Carlos Tavares Thinks Tesla Might Be Dead In 10 Years – CleanTechnica

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Carlos Tavares was the CEO of Stellantis for nearly 4 years, from January 2021 to December 2024. Stellantis is the parent company of 14 brands: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram Trucks, and Vauxhall. So, yes, the guy knows a lot about the automobile business. Whether he’s a genius or an idiot depends on who you ask, but he is one of the few people in the world who has ever run a large automobile company.

In an interview with Automotive News, Tavares certainly didn’t shy away from making a controversial statement that was always going to garner countless headlines and intense discussion. They key line was: “I’m not sure that Tesla will still exist in 10 years.”

Even as a simple possibility, that’s a big statement to make. Tesla has more than $40 billion in the bank and is profitable quarter after quarter. However, as I highlighted recently, the company has been seeing several negative financial trends. Additionally, as we discuss in a fresh new YouTube video, it does seem like Tesla might be rolling itself into another “bet the company” phase of life. Maybe.

Anyway, back to Carlos Tavares. He highlighted the growth and evolution of the China EV market, and the possibility that Elon Musk will focus more and more on non-Tesla matters. “We can’t rule out that at some point, he’ll decide to leave the automotive industry to refocus on humanoid robots, SpaceX, or artificial intelligence,” he said. “Tesla’s stock market loss will be colossal because this valuation is simply stratospheric. I’m not sure that Tesla will still exist in 10 years. … It’s an innovative group, but they will be beaten by BYD’s efficiency.”

That has certainly been a common perspective critics of Elon Musk and Tesla have had, but to hear it from a major automobile company CEO — or former CEO — made my jaw drop a bit. If Tavares was a YouTube influencer or journalist, one might say he’s just putting out clickbait, but I don’t think he’s trying to get attention by making this comment. Rather, it is most likely something he believes. Critics will say, “Well, that’s why he was fired from Stellantis. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Maybe. Or maybe he’s on to something.

Again, with $41 billion in the bank, Tesla is in an absolutely fine position at the moment. In the 3rd quarter, the company had revenue of $28.1 billion and net income of $1.8 billion. Not too shabby. It would take several quarters of things going very wrong for Tesla to get into financial trouble. But spending a lot of money while sales go in the wrong direction quarter after quarter can catch up on you quickly. We’ll see what happens. The coming few quarters should tell us a lot more.

Featured image by Alexander Migl (CC BY-SA 4.0 license)