[Zigurd]

I criticize Elon often and harshly, but putting off a low cost car might be the rational and realistic part of this set of decisions: The opportunity cost of cybertruck and other side quests Tesla has been on make doing a low-cost car something that should have been started 4 years ago, using the money that's been spent on a second rate robot or a semi truck that's good for hauling potato chips.

[LightBug1]

I criticise Apple often and harshly, but putting off a premium car might be the rational and realistic part of this set of decisions.

Personally, I think Tesla are left holding the can at this juncture ... and the next 5 years are going to be extremely challenging for them.

Margins eaten away at the premium level - with no hope of clawing them back at the lower cost mass level.

[Zigurd]

Agreed, and it shows that planning that takes into account project risk is very valuable. While Apple was spending what probably amounts to tens of billions on a car project, they never let that be a threat to their business or even to their valuation. So burning all that money was nearly a non-event, and didn't ding Tim Cook's reputation at all.

Tesla meanwhile is left short of the resources it will take to retain a leading position in EVs. The robotaxi announcement just adds risk.

[addaon]

> Margins eaten away at the premium level - with no hope of clawing them back at the lower cost mass level.

I'm somewhat surprised they don't try to make a car in the luxury segment. There'd be a learning curve -- expectations for comfort, build quality, and functionality are definitely several steps beyond what they've tried before -- but that's where the margins are, and some low-volume high-margin sales can pay for a lot of see-what-sticks-to-the-wall in the econobox market.