Instant Reaction: Tesla Fast Tracks Affordable Models After Earnings Miss

Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.240 All right, Well, shares of Tesla are higher in the 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.000 after hours right now as investors continue to digest those 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:17.720 first quarter earnings numbers. Global vehicle inventory rose to twenty 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.080 eight days. It's a huge jump from the fifteen days 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:22.640 at the end of last quarter. Shares high right now 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.720 by just about five percent. First quarter revenue coming in 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.120 at twenty one point three billion dollars that was below 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.080 estimates of twenty two point three billion dollars. Also a 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:35.840 missed when it comes to EPs adjusted EPs, I should 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.720 say that coming in at forty five cents versus estimates 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:39.479 of fifty two. 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.440 Cents, shares a teslap about five and a half percent 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.120 in the aftermarket, but also Tesla to accelerate the launch 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.480 of more affordable models at getting a red sticky by 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:48.559 our team here at Bloomberg. All right, so let's get 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:50.879 to it with us, Ross Gerber, president and CEO at 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.800 Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, and also Bloomberg BusinessWeek 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.960 columnist Max Chafkin. Ross out there in Santa Monica, California. 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:02.120 Max here in our Bloomberg Interactive Brokeer studio getting ready 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:03.360 for another round of Tesla bingo. 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:04.880 We'll get it do in just a moment. 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.680 Ross investors like it. What do you make of this 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.720 report looking backwards looking forwards? 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.520 Well, I think the good part of the report, because 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:16.600 this is really the only good part of the report, 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.360 is them saying that they're going to accelerate the production 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.640 of this next gen vehicle platform. And they were pretty 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.120 vague about what they're calling this or you know what 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.240 robo taxi is or is a model to coming, And 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.160 I think that'll be clarified on the conference call. So 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.639 you know, once again, we don't really watch after hours 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:36.920 trading because he really doesn't represent all the participants and so, 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:39.200 and we haven't seen the conference call yet, so we'll 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.040 see how this stock trades over the next several months. 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.000 But but there really isn't any other good news in 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.480 that report other than them saying they're going to accelerate 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:49.480 production even though they just fired all the people that 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.200 are in charge of accelerating production. 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.120 Hey, Ross, remind everybody take a step back here, because 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.480 Carol and I were looking at the terminal a little earlier. 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:00.480 You've you know, you are a longtime Tesla bull until 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:02.560 you weren't, and you were a longtime believer and have 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.520 been a longtime believer in the company. You guys still 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.240 own a substantial number of shares over at gerber Kawasaki, 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.360 But what is your position right now in Tesla moving forward? 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.960 So my position is that Tesla is a wonderful company 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.680 that has enormous potential with the CEO who has become 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.160 so divisive that people won't buy the cars. And that's 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.880 why saying is just going to produce more cars doesn't 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.920 address the real issue is why they're not selling cars today, 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.560 and that's the issue that needs to be addressed that 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.800 isn't being addressed. So as a shareholder, we have to 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.960 assess what the future earnings potential of a company is 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:40.200 based off what their business model is. And when we 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:42.919 start investing in Tesla over ten years ago, and we've 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.000 had a great run up until the purchase of Twitter, 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.040 and so we've been lowering our position because what we 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:52.080 feel is that Elon's behavior has hurt the brand in 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.440 such a way that consumers actually don't want to buy 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:56.520 a Tesla. It's just the best car on the road 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.880 at the best price, so people buy the car reluctantly 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.760 at this point, So I think, you know, we've got 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.000 these problems to solve, and I'm not sure if that 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.360 will be addressed on the conference call today. And that's 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:10.640 you know, And I don't like being called a Tesla 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:12.840 bear because I actually think they could turn the company 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.160 around pretty quickly if Elon changed his behavior and stopped 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:17.240 attacking everybody. 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:19.240 But I just don't think that's going to happen. 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.640 And so so I think the bigger issue that isn't 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.600 being addressed is doesn't matter how many cars Tesla makes 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:26.960 if nobody will buy them. 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.080 All Right, So Max chaff can come on and you 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:30.320 guys do the Elon Inc. 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:31.160 Podcast. 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.080 You're constantly looking at what he says, what he does. 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.760 You're looking at his kind of his assets, his portfolio, 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.240 your initial thoughts on kind of the headlines we got. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.280 Yeah, just to kind of underlo Ross is saying something 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.840 like this, but like the note about the new products 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.680 is very vague. It doesn't say we're going to have 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:49.720 a model too, and it's going to come out on 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.200 this state, which is what investors, many investors have been 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.120 hoping for. It says it sounds like it's saying, I'm 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.520 reading it correctly, They're going to try to essentially make 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:01.640 the current models more affordable. Now that obviously could allow 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.640 them to sell more cars, but it's a slightly different 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:08.480 spin on things than what many people have been inspecting. 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.200 The other thing is, as Ross is saying, you know, 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:15.040 on a Tesla Earning's day, what Elon says, and more importantly, 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.720 how he says it is just as important as as 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.360 what's in these numbers, because he is going to hopefully 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.359 anyway clarify some of this. We also hopefully get a 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:27.159 sense of like where things stand with robotaxi, where things 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:32.560 stand with potential affordable cars, and investors seemed to react 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.440 to based on his optimism, you know, a couple quarters 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.359 ago when he was in this kind of dower mood, 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.560 we saw the stock go down. So it's like, do 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.920 we get an optimistic version of Elon or the kind 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.279 of very dour, pessimistic Elon. 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:48.800 Well, I wonder if you have a question for Ross Max. 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:53.080 Yeah, Ross, what is your reading on this on this product, 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:54.440 on this paragraph about the product? 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:57.880 Well, I think you're dead right about the two things 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:58.360 you just said. 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.919 Number one, they're of course vague because of the legality 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:03.640 of it. If they put this down and they don't 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:05.960 do it right, and since nobody seems to know what 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.080 Elon's going to do, and I'm sure that everybody understands 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:12.120 that nobody within Tesla knows what the business plan is 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.200 either because they just don't at this point. 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:16.480 But I think secondly, a. 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:18.840 Lot of it will be how does Elon answer these 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.599 questions from investors during the conference call? 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:22.920 And what you said is right. 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.640 If we have sort of a very positive Elon and 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.440 he's refocused and he's going to be working at Tesla 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.240 more and you know, he can play the room right, 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:34.719 maybe we get a little rally on the stock, but 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.800 it doesn't change the fundamentals. If he doesn't play the 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:42.120 room right, this becomes a bloodbath. So you know, I'm 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.960 just hoping that he understands the damage that he's done 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:49.000 and starts to mitigate this versus diving in and sort 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:49.720 of doubling down. 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.160 It will be interesting to see if Twitter comes up 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.279 or sorry X comes up, you know, because there is 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.320 this question in this sense that he's spent gee Whiz 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.520 a lot of time talking about X, tweeting about X, 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:04.479 doing X related things. There's even a potential or they're 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.680 going to have a Grock integration inside of the Tesla's 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.320 and I think that to people who are really bought 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:12.960 into the ev story rather than the you know, Elon 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.440 Musk genius story, which those are two important constituencies here. 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.120 I think for Tesla stock, you know, they would like 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:22.880 to see him spend less time on his social media network. 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.359 Yeah, well, it's not just less time, it's what he's saying, 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.719 you know, It's like it's not the time, it's that 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:34.360 what he's saying oftentimes is super divisive and basically racist. 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.520 So it's like, it's really hard to sell products to 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.760 people when the CEO says things that are really hurtful 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:42.160 to people, including me. 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:42.839 For that matter. 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.960 Now, and we've talked with you about that absolutely ross. 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:51.400 What could Elon say on the call, or Elon and 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:55.520 company say on the call that would make you more 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.240 excited about the company or once again say you know 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.239 kind of oh Elon really well. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:02.960 If I had my dream come true, he'd say I'm 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:05.159 coming back to work at Tesla, because he basically doesn't 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.440 work at Tesla, and he would say, I'm done tweeting 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.080 all this garbage and politics. I'm going to really focus 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.800 on advancing sustainable transportation and energy, and that we're going 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:19.920 to release this lower priced car and the strategy that 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.720 we all bought into three years ago, you know, and 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.360 the stock was at all time highs and earnings were 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.400 going up, you know, fifty hundred percent a year. 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.720 You know, it was like it was like a different 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:30.559 world than today. 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.560 And it's amazing to me he doesn't understand this difference, 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:37.680 that that really is his responsibility. And so as a shareholder, 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.840 I have to say it's an extremely distressing time because 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.760 the valuation of Tesla is premised off all these great 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:48.560 technological innovations, none of which have come to fruition yet. 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.400 So his focus is one hundred percent what needs to 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:52.280 be happening right now. 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:54.560 Hey, Ross, I do want to just end with with 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.160 one last question about the cost of producing these vehicles. 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.320 It seems like Tesla is doing everything I can to 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:01.800 bring down the cost of producing these cars, the cost 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:05.600 of goods sold to Are they what numbers do you 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:06.240 want to see there? 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.080 Well, they are, but their margins continue to go lower. 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:11.560 If you look at the report, which I've only had 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.880 a minute to look at, you know, their vehicle margins 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.840 continue to go lower. They're operating margins go lower. Their 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:20.000 net margins go lower, so they're able to lower the 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:21.720 price of the car. But what they're not able to 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:25.120 do is keep that going as fast as they're they're 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.720 lowering the price of the vehicles, so it's still hurting 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:30.560 them even though they're lowering the cost of the car, 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:33.400 and it doesn't bring in a bigger market. 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.000 But you're not creating any demand. And this is I 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:39.640 have said it a hundred times. Every company in America 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:40.920 advertises for a reason. 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.959 People need to know why your products are superior. And 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:46.880 all the Tesla people have bought in Teslas, you know, 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.560 so all these YouTubers can tweet all they want, but 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:51.760 everybody wanted to Tesla bought a Tesla. So you've got 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:54.240 to get new customers. And the new customers are being 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:57.120 told that charging sucks and evs are bad and this 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.480 and that and that, and Donald Trump says they're bad 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.200 and this is all they see all day. And then 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.280 it's like, why would they go buy a Tesla because 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.079 there's not one ad anywhere that tells you how great 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:07.679 the cars are? 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:08.480 Because they are. 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.360 Great, right and you still own them right real quickly? 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.200 Yes or no, yeah I do. 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:15.559 I just don't understand why they don't tell people how 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:16.560 great their vehicles are. 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:19.880 All right, Ross Gerbert, so appreciated. We know you've got 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:21.679 to I think run over to our TV guys. President 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.559 CEO Gerba Kawasaki, so appreciate you joining us. Max Chafkin 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.640 is staying with us a Bloomberg BusinessWeek and we want 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:28.600 to roll into the conversation. 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.640 Ed Ludlow, Yeah, he's co host of Bloomberg Technology on 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:33.840 Bloomberg TV. He joins us from the San Francisco Beer. 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:35.319 I do want to note care all the Tesla first 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.800 quarter automotive gross margin excluding regulatory credits is at sixteen 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:40.960 point four percent yea for the quarter. 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:42.719 Stack up six point three percent in the aftermarket. 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:44.600 Hey, I'd come on in here and explain why you 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:46.679 think the stock is moving higher given that a lot 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:48.199 of these numbers came in below estimates. 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.520 Yeah. I think that the print and the numbers in 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:53.760 after has have nothing to do with the quarter gone. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:58.600 Everyone's looked past it. Frankly, what the shareholder deck outlines 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.080 is almost line line exactly what Danna and I outlined 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.600 in the Big Take on Sunday, which is on the 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.600 affordable ev A big body of work had already been 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.880 done at the component and production process level, and Tesla 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:14.960 is moving forward with a more affordable lineup of evs 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:18.320 based on that technology. It was really misunderstood. It's like 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.000 the world was banking on the Honda Civic of evs 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:23.320 and Tesla to be the one to bring it. But 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.400 my understanding from sources that was never the case. And 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.000 if you read the shareholder deck, they spell it out 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.000 pretty clearly. They've looked at this kind of more holistically 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.760 and there will be more affordable evs coming late twenty 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:38.440 twenty five. Caution caveat Muskers often miss his own deadlines. 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:38.760 You know that. 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:40.319 I always say that, but it's like. 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:41.400 A something for everyone. 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:45.760 Yeah, you know that, And that was me protecting myself 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:47.720 from all the people who may go after me on 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.760 social media. But explicitly it states that they are working 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:55.280 on a purpose built ROBOTAXI. And so we went into 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.240 this saying, if you're a Wall Street institutional giant who 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.680 really wanted to see an affordable EV, or you're the 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.600 technology investor or the retail investor that's kind of all 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:07.040 in on the Tesla thesis around autonomy, you've got that 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:09.640 as well, And really I think the market adjoining in 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:11.960 hands to play that in after hours. 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.360 You know, the question is like what is an affordable 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:18.719 EV And I think one of the things one of 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.200 the ways that Elon Musk could clarify is to is 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.520 to sort of say that, you know, he over the 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:28.040 weekend amid all this speculation, he tweeted a screenshot showing 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:32.559 the model. Why priced at twenty nine thousand dollars sounds prettyffordable. 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.400 Course that includes tax credit, which you know not everybody gets, 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.040 and a and like a five thousand dollars sort of 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:41.520 assumption of gas savings. 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:43.439 So so like you could. 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.160 Imagine a situation where he tries to argue, like, look, 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.800 we're going to cut a bunch of costs out of 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.040 this thing, and we're going to make it affordable as is, 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.200 like we don't need an additional model, which is a 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:58.720 really intriguing proposal. That is a huge, you know, pretty 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:02.360 big departure from how the car industry normally does things, 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:04.800 and in certain ways I get is saying maybe not 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.080 that surprising, right, that's kind of you know, Elon Musk 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.520 has long model this company after Apple. You know, Apple 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.480 sells a very you know, modest product line all the 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:15.600 products kind of look the same. They're all kind of expensive. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.280 You know, you could sort of imagine his effort to 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.360 do this, and and you know, who knows if it's 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.360 going to work, but it definitely is outside of what 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.199 you know, a normal sort of car company, nor normal 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.880 car company analyst would expect to see, would want to see. 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.120 You know, guys, I'm looking at a live blog Craik 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:35.079 Kanter weighing in our BNF Electric Vehicle analysts and saying, 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:38.840 you know where he talks about these new models and 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:41.680 talks about I don't know, new models ahead of our 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.800 previously communicated startup production the second half of twenty twenty five, 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.640 accelerating that launch, he he writes by including these statements 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:50.760 in the investor decka shows Tesla has identified that a 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:53.079 lack of new models is a problem. But are there 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:56.520 actually actions being taken or just a continued lack of clarity? 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:58.800 And I guess you know, I'm going to go back 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:00.920 to you Max for a second, like, right, we want 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.000 a little bit more specifics, right, And what this means? 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.520 Yeah, again, it almost it does have the feel of 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.760 a deck that's being written for maximum optionality, and and 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:13.480 you know this is all happening. 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:14.720 Very very quickly. 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:18.400 You know, we saw we've seen Elon Musk get re engaged. 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.360 It appears in any case, you know, connected this layoff 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.000 in a way that has seemed, at least according to 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.079 you know, the reports that Bloomberg is published that Ed 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.120 has has written very hasty, and so you do wonder 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.800 like maybe they are trying to figure this out as 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.440 we speak, and and and who knows if we're definitely 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:38.040 going to get that level of clarity on the call 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.960 from Elon Musk, although given Elon Musk like he cannot 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.320 help himself but sort of say controversial things. You know, 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.400 he's got that sort of trump characteristic of being sort 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:51.440 of really really honest. Sometimes to a fault, he may 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:53.480 you know, spout something off that could send the stock 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.000 in any number of directions. 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.400 And to that point, you know, what's like, what's what 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.360 are you looking for on the call at if you're 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:00.760 when you're tuning. 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.440 In the car. So I don't want to be inconsistent, 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:05.319 you know, I posted in the blog before we kick 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:09.400 things off, clarity, but actually to be fair, I think 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:12.160 that Tesla has given us one single line of clarity. 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:14.640 So I'm just going to read it. This update may 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:19.000 resolve in a result in achieving less cost reductions than 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.880 previously expected. So Carol read out the section in which 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.520 they outline the explanation. There will be multiple affordable models, 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.280 but I think that the market, and indeed, because Elon 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:31.960 Musk kind of guided us there was thinking this will 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:34.360 be a brand new model, maybe it will be called 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.600 M two, Maybe it will specifically cost twenty five thousand 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.280 US dollars. I think in that single line of the 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:45.040 shareholder deck on page ten, they're saying it will be 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:47.720 less expensive than the average cost of a Y or three. 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:50.840 Now it will not be twenty five thousand dollars. And 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.880 so now we go to the big picture clarity. How 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.280 many of these things will you build? And what is 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:00.800 the strategy with that visa v ROBOTAXI because they all 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.800 occupy the same physical production space in Austin. Based on 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.440 our understanding, I also would think maybe the tone of 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:11.920 Elon Musk tim to answer your question, I thought he'd 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.360 be a bit combative and frazzled. Yeah, now I just 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:14.960 don't know. 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:22.080 Wait wait for surprise, all right, ed, Lola, We're gonna 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:23.520 let you go because we know you've got a full 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.560 play to continue. But of course Bloomberg Technology co host 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.000 ed Ludlow. But we got to talk about with Max 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.080 final minute here or so Elon Bingo right. 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:36.840 You know again, I've talked about this three months ago. 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.320 This is a thing that many Tesla watchers, bulls bears, 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.840 everybody in between, Elon Musk, super fans, Elon Musk's haters 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.360 tend to do, which is to kind of create a 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.720 Bingo card and look for some of his catchphrases. So 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.320 we at the Elon Ing Podcast, we've got a new 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.320 episode out right now and we have this Bingo card. 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:58.520 Just want to flag a few items. Horse that would 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.280 be one. Now, Elon Musk has said that anyone who's 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.080 driving a non autonomous card not a robotaxi, it'll be 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.480 like driving a horse compared to a car. So see 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.600 if he tries that line on us a few others 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:16.120 and to Grock uh uh and uh for reasonably optimistic. 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.920 He's often reasonably optimistic about lots of things. So so yeah, 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:21.560 lots of fun to be had here and we'll see 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:22.440 if anyone gets bingo. 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:24.040 It's a fun card. 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:26.600 Quefully we'll get you back in three months and also 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:29.480 earlier than three months. I'll be sure to check out 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.080 the Elon Inc. Podcast wherever you get your podcast. That's 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:35.160 Max Chafkin, a columnist for Bloomberg Business Week,