Even setting aside the political stuff, this thing was 3 years late to the market. There are very few reasons you would want one of these over a Rivian outside of aesthetics, and it was a divisive aesthetic from the beginning.
For comparison...
>GM said its inventory of vehicles, which is the number of vehicles currently on dealer lots or en route, fell 8% to 549,312 in the first quarter.
So at ~50K ASP, GM has over $25B sitting in inventory.
If I understand it correctly Tesla's innovation in last 5 years have mostly been updates to their software, for better or worse.
Is there a "normal" amount of inventory to sit on?
>Used Cybertruck prices are down 55% year over year
It's wild to me folks lined up to buy this thing ... like I can understand enthusiasm for new things and all that but that's a big hit there. And even I think the prices are still high for the used ones in my area.
Throw up a Nazi salute on television and find out. What he’s find out is that nobody wants to do business with a Nazi or drive the iconic symbol of the brand.
Aka 1 week worth of inventory.
Some EV trucks haven't sold this many in entire year.
If you consider it marketing, It did its job during a difficult period. If you need it to perform in the market, I think it's demonstrably failed, but you can look at other successful utility vehicle plays and say "thats so unhelpful to PR and sales messaging for this brand" -nobody respects the makers of UPS trucks except guys in UPS truck buying contexts and the tesla truck wasn't aimed at truck owners as such: it was aimed at what in Australia we'd call "Cashed up bogans" -people who want an image outcome, not a utility function.
I am much more interested in how the Tesla Semi Trailer is doing. And, the alternatives.
We could be saying how poorly the the Tesla solar roofing tiles are doing, but we'd have to acknowledge Tesla power storage is now critical worldwide. So, like any company it has hits and misses.
I think in the end all we're saying is that this was a hugely avoidable miss, but in PR terms at the time, it probably worked out. Long tail cost however.
Bit of "tail wagging the dog" in almost any brand-led discussion.
I don't personally know Musk, I certainly dislike his personal image. Doesn't seem my kind of guy. Interesting.
How much to bet that they're coming soon to a governmental agency near you:
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/24/nx-s1-5305269/tesla-state-dep...
It's saving costs, you see!