would-be Tesla Model 3 and Y competitor, expecting the Mach-E will surpass 200,000 units per year by 2023.

Another likely competitor, the GMC Hummer EV, first rolled out to customers In December 2021. General Motors fully electric take on the truck is the first to incorporate the company’s Ultium platform, motors and batteries, which GM developed in-house and plans to use as the foundation for its new electric vehicles to come.

Later, in response to a question about a lower-priced Tesla for mainstream consumers, Musk said that project is not currently underway.

“We’re not currently working on the $25,000 car,” Musk said. ” At some point we will. We have enough on our plate right now. Too much on our plate, frankly.”

Musk has repeatedly suggested a $25,000 Tesla is possible. He said in 2018 it would take Tesla about three years to develop, though he didn’t provide a timeline for when it might happen. And, in 2020, Musk suggested at the company’s shareholder’s meeting that Tesla would launch such a car within the next three years.

“About three years from now, we’re confident we can make a very compelling $25,000 electric vehicle that’s also fully autonomous,” he claimed in 2020. Musk is notorious, however, for being overly optimistic with his predictions.

Bernstein Senior Analyst Toni M. Sacconaghi Jr. followed up, asking, “If there is no $25,000 vehicle being worked on, is it really realistic to think that you can sell more than 3 million vehicles with 2 very high volume cars and Cybertruck in 2024?”

Musk peevishly replied, “I mean, it is apparent from the questions that the gravity of Full Self Driving is not fully appreciated.”

The CEO then suggested that Tesla’s driverless vehicle tech, still in development, would become so good that it would make the company’s cars even more appealing over time, resulting in the anticipated high volume of sales with or without adding new models at lower price points.

Despite saying Tesla has too many fish to fry to make new model vehicles in 2022, Musk talked up plans for the company to develop not just robotaxis, but also a humanoid robot, nicknamed Optimus, which could be put to work handling parts in factories.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

3) Reuters: Tesla forecasts 2022 growth above 50%, despite supply chain challenges
— 7:37 PM ET 01/26/2022
By Hyunjoo Jin and Nivedita Balu

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA) on Wednesday forecast vehicle deliveries would comfortably grow by more than 50% year-over-year in 2022 despite persistent supply chain issues that it expects to be alleviated only next year.

The upbeat outlook from CEO Elon Musk came after the world's most valuable automaker posted record quarterly revenue that beat Wall Street expectations.

But the cautious note about supply chain woes showed that even Tesla cannot avoid the shortages that were pitfalls for many larger automakers last year. Shares fell 0.8% after hours.

Tesla, which produced a few cars at its Berlin and Texas factories last year, said scaling up production there would depend on supply chain headwinds and the successful introduction of new technologies.

Musk said that Tesla would not roll out new models this year but hopefully would launch its Cybertruck https://www.reuters.com/business/au...cybertruck-production-delayed-2023-2022-01-26, Semi and Roadster next year. Tesla said it is not currently working on a $25,000 model that Musk promised in 2020 would launch in three years.
Revenue rose to $17.72 billion in the fourth quarter, above analyst estimates for $16.57 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Tesla has fared better than most automakers in managing supply chain issues by using less scarce chips and quickly re-writing software. The automaker last quarter handed over a record number of vehicles to customers despite supply chain headwinds.

"We still expect to be partly or primarily chip limited this year," Musk said during a conference call, saying that chip limitations should be alleviated next year.

He said Tesla's volume growth would comfortably exceed 50% from last year, meaning that Tesla expects to deliver more than 1.4 million vehicles this year.

Tesla said the goal would be achievable even with current factories at Fremont, California, and Shanghai.

Tesla said its Texas factory will this quarter deliver its first vehicles equipped with its next-generation 4680 batteries made in California as planned.

Musk said he expected Tesla's vehicles to achieve full self-driving capability this year. Currently humans are required to sit behind the wheel to drive the car if needed.

"I would be shocked if we do not achieve full self-driving, safer-than-human this year," he said.
The number of full self-driving beta vehicles in the United States increased to nearly 60,000, up from a few thousand at the end of September. Tesla has been testing the improved version of its automated driving software on public roads, but it has said the features do not make the cars autonomous.

Tesla's $4.09 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) beat the consensus estimate of $3.89 billion, according to Refinitiv. That appeared to qualify Musk for an additional options payout under his 2018 compensation package.

Quarterly profits took a $340 million hit from payroll taxes related to Musk exercising options related to his 2012 compensation package.

The profits also reflected rising raw material, commodity and logistics costs and expenses related to warranties and recalls. Tesla is recalling more than 475,000 of its Model 3 and Model S electric cars to address rearview camera and trunk issues that increase the risk of crashing.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Joe White in Detroit; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Peter Henderson)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

4) Jalopnik: Tesla Delays CyberTruck to 2023, Posts Record Earnings
The Semi and Roadster are also delayed again, and the $25,000 compact is dead

By Bradley Brownell, Today 7:00PM

On Wednesday Tesla announced that it saw record revenue, beating even Wall Street’s estimates, of $17.72 billion in Q4 of 2021. While analysts were optimistic for Tesla’s fourth quarter, the electric automaker managed to post even better numbers. The world’s most valuable car manufacturer actually managed to turn a decent profit last quarter, good for them.

In other good news, the company announced that Model Y production has begun at Gigafactory Texas, using the new structural battery pack and more efficient 4680 battery cells. Keep in mind that neither of these advancements will be rolled out any time soon at the company’s California facility, so if you’re looking to buy a Model Y in the near future, make sure it’s a Texas car. The company plans to begin deliveries once final certification has been completed, but did not specify a timeline.

Now let’s get on to the disappointing things that were also announced during the call to stakeholders.

“Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue through 2022,” Tesla said in a statement on Wednesday.

That’s right, supply chain issues will plague this year as well, because of course they will. Investors saw this as troubling, and the company’s stock dropped a few percent when the announcement was made. Tesla is perhaps among the better automakers at surviving the chip shortage, but it does that by changing chip suppliers mid-stream and re-writing software on the fly to reduce chips per car. There’s no telling what effect this will have on the cars and production long term.

Tesla Head Honcho Elon Musk confirmed that the company would not be introducing any new models in 2022. If you read between the lines, that seems to mean that Cybertruck, Roadster, and the Semi have all been pushed out to at least 2023. The Roadster was supposed to be a 2020 model, and the Cybertruck was a late-2021 launch when it was announced, so it seems the company is biting off way more than it can chew. Don’t forget that Tesla claims to have sold out all 1000 of the reservations for the Founders Series Roadster at $250,000 each, taken over a million $100 deposits on Cybertrucks, and has a standing order with Budweiser for forty Semis. At some point selling things that don’t exist is going to catch up to the company.

The $25,000 Tesla compact that the company announced in 2020 seems to have been shitcanned entirely. It doesn’t seem likely to me that the company ever actually spent any time developing this car. It didn’t even get a name. Musk stated on Wednesday that “it’s just sort of the wrong question.” I know I was really looking forward to an actually affordable Tesla, but I guess not.

Musk once again doubled down on automated driving, saying the tech would be perfected this year. I’ll believe that when I see it. Full Self Driving, which is not full or self or driving, is said to be the reason that a cheap Tesla makes no sense, because Musk claims deploying Teslas as robotaxis will somehow reduce the cost of driving to so low that people won’t need to purchase smaller and more efficient cars. That all seems like backwards doublespeak to me, so I guess we’ll wait until I’m proven wrong.

Ultimately I can’t tell if today was a good day or a bad day for Tesla. Delivering an incredibly profitable quarter, shipping nearly a million cars in 2021, and getting the Texas facility up and running are all laudable for the company. However, many of the things that it has promised in the last half decade continue to be broken promises, or at least seriously bent ones.

It’s official. @Razorbak86 is either on Jim cramers staff or runs a hedge fund. Doesn’t mess around.

 

[jonwithanelcamino]

Nowhere did I say the car(s) are not excellent. I said they ship with parts missing - which they do.

The article is a fluff piece that acts like Tesla hasn't felt the supply chain crunch like other manufacturers. Maybe it's because Musk has conditioned everyone to listen to his bombastic predictions and then let deadlines pass with little fanfare.

You can point to just about any of the models and see botched roll outs, missed deadlines, QC issues.

They took reservations for the next Roadster like 2 years ago ($1k) and have pushed that out for at least another year.

lol sounds like the bronco rollout.
oh the irony

 

[FirstOnRaceDay]

It’s all smoke an mirrors. Tesla delays the Cybertruck another year and the same day Musk tweets they’re accepting Dogecoin for accessories. Plays the media coverage like a fiddle…

thats why hes delaying the roadster and truck because of shortages.
hed rather dominate the market with the 3 and Y vs struggle to make enough.

i wish ford could have done that but before al these new models their sales and profits were in the toilet. They HAD to bring out new models

 

[Ice Age]

Possible Flame Thrower sale in the near future with a Cyber truck Whistle included

 

[Razorbak86]

I am abreast to Tesla and the posting is COMPLIMENT to Tesla being more creative than the other car manufacturers just so you know

I realize the Evannex.com article that you posted, which simply rehashed and over-simplified the Wall Street Journal's original reporting, is largely complimentary to Tesla. That's not really surprising, since Evannex makes aftermarket EV and Tesla accessories.

Nevertheless, the title of the article -- How Elon Musk Outsmarted the Auto Industry's Supply Chain Crisis -- read in the context of today's news, is a little misleading.

I realize you are not a big Tesla fan, but you posted the article, and I am simply responding to your posting.

FWIW, the Wall Street Journal's original article -- How Elon Musk’s Software Focus Helped Tesla Navigate Chip Shortage -- was much more detailed and still largely complimentary, but a lot more nuanced.

TL;DR - 1) Headlines matter; 2) always question biased sources with skin in the game.

 

[UtahLars]

If your infotainment system fails on the Tesla... well... you aren't going to get very far down the road.

Try driving a Bronco without the infotainment system.

 

[BroncoBuckaroo]

Tesla has a fraction of the systems requiring chips in their vehicles versus an internal combustion system.

Toyota actually outsmarted them all by having millions of chips in reserve instead of using “just in time inventory”

But all the automakers in the USA are idiots for relying on China to get their chips from although Ford and others do get them from sources in Japan S. korea and Taiwan.

Kudos to Ford for moving forward with their own chip manufacturing plant based in the USA ( I think I seen in Arizona)

 

[710-oil-614]

lol sounds like the bronco rollout.
oh the irony

Yep - it's exactly like the Bronco roll out. Which is what many on here have said all along - this isn't just a Ford thing. People can bitch about things and still be fans.

Teslas are awesome vehicles - deadlines are laughable to them, QC and reliability has been a major issue. Both are facts.

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