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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
As expected, last night’s Tesla earnings announcement brought more bad news for the challenged EV-maker with 13.5pc less vehicles delivered in Q2.
Elon Musk’s Tesla woes continue as the electric vehicle (EV) maker again announced disappointing quarter two results, with its biggest decline in revenues in over a decade. And the future does not look bright with the loss in electric vehicle incentives on the way thanks to Donald Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’.
Revenues at Tesla fell 12pc in Q2 to $22.5bn. On an earnings call, the normally optimistic Musk warned of “rough quarters” ahead, when pressed on the loss of the EV incentives, and markets reacted with a drop of up to 5pc in the share value.
Most analysts believe the launch of a promised new affordable Tesla is the short-term fix, but there was little yesterday to reassure them. Having originally said the long-awaited affordable Tesla would start builds in the first half of the year, it said yesterday that “the first builds” started only in June. Musk mentioned on the call that the new model would be a version of the existing Y model.
“A lightly refreshed product offering, plus increasingly compelling alternatives from competitors in Asia, Europe and North America make it harder to sell Teslas than has been the case until quite recently,” said Forrester principal analyst, Paul Miller.
“The withdrawal of EV incentives in several countries makes the vehicles less attractive and the full impact of tariffs imposed by the US and other countries is not yet clear.”
On the earnings call, Musk continued to promote the idea of his robotaxis as the proverbial white horse that would bring Tesla back to success, but the Austin robotaxi pilot got off to a shaky start and many question Musk’s optimism when it comes to reaching his huge ambitions.
“During the investor call, Elon Musk talked about ‘getting the regulatory approvals’ to expand the Austin pilot even further, and to launch in the Bay Area, Arizona, Nevada and Florida soon,” said Miller. “He went so far as to suggest the company ‘could’ address half the US population by the end of 2025, ‘subject to regulatory approvals’.
“That caveat is an important one, as regulatory approvals take time and there is no evidence that these formal applications to the separate state regulatory processes have begun.”
(Score: 5, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Sunday July 27 2025, @12:08AM (12 children)
Acknowledging the very real risk that I've become a fangirl, this is a buying opportunity.
It's difficult for me to imagine buying a car from any other brand now.
They didn't take my keys when I took a test drive.
They didn't try to sell me floormats, undercoat, or a protection package.
It took 32 minutes to buy the car. If I hadn't rescheduled my appointment sooner, it would have been 15. (They had to go print my paperwork package.)
When I'm not pulling a trailer, full self-driving is a better driver than I am.
When I am pulling a trailer, the adaptive cruise control works better than any other car I've driven.
My headlights automatically notch out so I don't blind other drivers with high-beams on our country backroads.
I get in the car every morning with the battery at 80%, equivalent to 3/4s of a tank in our Mazda.
In 5,831 miles, I've spent $268.32 on charging. In our Mazda, that same number of miles would take, optimistically, 290 gallons of gas. I grossly _under_estimated the amount we'd save on gas.
Ignoring Tesla as an Energy company (grid scale battery banks), ignoring Tesla as a robotics company, ignoring Tesla as a solar company, Ignoring Tesla as the largest Level 3 charging provider in the US (and consistently cheaper than e.g. Chargepoint), ignoring Tesla as a rideshare provider, they make really good cars.
I'm still pissed at Elon over the private @ 420 thing; I lost money on that. Elon's politics are also a minefield. Despite that, I still think it's probably a good investment.
(Score: 5, Touché) by mhajicek on Sunday July 27 2025, @12:41AM (3 children)
And when the type of person you are is declared illegal by executive order, your car can lock you in and automatically drive you to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ElizabethGreene on Sunday July 27 2025, @02:34PM (2 children)
This is a concern, so I took the five minutes to learn where the manual door releases are. In a model Y, the front releases are built into the armrest, easily accessible but subtly hidden as a latch on the front of the armrest. In the rear doors, there is a cable actuated manual release in the door pocket underneath the rubber mat. This one is a bit fidgety to get to, so I attached a pull strap to it on each side.
I would like to have a kill switch that disengages the main contactor too, but that would require substantial modification. The emergency response manual shows the location of the emergency cut-to-kill cable for rescue operators, but it's not realistic it is for me to get into the back seat, do that, and get back in the front seat to apply the brakes. I am currently accepting this risk.
How would you turn off your car if it decided to go rogue? The chassis control module controls the ignition, transmission, and throttle position independent of your inputs on most modern vehicles.
It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aafcac on Sunday July 27 2025, @05:45PM
That is just absolute madness. Such important latches should never be hidden, especially on vehicles like the cybertruck where you can't break the windows to get out.
People shouldn't have to read the manual so they don't burn to death in a fire while riding in somebody else's car.
(Score: 2) by crm114 on Sunday July 27 2025, @07:26PM
You rock.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sgleysti on Sunday July 27 2025, @04:19AM (4 children)
TSLA's price to earnings ratio makes no sense, and I think the stock price is based in large part on hype. Personally, I would stay away.
That said, I also wouldn't buy stock in a single company. I stick to low expense ratio broad market index funds.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Sunday July 27 2025, @02:37PM (3 children)
I generally agree on the P/E.
Then I look at the global energy market snuggling up to 2 trillion dollars annually, mumble something about space based solar power, and put in a buy order.
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Sunday July 27 2025, @04:24PM (2 children)
Buying the stock of an individual company incurs a lot of risk, especially one with as much volatility as Tesla. In their case, the volatility is both in the price and the CEO, lol. And again, the P/E doesn't make sense...
I'm only 37, but AARP has a great article on why to buy low cost index funds instead of individual stocks: https://www.aarp.org/money/personal-finance/reasons-not-to-buy-individual-stocks/ [aarp.org]. It is a good distillation of some of the best financial advice I've ever received personally, and I'm pretty sure AARP isn't selling anything with that article.
Individual stocks can go to zero or have persistent poor performance, but these things are less likely for the market as a whole, and low cost index funds return the performance of the whole market.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Monday July 28 2025, @03:40PM (1 child)
I understand the value of index funds, and that's where the majority of my retirement savings are. For my "play" money, I have a higher risk tolerance. It was the pandemic that got me to start aggressively investing that. The S&P plummet and everyone was scared. Remembering 2008, I understood the market was overreacting. There were insane deals to be had then; I got deep in the money Microsoft LEAPs calls with more than a year of time value for under $3. They paid off my house. It was an amazing time.
I'm still in fwiw; Last week I took a straddle on Lockheed Martin going into their earnings that worked out ok. I don't know if I'll ever see steals like we had in the pandemic again though, and I'm ok with that. The pandemic sucked.
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Monday July 28 2025, @11:32PM
Oh man. I don't have the guts to use LEAPs. I considered gearing up to buy micro e-mini futures if the stock market dipped but ultimately decided against it. I did keep buying (401k contributions at a pretty high rate) during the recent downturn in April, and that worked out well.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday July 27 2025, @11:28PM (2 children)
In light of the political climate I'm gonna be up front and tell you I mean that at face value. A few years before Covid I moved to walking-distance at work. I rarely drive and yeah I won't be test-driving any EVs soon. I've only been in a Tesla once (I liked the hud showing me speed limit signs...) and don't know a thing about any other EV brand. I am a hardware nerd (VECTREX!!) and I've been enjoying watching the evolution of these vehicles as their technical realities sink in. I mean, are we that far away from self-valet'ing cars? Anyway, sorry for the rambling... I was just curious if the various brands have their own thing or if it's more like how smartphones really aren't that distinct anymore?
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈 - Give us ribbiti or make us croak! 🐸
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Monday July 28 2025, @03:27PM (1 child)
I've ridden in a couple of other EVs, so I have some comparisons. I'm a big person, and the seats on the Hyundai Ioniq are a little more comfortable, and this is a nit-pick, I also like having a dedicated control for the windshield wipers. That said, I can't go back to a non-self-driving car. Neither the Ioniq or the Ford can drive themselves, parallel park, or automatically back into parking spaces. There are lots of "just works" experience things too. e.g. For charging, you have to find a CCS capable charger, take out your phone, NFC at the charger, and connect the cable. With the Tesla, the car authenticates to superchargers, bills you directly, and just works. Even the in-car app for finding charger "feels" less friction.
The self-valet thing partially exists today. It's called "Automatic Smart Summon". When I come out of the Costco and it's raining cats and dogs, I pull out the app, press and hold down the "come to me" button, and the car automatically drives to me. The best part of ASS is the reactions of others when they see an empty car driving itself. :D I love overhearing someone seeing that for the first time. Kids in particular love it. :D The second half, where the car drops you off and goes to do whatever, is supposed to be called "Banish". It has been discussed repeatedly, but no timeline on delivery yet. I expect it will come after unsupervised Full Self Driving rolls out.
(Score: 1) by Tork on Monday July 28 2025, @03:33PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈 - Give us ribbiti or make us croak! 🐸