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Our own anonymous AC has found the following story:
MotorTrend reviews the recent Tesla earnings call, where Musk ended by saying that the new lower cost Tesla will be a stripped version of the Model Y SUV -- rear drive only, spartan interior, smaller (and/or lower cost chemistry) battery, etc.
Sales and earnings haven't looked good this year, I wonder if this will be enough to bring people back to Tesla stores after Elon's time in Washington DC?
While not mentioned in the article, I also wonder how current Model Y owners will feel about their neighbors' ability to get a car that looks the same, without paying the Tesla luxury car price?
The story ends with other Tesla news:
The cheap Tesla news is the big headliner of the earnings call, but there were plenty of other interesting tidbits. Per usual, Musk and Tesla championed autonomy and Tesla's nascent robotaxi service. The automaker plans to expand the size and, well, suggestive shape[*] of its robotaxi service's operating area in Austin, Texas, while also eyeing San Francisco as its next location. Robotaxis are apparently already testing in the bay area, as well as Arizona and Florida. There is also the goal of reducing the cost-per-mile of robotaxi service once the Cybercab is out in the wild. Standard Tesla robotaxi vehicles will remain more expensive than Cybercab, but it will also be built differently from regular Teslas, with longer-life tires, a plusher ride, and a much lower top speed. Tesla also expects its robotaxi service to grow much larger in 2026 and "have significant impact" on Tesla's otherwise poor financials in Q2 2025—auto revenue is down by 16 percent, year-over-year, while income from all operations are down by 42 percent, year-over-year. On top of the robotaxi fleet expansion, Musk stated that he's confident that autonomous vehicle deliveries will also expand with Bay Area driverless deliveries starting by the end of this year.
Tesla's woeful financials in part come down to the upcoming revocation of the Federal EV tax credit, tariffs impacting materials cost, and the revocation of different tax credits impacting Tesla's energy storage business. Surely, Musk's polarizing foray into politics and government is having an impact on sales, too, giving some would-be buyers pause. Musk seems to acknowledge the issue, even admitting that he's worried about being ousted as the CEO, mentioning "activist shareholders" pulling a vote to remove him. With Tesla's recent quarter being its worst since 2021 and Q1 2024, there's plenty for Musk and the company to worry about.
[*] https://www.teslaacessories.com/blogs/news/tesla-expands-robotaxi-service-area-in-austin-texas spoiler, on a map it looks like a dick...
(Score: 3, Touché) by gnuman on Saturday July 26, @09:25AM (8 children)
Elon also spun his story about making life multi-planetary. That definitely resonated with the geek crowd.
Exactly, that's all that's left.
Having a choice between a Tesla or BMW ... it's not a difficult choice here. Why would one pick a car with baggage and unpredictable leadership over a car made by a company of proven track record?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_5_Series_(G60)#BMW_i5 [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Troll) by looorg on Saturday July 26, @10:28AM (5 children)
Poor example but that would be a company run by a current "crazy person"/"fascist"/"nazi" (Elon) and a company that worked for and with actual real Nazis ...
How is that a hard choice again? If that is your main concern and criteria here. How Nazi the owner of said brand is/was. At least Elon, hopefully, treats his workers better then the forced labor that BMW used during WWII. If that now is your main concern ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 26, @12:29PM
You people are very interesting. Glad I'm not a psychologist or sociologist- my head would explode.
"Nazi"- you hate them, right? But the actual Nazis hate Jews, right? But you seem to also hate Jews (Israel), right? So you're a Nazi. And you hate yourself.
Idiots.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by gnuman on Saturday July 26, @01:21PM (1 child)
So what you are *trying* to compare is BMW under Nazis 85 years ago as compared to Tesla under Musk today? And then, in that bizarre comparison, you justify supporting Elon because at least he's not allowed to run in a concentration camp or something? Is that the justification?
It may be hard for you to believe, but BMW today is no longer run by Nazis. And they have a quality product at competitive prices. Hence, they get my money. And Tesla, not so much. Maybe 10 years ago, it would have been opposite for mostly altruistic reasons, but, well, burned bridges and all that shit.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Saturday July 26, @06:02PM
Not at all. I merely responded to the statement that he would rather get a BMW then a car from Tesla since one was a company run by a "Nazi", while pointing out that the other company worked with actual nazis but he apparently doesn't have an issue with that. Even tho as you note it was 85ish years ago.
I'd get a BMW over a Tesla to. But not cause I care about if Elon is a "Nazi" or not. I don't think he is one. He might be crazy and eccentric. But I doubt he is an actual Nazi. So I judge the car by its qualities, that Tesla might be lacking. Not for the potential ideology of it's maker. Ford was more or less a Nazi to wasn't he? So we are dwindling the amount of potential cars you can buy then. Lets not even get into other companies or fields ...
I'm fairly sure all the people that actually build the Tesla are not Nazis either. Are the people that designed the car for Elon Nazis? Or are they just Nazi-by-association for working for Elon? I'd say neither. I don't know. There might be one. Does it matter? Not really.
But there is apparently a statute of limitation on your Nazism guilt? And it's somewhere around 85ish years ago. Probably a lot less. The list as noted for German, and other, companies that worked with the Nazis is quite long. It will be hard to find a German mechanical, auto or chemical company that was around at the start of the last century that wasn't working with them. I don't really care if they worked for them, or with them or whatever. As noted it was 85ish years ago. The time to get over that was long ago.
My objection is calling everything you don't like for "Nazi" or "Fascists" even tho your evidence for such is quite limited and highly subjective. You might not like him or agree with Elon, or any of his companies, but that still doesn't make him a Nazi. I don't care for or like Elon. I constantly make fun of him and his companies here. But I still don't think he is a Nazi. No matter how many cameras he waves to in a "Nazi"-way.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Saturday July 26, @04:49PM
To reject the modern BMW company as "nazi", you must accept the personhood of corporations, and their inability to be redeemed. I reject both.
What's your statute of limitations? Do you also reject Wells Fargo as an instrument of Native American genocide? Ford because Henry Ford was also an antisemite who published his views in the Dearborn Independent? And the list goes on. It's a serious question in a lot of ways. I tend to lean towards absolving the children of criminals, and thus I reject the notion of reparations for slavery and such; but if we hold that entities are continuous, valid, and culpable as the legal community frequently does then you end up with rulings such as the case where some land in California was recently returned to a Black family from which it was taken over 100 years ago. Since it was a city paying the price, it doesn't impact individuals much. The real problem is when you start taking things from individuals who had no part in the original crime, in the name of "social justice". That's how you create a Zimbabwe situations, and I'm not going for that. To reiterate, it's not a settled PoV. If it were, there wouldn't be so much discussion around it.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 4, Touché) by weirsbaski on Sunday July 27, @10:39PM
BMW cozied up to the nazis 80 years ago during WWII. Elon is cozying up to neo-nazis now, 0 years ago. BMW isn't that company any more, but Elon is who he is right now.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Saturday July 26, @06:06PM (1 child)
>The 2026 BMW i5 has a starting sticker price of $68,275
The most we have ever paid for a vehicle purchase is $30K (2023), and that's something that's expected to last 20+ years.
Sure, we could cash the ESPP savings of the past few years and pay cash for a new i5, but we just don't spend enough time in our vehicles to justify pissing that much money down the drain. $6K for a nice sofa for the screened porch is a much better value by comparison.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 28, @09:23AM
Fair, but in this case we are comparing electric cars, which cost more. If your budget is $30k, then electric car is out of price range.