Tesla Sales Crater As Top Executives Flee – CleanTechnica

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Elon Musk may be the $1 trillion man, but when it comes to running a car company, he is a dismal failure. Years ago, he was smiling like the Cheshire Cat and begging other automakers to bring compelling electric cars to market — and boy, howdy, did they ever. Having spawned the electric car revolution, Musk then sat smugly on the sidelines and allowed Tesla to be distracted by falcon-wing doors and goofy designs like the Cybertruck.

Musk said on several occasions he really didn’t care if the Cybertruck was a commercial success. Huh? Imagine if Jim Farley said he really didn’t care if the Mustang Mach-E or the E-Transit were commercial successes, or if Mary Barra told GM shareholders that she didn’t care if the Equinox EV and Blazer EV were dismal failures. Both of them would be out the door and in the unemployment line in a heartbeat.

But the captive Tesla board of Musk jock sniffers just shrugs and says, “Oh, that is just Elon being Elon. Let’s shovel a mountain of money at him and hope he will agree to bless us with his brilliance a while longer. Who needs new products? We have Elon and that’s enough.” Tesla shareholders seem to agree.

Like the accomplished magician that he is, Musk keeps distracting his audience with new promises of wonders that are just over the horizon. Tesla will soon be selling tens of thousands of humanoid robots that will somehow solve poverty by putting people out of work, and shareholders lap it up like cats with a bowl of sweet cream.

The new xAI is gonna be the biggest tech bonanza the world has ever seen (fueled by portable methane generators, no less). Rooftop solar is finally going to make it big thanks to solar glass shingles. And the perennial favorite — real self-driving cars that actually drive themselves — is really happening this time. No kidding! Don’t look over there, look over here! Does Musk’s smoke and mirrors schtick remind you of anything?

Tesla Sales Crater In Germany & China

MSNBC reported this week that Tesla sold a total of 750 cars in Germany in October. That is half of the number sold last October, according to data from KBA, Germany’s federal transport authority. That data shows 434,627 new battery-electric vehicles were sold so far this year — a nearly 40% increase over last year’s number. Of those EVs, 15,595 were Tesla vehicles — a 50% decline.

If it were any other company reporting such dire news, it would be time to clean house in the C suite, but Robyn Denholm and her fellow Tesla board members just smile and say, “I got my money. Sucks to be you.”

MSNBC attributes some of the decline in Tesla sales to Musk’s incendiary political rhetoric and endorsement of AfD, Germany’s extremist, anti-immigrant party. Tesla also has to deal with a growing number of European and Chinese competitors, who are offering smaller and more affordable EVs than Tesla.

Recently, Tesla introduced a de-contented Model Y that sells for €39,900 — a price reduction of about €5,000 from the regular Model Y. Since that model just went into production, it is too early to tell what effect it will have on the company’s European sales, but many models available from other European and Chinese companies are now priced at €35,000 or less.

Tesla Taking It On The Chin In China

As bad as things are for Tesla in Europe, they are equally bad in China. Reuters reports that Tesla sales in China dropped to 26,006 vehicles in October — the lowest in three years. Sales fell 35.8% compared to the same month last year. In September, when the new six-passenger Model Y L first went on sale, the company recorded 71,525 sales. Tesla China does export many of the vehicles manufactured at the Shanghai factory and that remained a bright spot for the company. Its exports rose to a two-year high of 35,491 units last month.

According to data from the China Passenger Car Association released this week, Tesla’s market share in China was just 3.2% in October, which was down dramatically from 8.7% a year ago. The figure is the lowest for the company in more than three years. Bloomberg reports that Tesla is on pace for its second consecutive annual decline in vehicle sales, even as the Model Y and Model 3 remain the best selling electric cars in the US.

More Executives Bid Farewell To Tesla

Sales are down, but that may not be the big news for Tesla this week. Two more senior executives have exited the company, according to Bloomberg Hyperdrive. Siddhant Awasthi, who oversaw the development and ramp-up of the Cybertruck as program manager for three years, has left the company, according to a post on LinkedIn. He went to work for Tesla as an intern in 2017, and transferred over to the Model 3 program in July after Tesla essentially abandoned the Cybertruck misadventure. “This decision wasn’t easy, especially with so much exciting growth on the horizon,” Awasthi wrote.

Emmanuel Lamacchia, the program manager for the Model Y, also went on LinkedIn to announce his departure from Tesla after eight years. Neither specified what they plan to do next.

The departures of Awasthi and Lamacchia follow a string of executive exits at Tesla recently. David Lau, the vice president for software engineering, left the company to join OpenAI after working for Tesla for nearly 13 years. OpenAI is headed by Sam Altman, who was once a collaborator with Musk on artificial intelligence development before the two had a falling out. Now they appear to be arch enemies.

There are reports that AI companies are offering software engineers stupid money as they envision big profits coming their way in the near future, so perhaps OpenAI simply lured Lao away by making him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Milan Kovac, the head of engineering for the Optimus humanoid robot, also stepped down. His departure is curious, since Musk is promising Optimus will be a key component of the company’s business model in the years to come. Bloomberg also reported in June that Omead Afshar, a top executive at Tesla and longtime confidant of Elon Musk, had parted ways with the company.

With the news of sharply lower sales and more executives hitting the exits, it is no wonder that the price of Tesla shares is going up. The company’s market valuation has always been little more than a referendum on how brilliant people believe Elon Musk to be. So far, his support remains strong, but eventually reality has to set in. If making cars is still the primary business for Tesla, the company is clearly in trouble. But if poems, prayers, and promises are its primary products, it may continue spinning straw into gold for a while longer yet.