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I will never understand why Elon decided to go all in on the Cybertruck. Did anyone, at any point, think this was a good idea besides himself?

by jc_811 3y ago

garbagewoman 3y ago
It was easier to make than a new roadster and gets just as much press
- Hamuko 3y ago
  Isn't the Roadster hard to make only because Elon keeps saying dumb things about it, like that it'll come with rocket boosters that maybe even allow it to fly[1]? [1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1005577738332172289 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1005577738332172289
  - bamboozled 3y ago
    Had to look for the April 1 date stamp there.
- bamboozled 3y ago
  I think cars are the exception to the rule: "there's no such thing as bad press".
AdamN 3y ago
Trucks are very high margin and he has a chance to take over a top selling segment in the US. If the gen2 version hits it's stride it could be a multi-billion dollar win that pays out over decades. I won't buy it for multiple reasons though: 1/ it's a truck, 2/ Elon Musk, 3/ build quality, 4/ UX.
Ekaros 3y ago
Did they actually go all in? Or did they just execute something shoddily thrown together? Not that it wasn't waste of time and resources...
TheAlchemist 3y ago
It's a very very stupid idea. But the idea itself is not really the problem here. If they did deliver the truck they announced, with the price they announced, I think it may sell well - only in the US, but still. The problem is, that they delivered a truck with 1/2 the range, 2x the price and that's very clearly not yet finished. I have this theory, that Tesla is going to need to raise a lot of capital very soon or it will go belly up, and hence Musk is trying every trick he has available to sell some kind of futuristic vision, so that investors turn a blind eye to their actual business.
- DennisP 3y ago
  From a glance at their financials, they have $29 billion in cash, $9.5 billion in debt, and positive cash flow of $4 billion annually. Why would they go belly up?
  - MissTake 3y ago
    Worldcom ($100bn assets at bankruptcy) have entered the chat, and are requesting someone to hold their beer…
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      Is there any evidence that Tesla is committing fraud in its financial statements? If not, what is the purpose of your comment?
      - MissTake 3y ago
        The point is that claiming that having billions of dollars in assets can be meaningless when there are other circumstances at play. Worldcom was great right up until it turned out it wasn’t. I’m not claiming that there’s any actual fraud going on at Tesla (although it’s been accused of many such things), but there wasn’t any at Worldcom either, until there was.
  - Spooky23 3y ago
    They are a growth company that has stopped growing. Hence the stock. So the underpaid staff will start bailing as layoffs continue and their stock compensation is worthless. Other than the cyber truck, which is stupid, the entire lineup is aging. The cars all look like the 2024 equivalent of 2004 Camrys. Nice cars, but the competition is much more robust than it had been. Market headwinds with rates is driving costs down. Elon lost his mojo here. He’s busy fucking around on Twitter and took eyes off ball.
wongarsu 3y ago
Elon came up with the Cybertruck when Tesla was deep in production problems. It's basically the result of Elon solving production problems at day, and dreaming of an easier to make car at night. That's why the bodywork looks like you could make it by just taking a big sheet of metal, put a couple of straight bends in it, weld like 4 seams and you're done. The rest of the car follows a similar design philosophy of making it stupid easy to manufacture and assemble, and leaving as much as possible to software. Turns out they didn't execute that idea very well. They should have probably spent a couple more months testing prototypes. Or maybe the design philosophy just doesn't make for very good cars, it's hard to tell.
- llamaimperative 3y ago
  It’s not hard to tell: it’s an absolutely atrocious idea with nearly zero public (ie market) appeal. The fact the execution is separately so awful is just icing on top.

I will never understand why Elon decided to go all in on the Cybertruck. Did anyone, at any point, think this was a good idea besides himself?

by jc_811 3y ago

I will never understand why Elon decided to go all in on the Cybertruck. Did anyone, at any point, think this was a good idea besides himself?

garbagewoman 3y ago

It was easier to make than a new roadster and gets just as much press

Hamuko 3y ago
Isn't the Roadster hard to make only because Elon keeps saying dumb things about it, like that it'll come with rocket boosters that maybe even allow it to fly[1]? [1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1005577738332172289 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1005577738332172289
- bamboozled 3y ago
  Had to look for the April 1 date stamp there.
bamboozled 3y ago
I think cars are the exception to the rule: "there's no such thing as bad press".

AdamN 3y ago

Trucks are very high margin and he has a chance to take over a top selling segment in the US. If the gen2 version hits it's stride it could be a multi-billion dollar win that pays out over decades. I won't buy it for multiple reasons though: 1/ it's a truck, 2/ Elon Musk, 3/ build quality, 4/ UX.

Ekaros 3y ago

Did they actually go all in? Or did they just execute something shoddily thrown together? Not that it wasn't waste of time and resources...

TheAlchemist 3y ago

It's a very very stupid idea. But the idea itself is not really the problem here. If they did deliver the truck they announced, with the price they announced, I think it may sell well - only in the US, but still. The problem is, that they delivered a truck with 1/2 the range, 2x the price and that's very clearly not yet finished. I have this theory, that Tesla is going to need to raise a lot of capital very soon or it will go belly up, and hence Musk is trying every trick he has available to sell some kind of futuristic vision, so that investors turn a blind eye to their actual business.

DennisP 3y ago
From a glance at their financials, they have $29 billion in cash, $9.5 billion in debt, and positive cash flow of $4 billion annually. Why would they go belly up?
- MissTake 3y ago
  Worldcom ($100bn assets at bankruptcy) have entered the chat, and are requesting someone to hold their beer…
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Is there any evidence that Tesla is committing fraud in its financial statements? If not, what is the purpose of your comment?
    - MissTake 3y ago
      The point is that claiming that having billions of dollars in assets can be meaningless when there are other circumstances at play. Worldcom was great right up until it turned out it wasn’t. I’m not claiming that there’s any actual fraud going on at Tesla (although it’s been accused of many such things), but there wasn’t any at Worldcom either, until there was.
- Spooky23 3y ago
  They are a growth company that has stopped growing. Hence the stock. So the underpaid staff will start bailing as layoffs continue and their stock compensation is worthless. Other than the cyber truck, which is stupid, the entire lineup is aging. The cars all look like the 2024 equivalent of 2004 Camrys. Nice cars, but the competition is much more robust than it had been. Market headwinds with rates is driving costs down. Elon lost his mojo here. He’s busy fucking around on Twitter and took eyes off ball.

wongarsu 3y ago

Elon came up with the Cybertruck when Tesla was deep in production problems. It's basically the result of Elon solving production problems at day, and dreaming of an easier to make car at night. That's why the bodywork looks like you could make it by just taking a big sheet of metal, put a couple of straight bends in it, weld like 4 seams and you're done. The rest of the car follows a similar design philosophy of making it stupid easy to manufacture and assemble, and leaving as much as possible to software. Turns out they didn't execute that idea very well. They should have probably spent a couple more months testing prototypes. Or maybe the design philosophy just doesn't make for very good cars, it's hard to tell.

llamaimperative 3y ago
It’s not hard to tell: it’s an absolutely atrocious idea with nearly zero public (ie market) appeal. The fact the execution is separately so awful is just icing on top.