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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: 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.