Elon Musk Harshly Reacts To Suggestions He is Personally to Blame for the Massive 20% Decline in Tesla Deliveries This Quarter
Since purchasing Twitter and renaming the social media platform X, Musk has increasingly emerged as a political figure.
The serial entrepreneur used to be a darling of the progressive left largely due to his work promoting electric vehicles, solar panels, and his overall contribution to advancing the advent of sustainable energy.
Elon Musk’s dream for the Cybertruck was to create a vehicle that looked like “an armored personnel carrier from the future.” This new Cybertruck build looks to fulfill Musk’s aspiration, complete with ten wheels and an extended cabin. @Tesla @elonmusk #Tesla
📸@heavydsparks801… pic.twitter.com/QFbinVI93I
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However, after moving Tesla’s headquarters out of California and into Texas and generally adopting conservative points of view, including on such hot topics as race, gender identity, and immigration, Musk is now considered by a large swath of the population as a right-wing figure.
You might agree or disagree with Musk's description as a “right-wing” figure; however, there are nonetheless vocal individuals who see the Tesla CEO as such and believe his online antics are hurting the EV maker.
Making these criticisms even more interesting, when Musk is painted negatively in the media, it is usually by people with a vested interest in Tesla’s fall; however, the recent criticisms have been largely from institutional Tesla investors.
Criticisms of Musk for his political views have ebbed and flowed throughout the past couple of years; however, recently, Musk’s increasingly political nature has emerged as a hot-button topic following Tesla’s recently released abysmal first-quarter delivery numbers.
In a press release, Tesla revealed that in the quarter starting January 1st and ending March 31st, Tesla produced and delivered 433,37 and 386,810 vehicles, respectively.
Breaking down the numbers further, Tesla produced and delivered 412,376 and 369,783 Model 3 & Y vehicles, respectively.
The remaining 20,995 vehicles were the higher-end Model S & X, and Tesla revealed that it delivered 17,027 of these vehicles in the first quarter.
Not only were Tesla’s delivery numbers significantly lower than the analyst consensus, but the deliveries also showed a rare sales decrease for the EV maker.
Compared to the same quarter last year, Q4 2023, the EV maker’s sales went down by a whopping 20%, and deliveries even went down 8% year-over-year.
Tesla’s Lead Cybertruck Engineer Responds to MKBHD’s Long-Term Cybertruck Review — “I Bet You Feel Disappointed Getting Back to Your Porsche 911” @Tesla @elonmusk #Tesla
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For any company showing double-digit sales decline is concerning; however, it’s especially damning for a company like Tesla which a large portion of its perceived value is predicated upon a massive growth story.
Explaining the fall in sales, Tesla wrote…
“Decline in volumes was partially due to the early phase of the production ramp of the updated Model 3 at our Fremont factory and factory shutdowns resulting from shipping diversions caused by the Red Sea conflict and an arson attack at Gigafactory Berlin.”
Tesla has scheduled the Q1 2024 earnings call for April 23, and hopefully, we’ll hear further explanation regarding the fall in sales and Tesla’s growth goals going forward.
We’ll keep you posted as Tesla shares more details about the quarter. However, some Tesla investors impatient to wait for the earnings call have started voicing their dissatisfaction with Elon Musk following the less-than-stellar quarterly results.
One vocal critic of Musk, Ross Gerber, expressed his frustration on X, writing “386k is a crappy number. Tesla needs a new sales strategy. Unfortunately, Tesla shareholders are paying the price for the reality Elon has created.”
“Basically, Tesla can’t sell its cars due to Elon’s behavior. Let’s stop blaming the Houthi rebels or German environmental terrorists, a recession that never came, or interest rates. Only one person is responsible for this.”
Following, Ross added, “For over a year, I’ve been warning about this potential reality. Now it’s here. It’s time for shareholders to assess where the blame is due. The Tesla BOD (board of directors) should be replaced immediately with independent directors as required by law.”
If his X tirade wasn’t enough, Gerber went on various legacy media platforms and let his dissatisfaction with Musk be known. He argued that the fall in deliveries was directly linked to Musk’s increasingly political views.
A large Tesla investor base subscribes to this idea; however, Musk appears to be having none of it.
In response to Gerber’s various pronouncements blaming Musk for the fall in deliveries, Musk wrote, “He’s such an idiot that he can’t even tell he’s an idiot. BYD sales dropped by 42% from last quarter. This was a tough quarter for everyone.”
He’s such an idiot that he can’t even tell he’s an idiot.
BYD sales dropped by 42% from last quarter. This was a tough quarter for everyone.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2024
This is an uncharacteristically harsh response from the Tesla CEO, who usually uses humor when addressing his detractors.
Musk’s less-than-civil response suggests that the Tesla CEO is starting to get frustrated with the growing belief that he is harming Tesla’s brand.
Is Elon Musk a positive or a negative for Tesla?
Throughout the company’s history, Musk has been instrumental in getting the EV maker where it is now.
Not only is Musk a Tesla cofounder, but he also funded Tesla through the most uncertain part of the company's growth. Musk was also the CEO and Chief Product Designer intimately involved with the company as Tesla rolled out several exciting products.
Musk has headed Tesla since the conception of the original Model S, and he has overseen the company through some of its toughest challenges, including Model X production issues and Model 3 volume production ramp.
Under Musk’s leadership, the Model Y has grown to become the world's best-selling vehicle, electric or internal combustion.
Musk has also been instrumental in directing Tesla to become an autonomous driving leader and developing exciting products like the Cybertruck. Given all these accomplishments, Musk is undoubtedly an asset for Tesla.
However, the question is, while appreciating everything he has achieved thus far with the EV maker…
Should Elon Musk leave Tesla and move on to other projects?
Entertaining this possibility, people who support Musk leaving the company argue that Elon is already involved in five more companies besides Tesla. He’s directly the CEO of two more companies, X and SpaceX.
These individuals argue that Elon Musk is already spending less time at Tesla and that his departure would not be as big of a loss.
A Tesla Cybertruck Takes a Chunk Out of a Nissan Sentra Using Its Stainless Steel Exoskeleton During a High Energy Crash – The Nissan is Totaled While the Cybertruck Gets Barely Dented @Tesla @elonmusk #Tesla
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Musk’s detractors especially support this notion, given his recent increasingly political and polarizing public views.
With over 130,000 employees, admittedly, Tesla is not as dependent on Elon Musk as the EV maker used to be in the early stages of the company.
Having said that, Musk is still intimately involved in crafting Tesla’s future products and spearheading the company’s autonomous future. Because of this, we believe that at this point in the company’s history, Musk leaving the company would harm rather than help Tesla.
In conclusion, the best way for Musk to stop his detractors is for Tesla to execute better than ever before. As long as the EV maker keeps setting and hitting ambitious goals, Musk will have ample support to lead Tesla.
For now, this is all the information we have regarding the Elon Musk versus disgruntled shareholders saga; however, we’ll be sure to keep you posted as the story unfolds.
Until then, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.
So, what do you think? Do you think Musk staying on as the Tesla CEO helps or hampers the EV maker? Also, do you think Musk should continue publicly sharing his political views? Please let us know what you think in the comments below.
Image: Screenshot from Elon Musk’s TED interview
For more information, check out: Elon Musk’s “Armored Personel Carrier From the Future” – a 10-Wheeled Cybertruck Cyberlander on the Way – Tesla’s Chief of Design Asked for Input
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.