When the first buzz about Tesla started, I assumed they'd found some new battery chemistry & that this was a big deal. Then I found out that, no, they just used "COTS" cells … lots & lots & lots of them to the point that some of their vehicles look like there is a huge slab of cells under the passengers … because there is a huge slab of cells under the passengers.
Downhill from there, of course, esp w/"FSD".
Now it turns out they don't even know how to make decent cars at all.
@GottaLaff@VE2UWY there are also a lot of competing EV’s on the road now too. How many sales has the Chief Twit lost in states like California because of his horrible online persona?
In Europe, they’re advertising EV’s do NOT reach 60 in 5 seconds or less, won’t go for 300 miles, but DO cost $25K, with leases available for €100/month. NOT Chinese either.
Most people don’t need a high performance long(ish) range $50K car.
@GottaLaff@VE2UWY
I'm not sure how much of Tesla's sales dropoff is due to competition from China vs Musk alienating his primary customer base vs the decline of Tesla's service departments.
Fortunately there are alternatives now since plenty of other companies are finally making decent electric vehicles (just not producing them quickly enough).
Model Y
2022 225,799
2023 385,897
2024 (ytd) 108,999
Model 3
2022 195,698
2023 232,702
2024 (ytd) 42,000
Model S
2022 90,473
2023 26,701
2024 (ytd) 6001
Model X
2022 24,099
2023 24,700
2024 (ytd) 499
Cybertruck
2024 (ytd) 3,878
A lot of their models are looking pretty stale. The updates to the Model 3 for this year scarcely qualify as a mid-cycle refresh.
A fairly large number of start ups had launched a single car model over the years. The difficulty comes with sustaining that with updated models, while competition heats up.
They have to fight newcomers like Rivian and Lucid, both having really solid offering, plus all the "legacy" manufactures, who are rapidly catching up.
Add in a nut-job, high-profile, and distracted CEO, and they've got a lot of headwinds.