Tesla

Tesla news lately includes a leader with a second or maybe seventh job in politics, protests, vandalism, a White House lawn advertisement, record high trade-in numbers, and a Cybertruck recall to fix glued-on trim pieces that can’t stay attached.

One of Tesla’s usually favorable Wall Street analysts, Dan Ives from Wedbush, published a note pleading with CEO Elon Musk to spend less time at DOGE. “Tesla and Musk are facing a defining chapter in their future and how Musk handles this next few months will be pivotal to the long term growth trajectory of Tesla in our view,” Ives wrote. Another thing Ives says Musk needs to do is prepare lower-cost vehicles for 2025.

The Financial Times compared the electric automaker’s capital expenditure in the last six months of 2024 to its valuation of the assets that money was spent on, and discovered that $1.4 billion has “gone astray.”

Can you trick a Tesla’s camera-based Autopilot system, which has been linked to hundreds of crashes, using simulated rain, fog? Will it barrel through a wall covered in an image of the road beyond, like Looney Tunes’ Wile E. Coyote slamming into the Road Runner’s fake tunnels?

Tesla has been promising more affordable models as the thing that will help pull it out of its current rut. But a new report out of China (by way of Electrek) suggests that they’re likely to be stripped down Model Ys. This follows reports that the company was testing sub-$35,000 Model 3s in Mexico with cheaper materials and fewer screens. Based on the 36kr report, the project is being spearheaded by Tesla’s Chinese engineers — which makes sense, because car companies in that country have really cracked the code on cheap EVs.

Donald Trump livestreamed a Tesla showcase in the White House driveway on Tuesday, apparently reading the notes of a Tesla sales pitch as he performed choosing one of its EVs to purchase from five delivered for the event.

Although there have been an increasing amount of protests against Tesla, “the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) has not yet said whether foul play was suspected as the cause of the fire, which is under investigation,” according to KOMO News.

Musk tweeted that in 2022, adding that it could “...cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy.” Today Electrek highlights this incident that occurred Monday morning in Ventura, CA.

At least, that’s what this SEC filing says. He’s one of several insiders who’ve been selling lately, I notice; the chair of Tesla’s board, Elon Musk’s brother, and Tesla’s CFO all dumped tens of millions in shares last month, too. Tesla shares closed today at $222.15, down 41 percent this calendar year. They’re still up about 25 percent from this time last year. It remains unclear whether the continuing Tesla protests have rendered the brand toxic.

With Tesla shares crashing over 50 percent since December, some shareholders are left wondering how much longer they can hold out. Fortunately Reddit is a place where financial masochism thrives, and losses that cross into the six-figure territory are seen as a sign of fortitude. A post from a Tesla shareholder who lost “tens of thousands” of dollars and was looking for coping strategies yielded these absolutely master-class responses:

Six people were arrested Saturday after “several hundred protestors” blocked entrances to a Manhattan Tesla showroom, The New York Times reports. “Tesla Takedown” protests aim to hurt Elon Musk by targeting Tesla, which has seen sales dropping globally since Musk started directing deep cuts in the federal government.

Users on a Facebook group for Cybertruck owners are posting about public backlash being directed towards their vehicles, showing people flicking them off and lewd or abusive messages they’ve received.

Tesla is currently offering prospective Foundation Series Cybertrucks free Supercharging “during your ownership of the vehicle,” as spotted by automotive journalist Chad Kirchner. Tesla is showing banners advertising the promotion on the Cybertruck website.

Nine people were arrested over the weekend during a “raucous” demonstration outside a Tesla showroom in Manhattan this past weekend, Reuters reports. The protest, which drew hundreds of participants, was part of an escalating “Tesla Takedown” movement opposed to Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government. The protesters want to hurt Musk by deterring sales of Tesla vehicles and tanking the company’s stock price. Huge crowds turned out for demonstrations in Florida and Arizona as well.

The company’s value dropped below $1 trillion for the first time since last November, causing anti-Elon Musk protesters to celebrate on Bluesky. But the losses don’t appear to have much to do with the demonstrations, which only started earlier this month.