Elon Musk backs off Tesla goal to make20million green cars a year
Elon Musk، Tesla CEO، announced that the U.S. automaker and the world's largest green cars company، has left out its goal of delivering 20 million green vehicles a year by 2030، twice as many as those sold by Toyota، the Japanese company and the world's largest automaker، in the American automaker latest impact report published last week، in another sign that the American company was moving away from electric cars as it shifts focus to robotaxis.
Elon Musk، Tesla CEO، had said in 2020 that the U.S. automaker Tesla aspired to sell 20 million vehicles by the end of the current decade and the American automaker of the green cars had reiterated the goal in its 2021 and 2022 impact reports but he hopes now that Tesla could just scale 50% per year every year until 2030 and sell 10-20m vehicles.
Elon Musk to drop plans to produce an all-new model
But Elon Musk، Tesla CEO، revealed that the company changed tack recently، dropping plans to produce an all-new model that was expected to cost $25 thousand، while touting autonomous driving technology as its main source of growth and plans to host a launch event for its robotaxi on Aug. 8، this summer.
Elon Musk، Tesla CEO، assured، through a video-link at the annual "Viva Technology" conference in Paris، that Robotaxis and the company's humanoid robot Optimus will be "incredibly profound" for Tesla but he declined to answer a question on the timeline for Tesla's low-cost cars at the event، but he added that Tesla has been accelerating its pivot to bet on a breakthrough in artificial intelligence to bring new revenue growth.
Tesla plans to bring forward the launch of new models to as early as late this year
Tesla plans to bring forward the launch of new models، including affordable cars، to as early as late this year، but it plans to use current product lines for new affordable vehicles instead of new facilities، making a strategic change that would result in smaller cost reductions than expected and modest volume growth، explained Elon Musk، Tesla CEO.
Elon Musk، Tesla CEO، expected that a healthy proportion of Tesla's 2030 goal would have been the company's hitherto longstanding promise to introduce affordable cars at the $25 thousand، while the company currently promises to introduce 'more affordable' models in the future، this doesn't necessarily equate to cars costing this sum of monyt being rolled out."
Tesla shares were down about 30% this year
Tesla shares were down 3.5% on Thursday، falling about 30% this year due to slowing growth in EV demand and tough competition have hit demand for Tesla's vehicles as its sales grew 38% in 2023، below the long-term annual growth target of 50% and Tesla warned in January that growth in deliveries would be notably lower this year، as well as Tesla posted its first year-on-year sales drop in nearly four years during the January to March period this year.
In a bid to restructure، Tesla laid off over 10% of its staff this year، including disbanding the Supercharger team and the 2023 impact report also showed Tesla's fast-charging network had an uptime of 99.97%، the highest in at least five years، however، some analysts and former employees have warned the division's performance could suffer due to the layoffs.
Tesla cut output of its best-selling Model Y electric car
Tesla، the American automaker of the green cars، also did not compare the diversity of its workers to other companies in the report and it no longer states that a majority of its employees are from underrepresented groups that it has cut also output of its best-selling Model Y electric car by a double-digit percentage number at its Shanghai plant since March.
Elon Musk، Tesla CEO، indicated that the move is aimed at addressing weakening demand for the U.S. automaker's aged model in China، its second largest market into which a majority of the cars produced at the Shanghai plant are sold and where a brutal price war has erupted among electric vehicle makers amid an economic slowdown.
Shanghai plant، Tesla's biggest manufacturing hub globally، planned to cut Model Y output by at least 20%
The Shanghai plant، Tesla's biggest manufacturing hub globally، planned to cut Model Y output by at least 20% during the March to June period، according to Elon Musk، Tesla CEO، while the data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed the output of Model Y in China stood at nearly 49.5 thousand units in March and 36.6 thousand units in April، 17.7% and 33% lower، respectively، compared to a year ago.
In total، Tesla produced more than 287 thousand units of Model Y and Model 3 cars in China in the first four months، 5% lower than the same period in 2023، with Model 3 output 10% higher، CAAM data showed، but it was not immediately clear if the output cut would be extended to the second half of this year or to Model 3 and if Tesla's plants in the United States and Germany also adopted similar output cuts.
Tesla aims to sell 600 to 700 thousand electric cars in China this year
Despite the output cuts and recent layoffs at Tesla's China sales and charging service teams، the American company still aims to sell 600 thousand to 700 thousand electric cars in China in 2024 out of 2 million EVs it aims to sell globally، unchanged from the targets at the beginning of the year.
Elon Musk، Tesla CEO، waned that Tesla in April cut Model Y prices in China to their lowest levels since the model was first launched in the country in 2021، while offering a zero-interest financing scheme for Model 3 buyers to boost sales as Tesla's share in China's overall pure electric and plug-in hybrid market has slid to 6.8% in the first four months of this year from 7.8% in all of 2023، when it sold 603.7 thousand green cars in China، the biggest car market in the world.
