1
00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,760
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

2
00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:10,240
Speaker 2: All right, Well, shares of Tesla are higher in the

3
00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:14,000
Speaker 2: after hours right now as investors continue to digest those

4
00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:17,720
Speaker 2: first quarter earnings numbers. Global vehicle inventory rose to twenty

5
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,080
Speaker 2: eight days. It's a huge jump from the fifteen days

6
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:22,640
Speaker 2: at the end of last quarter. Shares high right now

7
00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,720
Speaker 2: by just about five percent. First quarter revenue coming in

8
00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,120
Speaker 2: at twenty one point three billion dollars that was below

9
00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,080
Speaker 2: estimates of twenty two point three billion dollars. Also a

10
00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,840
Speaker 2: missed when it comes to EPs adjusted EPs, I should

11
00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,720
Speaker 2: say that coming in at forty five cents versus estimates

12
00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:39,479
Speaker 2: of fifty two.

13
00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,440
Speaker 3: Cents, shares a teslap about five and a half percent

14
00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,120
Speaker 3: in the aftermarket, but also Tesla to accelerate the launch

15
00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:46,480
Speaker 3: of more affordable models at getting a red sticky by

16
00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:48,559
Speaker 3: our team here at Bloomberg. All right, so let's get

17
00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:50,879
Speaker 3: to it with us, Ross Gerber, president and CEO at

18
00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,800
Speaker 3: Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, and also Bloomberg BusinessWeek

19
00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,960
Speaker 3: columnist Max Chafkin. Ross out there in Santa Monica, California.

20
00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,120
Speaker 3: Max here in our Bloomberg Interactive Brokeer studio getting ready

21
00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:03,360
Speaker 3: for another round of Tesla bingo.

22
00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:04,880
Speaker 1: We'll get it do in just a moment.

23
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,680
Speaker 3: Ross investors like it. What do you make of this

24
00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,720
Speaker 3: report looking backwards looking forwards?

25
00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,520
Speaker 4: Well, I think the good part of the report, because

26
00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:16,600
Speaker 4: this is really the only good part of the report,

27
00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,360
Speaker 4: is them saying that they're going to accelerate the production

28
00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,640
Speaker 4: of this next gen vehicle platform. And they were pretty

29
00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,120
Speaker 4: vague about what they're calling this or you know what

30
00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,240
Speaker 4: robo taxi is or is a model to coming, And

31
00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,160
Speaker 4: I think that'll be clarified on the conference call. So

32
00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:33,639
Speaker 4: you know, once again, we don't really watch after hours

33
00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,920
Speaker 4: trading because he really doesn't represent all the participants and so,

34
00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,200
Speaker 4: and we haven't seen the conference call yet, so we'll

35
00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:41,040
Speaker 4: see how this stock trades over the next several months.

36
00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,000
Speaker 4: But but there really isn't any other good news in

37
00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,480
Speaker 4: that report other than them saying they're going to accelerate

38
00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:49,480
Speaker 4: production even though they just fired all the people that

39
00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:51,200
Speaker 4: are in charge of accelerating production.

40
00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,120
Speaker 2: Hey, Ross, remind everybody take a step back here, because

41
00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,480
Speaker 2: Carol and I were looking at the terminal a little earlier.

42
00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,480
Speaker 2: You've you know, you are a longtime Tesla bull until

43
00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:02,560
Speaker 2: you weren't, and you were a longtime believer and have

44
00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,520
Speaker 2: been a longtime believer in the company. You guys still

45
00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,240
Speaker 2: own a substantial number of shares over at gerber Kawasaki,

46
00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,360
Speaker 2: But what is your position right now in Tesla moving forward?

47
00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,960
Speaker 4: So my position is that Tesla is a wonderful company

48
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,680
Speaker 4: that has enormous potential with the CEO who has become

49
00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,160
Speaker 4: so divisive that people won't buy the cars. And that's

50
00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:24,880
Speaker 4: why saying is just going to produce more cars doesn't

51
00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,920
Speaker 4: address the real issue is why they're not selling cars today,

52
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:30,560
Speaker 4: and that's the issue that needs to be addressed that

53
00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,800
Speaker 4: isn't being addressed. So as a shareholder, we have to

54
00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:36,960
Speaker 4: assess what the future earnings potential of a company is

55
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,200
Speaker 4: based off what their business model is. And when we

56
00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:42,919
Speaker 4: start investing in Tesla over ten years ago, and we've

57
00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:46,000
Speaker 4: had a great run up until the purchase of Twitter,

58
00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:49,040
Speaker 4: and so we've been lowering our position because what we

59
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,080
Speaker 4: feel is that Elon's behavior has hurt the brand in

60
00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,440
Speaker 4: such a way that consumers actually don't want to buy

61
00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,520
Speaker 4: a Tesla. It's just the best car on the road

62
00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,880
Speaker 4: at the best price, so people buy the car reluctantly

63
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,760
Speaker 4: at this point, So I think, you know, we've got

64
00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,000
Speaker 4: these problems to solve, and I'm not sure if that

65
00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,360
Speaker 4: will be addressed on the conference call today. And that's

66
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,640
Speaker 4: you know, And I don't like being called a Tesla

67
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:12,840
Speaker 4: bear because I actually think they could turn the company

68
00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,160
Speaker 4: around pretty quickly if Elon changed his behavior and stopped

69
00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:17,240
Speaker 4: attacking everybody.

70
00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:19,240
Speaker 1: But I just don't think that's going to happen.

71
00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,640
Speaker 4: And so so I think the bigger issue that isn't

72
00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,600
Speaker 4: being addressed is doesn't matter how many cars Tesla makes

73
00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:26,960
Speaker 4: if nobody will buy them.

74
00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,080
Speaker 3: All Right, So Max chaff can come on and you

75
00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:30,320
Speaker 3: guys do the Elon Inc.

76
00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:31,160
Speaker 1: Podcast.

77
00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,080
Speaker 3: You're constantly looking at what he says, what he does.

78
00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:36,760
Speaker 3: You're looking at his kind of his assets, his portfolio,

79
00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,240
Speaker 3: your initial thoughts on kind of the headlines we got.

80
00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,280
Speaker 5: Yeah, just to kind of underlo Ross is saying something

81
00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:44,840
Speaker 5: like this, but like the note about the new products

82
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,680
Speaker 5: is very vague. It doesn't say we're going to have

83
00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:49,720
Speaker 5: a model too, and it's going to come out on

84
00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,200
Speaker 5: this state, which is what investors, many investors have been

85
00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,120
Speaker 5: hoping for. It says it sounds like it's saying, I'm

86
00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,520
Speaker 5: reading it correctly, They're going to try to essentially make

87
00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,640
Speaker 5: the current models more affordable. Now that obviously could allow

88
00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:04,640
Speaker 5: them to sell more cars, but it's a slightly different

89
00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:08,480
Speaker 5: spin on things than what many people have been inspecting.

90
00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,200
Speaker 5: The other thing is, as Ross is saying, you know,

91
00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:15,040
Speaker 5: on a Tesla Earning's day, what Elon says, and more importantly,

92
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,720
Speaker 5: how he says it is just as important as as

93
00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,360
Speaker 5: what's in these numbers, because he is going to hopefully

94
00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,359
Speaker 5: anyway clarify some of this. We also hopefully get a

95
00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,159
Speaker 5: sense of like where things stand with robotaxi, where things

96
00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:32,560
Speaker 5: stand with potential affordable cars, and investors seemed to react

97
00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,440
Speaker 5: to based on his optimism, you know, a couple quarters

98
00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:37,359
Speaker 5: ago when he was in this kind of dower mood,

99
00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,560
Speaker 5: we saw the stock go down. So it's like, do

100
00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:43,920
Speaker 5: we get an optimistic version of Elon or the kind

101
00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:46,279
Speaker 5: of very dour, pessimistic Elon.

102
00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:48,800
Speaker 3: Well, I wonder if you have a question for Ross Max.

103
00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,080
Speaker 5: Yeah, Ross, what is your reading on this on this product,

104
00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:54,440
Speaker 5: on this paragraph about the product?

105
00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:57,880
Speaker 1: Well, I think you're dead right about the two things

106
00:04:57,880 --> 00:04:58,360
Speaker 1: you just said.

107
00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,919
Speaker 4: Number one, they're of course vague because of the legality

108
00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:03,640
Speaker 4: of it. If they put this down and they don't

109
00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:05,960
Speaker 4: do it right, and since nobody seems to know what

110
00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,080
Speaker 4: Elon's going to do, and I'm sure that everybody understands

111
00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:12,120
Speaker 4: that nobody within Tesla knows what the business plan is

112
00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,200
Speaker 4: either because they just don't at this point.

113
00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:16,480
Speaker 1: But I think secondly, a.

114
00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,840
Speaker 4: Lot of it will be how does Elon answer these

115
00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,599
Speaker 4: questions from investors during the conference call?

116
00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:22,920
Speaker 1: And what you said is right.

117
00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:25,640
Speaker 4: If we have sort of a very positive Elon and

118
00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,440
Speaker 4: he's refocused and he's going to be working at Tesla

119
00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,240
Speaker 4: more and you know, he can play the room right,

120
00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:34,719
Speaker 4: maybe we get a little rally on the stock, but

121
00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,800
Speaker 4: it doesn't change the fundamentals. If he doesn't play the

122
00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:42,120
Speaker 4: room right, this becomes a bloodbath. So you know, I'm

123
00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,960
Speaker 4: just hoping that he understands the damage that he's done

124
00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,000
Speaker 4: and starts to mitigate this versus diving in and sort

125
00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:49,720
Speaker 4: of doubling down.

126
00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,160
Speaker 5: It will be interesting to see if Twitter comes up

127
00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:55,279
Speaker 5: or sorry X comes up, you know, because there is

128
00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,320
Speaker 5: this question in this sense that he's spent gee Whiz

129
00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,520
Speaker 5: a lot of time talking about X, tweeting about X,

130
00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,479
Speaker 5: doing X related things. There's even a potential or they're

131
00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,680
Speaker 5: going to have a Grock integration inside of the Tesla's

132
00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,320
Speaker 5: and I think that to people who are really bought

133
00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:12,960
Speaker 5: into the ev story rather than the you know, Elon

134
00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,440
Speaker 5: Musk genius story, which those are two important constituencies here.

135
00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,120
Speaker 5: I think for Tesla stock, you know, they would like

136
00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,880
Speaker 5: to see him spend less time on his social media network.

137
00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,359
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it's not just less time, it's what he's saying,

138
00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,719
Speaker 4: you know, It's like it's not the time, it's that

139
00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:34,360
Speaker 4: what he's saying oftentimes is super divisive and basically racist.

140
00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,520
Speaker 4: So it's like, it's really hard to sell products to

141
00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,760
Speaker 4: people when the CEO says things that are really hurtful

142
00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:42,160
Speaker 4: to people, including me.

143
00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:42,839
Speaker 1: For that matter.

144
00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,960
Speaker 3: Now, and we've talked with you about that absolutely ross.

145
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,400
Speaker 3: What could Elon say on the call, or Elon and

146
00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:55,520
Speaker 3: company say on the call that would make you more

147
00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,240
Speaker 3: excited about the company or once again say you know

148
00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,239
Speaker 3: kind of oh Elon really well.

149
00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:02,960
Speaker 4: If I had my dream come true, he'd say I'm

150
00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,159
Speaker 4: coming back to work at Tesla, because he basically doesn't

151
00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,440
Speaker 4: work at Tesla, and he would say, I'm done tweeting

152
00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,080
Speaker 4: all this garbage and politics. I'm going to really focus

153
00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,800
Speaker 4: on advancing sustainable transportation and energy, and that we're going

154
00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:19,920
Speaker 4: to release this lower priced car and the strategy that

155
00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,720
Speaker 4: we all bought into three years ago, you know, and

156
00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:25,360
Speaker 4: the stock was at all time highs and earnings were

157
00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,400
Speaker 4: going up, you know, fifty hundred percent a year.

158
00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:29,720
Speaker 1: You know, it was like it was like a different

159
00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:30,559
Speaker 1: world than today.

160
00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,560
Speaker 4: And it's amazing to me he doesn't understand this difference,

161
00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,680
Speaker 4: that that really is his responsibility. And so as a shareholder,

162
00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,840
Speaker 4: I have to say it's an extremely distressing time because

163
00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:44,760
Speaker 4: the valuation of Tesla is premised off all these great

164
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,560
Speaker 4: technological innovations, none of which have come to fruition yet.

165
00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,400
Speaker 4: So his focus is one hundred percent what needs to

166
00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:52,280
Speaker 4: be happening right now.

167
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:54,560
Speaker 2: Hey, Ross, I do want to just end with with

168
00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,160
Speaker 2: one last question about the cost of producing these vehicles.

169
00:07:57,240 --> 00:07:59,320
Speaker 2: It seems like Tesla is doing everything I can to

170
00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:01,800
Speaker 2: bring down the cost of producing these cars, the cost

171
00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 2: of goods sold to Are they what numbers do you

172
00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:06,240
Speaker 2: want to see there?

173
00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,080
Speaker 4: Well, they are, but their margins continue to go lower.

174
00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:11,560
Speaker 4: If you look at the report, which I've only had

175
00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:13,880
Speaker 4: a minute to look at, you know, their vehicle margins

176
00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,840
Speaker 4: continue to go lower. They're operating margins go lower. Their

177
00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,000
Speaker 4: net margins go lower, so they're able to lower the

178
00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:21,720
Speaker 4: price of the car. But what they're not able to

179
00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,120
Speaker 4: do is keep that going as fast as they're they're

180
00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:28,720
Speaker 4: lowering the price of the vehicles, so it's still hurting

181
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:30,560
Speaker 4: them even though they're lowering the cost of the car,

182
00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,400
Speaker 4: and it doesn't bring in a bigger market.

183
00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,000
Speaker 1: But you're not creating any demand. And this is I

184
00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,640
Speaker 1: have said it a hundred times. Every company in America

185
00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:40,920
Speaker 1: advertises for a reason.

186
00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,959
Speaker 4: People need to know why your products are superior. And

187
00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:46,880
Speaker 4: all the Tesla people have bought in Teslas, you know,

188
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,560
Speaker 4: so all these YouTubers can tweet all they want, but

189
00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:51,760
Speaker 4: everybody wanted to Tesla bought a Tesla. So you've got

190
00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,240
Speaker 4: to get new customers. And the new customers are being

191
00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,120
Speaker 4: told that charging sucks and evs are bad and this

192
00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,480
Speaker 4: and that and that, and Donald Trump says they're bad

193
00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:02,200
Speaker 4: and this is all they see all day. And then

194
00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:04,280
Speaker 4: it's like, why would they go buy a Tesla because

195
00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,079
Speaker 4: there's not one ad anywhere that tells you how great

196
00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:07,679
Speaker 4: the cars are?

197
00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:08,480
Speaker 1: Because they are.

198
00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:11,360
Speaker 3: Great, right and you still own them right real quickly?

199
00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:13,200
Speaker 1: Yes or no, yeah I do.

200
00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:15,559
Speaker 4: I just don't understand why they don't tell people how

201
00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:16,560
Speaker 4: great their vehicles are.

202
00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:19,880
Speaker 3: All right, Ross Gerbert, so appreciated. We know you've got

203
00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:21,679
Speaker 3: to I think run over to our TV guys. President

204
00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:25,559
Speaker 3: CEO Gerba Kawasaki, so appreciate you joining us. Max Chafkin

205
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:27,640
Speaker 3: is staying with us a Bloomberg BusinessWeek and we want

206
00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:28,600
Speaker 3: to roll into the conversation.

207
00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,640
Speaker 2: Ed Ludlow, Yeah, he's co host of Bloomberg Technology on

208
00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:33,840
Speaker 2: Bloomberg TV. He joins us from the San Francisco Beer.

209
00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:35,319
Speaker 2: I do want to note care all the Tesla first

210
00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,800
Speaker 2: quarter automotive gross margin excluding regulatory credits is at sixteen

211
00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:40,960
Speaker 2: point four percent yea for the quarter.

212
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:42,719
Speaker 3: Stack up six point three percent in the aftermarket.

213
00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:44,600
Speaker 2: Hey, I'd come on in here and explain why you

214
00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:46,679
Speaker 2: think the stock is moving higher given that a lot

215
00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:48,199
Speaker 2: of these numbers came in below estimates.

216
00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:51,520
Speaker 6: Yeah. I think that the print and the numbers in

217
00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:53,760
Speaker 6: after has have nothing to do with the quarter gone.

218
00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:58,600
Speaker 6: Everyone's looked past it. Frankly, what the shareholder deck outlines

219
00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,080
Speaker 6: is almost line line exactly what Danna and I outlined

220
00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:04,600
Speaker 6: in the Big Take on Sunday, which is on the

221
00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,600
Speaker 6: affordable ev A big body of work had already been

222
00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:11,880
Speaker 6: done at the component and production process level, and Tesla

223
00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,960
Speaker 6: is moving forward with a more affordable lineup of evs

224
00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,320
Speaker 6: based on that technology. It was really misunderstood. It's like

225
00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:21,000
Speaker 6: the world was banking on the Honda Civic of evs

226
00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:23,320
Speaker 6: and Tesla to be the one to bring it. But

227
00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:25,400
Speaker 6: my understanding from sources that was never the case. And

228
00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:28,000
Speaker 6: if you read the shareholder deck, they spell it out

229
00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,000
Speaker 6: pretty clearly. They've looked at this kind of more holistically

230
00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,760
Speaker 6: and there will be more affordable evs coming late twenty

231
00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:38,440
Speaker 6: twenty five. Caution caveat Muskers often miss his own deadlines.

232
00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:38,760
Speaker 4: You know that.

233
00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:40,319
Speaker 6: I always say that, but it's like.

234
00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:41,400
Speaker 5: A something for everyone.

235
00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,760
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know that, And that was me protecting myself

236
00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:47,720
Speaker 6: from all the people who may go after me on

237
00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:51,760
Speaker 6: social media. But explicitly it states that they are working

238
00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:55,280
Speaker 6: on a purpose built ROBOTAXI. And so we went into

239
00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,240
Speaker 6: this saying, if you're a Wall Street institutional giant who

240
00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:00,680
Speaker 6: really wanted to see an affordable EV, or you're the

241
00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,600
Speaker 6: technology investor or the retail investor that's kind of all

242
00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:07,040
Speaker 6: in on the Tesla thesis around autonomy, you've got that

243
00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:09,640
Speaker 6: as well, And really I think the market adjoining in

244
00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:11,960
Speaker 6: hands to play that in after hours.

245
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,360
Speaker 5: You know, the question is like what is an affordable

246
00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:18,719
Speaker 5: EV And I think one of the things one of

247
00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:21,200
Speaker 5: the ways that Elon Musk could clarify is to is

248
00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:23,520
Speaker 5: to sort of say that, you know, he over the

249
00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:28,040
Speaker 5: weekend amid all this speculation, he tweeted a screenshot showing

250
00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:32,559
Speaker 5: the model. Why priced at twenty nine thousand dollars sounds prettyffordable.

251
00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:36,400
Speaker 5: Course that includes tax credit, which you know not everybody gets,

252
00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:40,040
Speaker 5: and a and like a five thousand dollars sort of

253
00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:41,520
Speaker 5: assumption of gas savings.

254
00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:43,439
Speaker 4: So so like you could.

255
00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,160
Speaker 5: Imagine a situation where he tries to argue, like, look,

256
00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:48,800
Speaker 5: we're going to cut a bunch of costs out of

257
00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,040
Speaker 5: this thing, and we're going to make it affordable as is,

258
00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:54,200
Speaker 5: like we don't need an additional model, which is a

259
00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:58,720
Speaker 5: really intriguing proposal. That is a huge, you know, pretty

260
00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:02,360
Speaker 5: big departure from how the car industry normally does things,

261
00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:04,800
Speaker 5: and in certain ways I get is saying maybe not

262
00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:07,080
Speaker 5: that surprising, right, that's kind of you know, Elon Musk

263
00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:10,520
Speaker 5: has long model this company after Apple. You know, Apple

264
00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:13,480
Speaker 5: sells a very you know, modest product line all the

265
00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:15,600
Speaker 5: products kind of look the same. They're all kind of expensive.

266
00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,280
Speaker 5: You know, you could sort of imagine his effort to

267
00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:20,360
Speaker 5: do this, and and you know, who knows if it's

268
00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:23,360
Speaker 5: going to work, but it definitely is outside of what

269
00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,199
Speaker 5: you know, a normal sort of car company, nor normal

270
00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:28,880
Speaker 5: car company analyst would expect to see, would want to see.

271
00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,120
Speaker 3: You know, guys, I'm looking at a live blog Craik

272
00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:35,079
Speaker 3: Kanter weighing in our BNF Electric Vehicle analysts and saying,

273
00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,840
Speaker 3: you know where he talks about these new models and

274
00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,680
Speaker 3: talks about I don't know, new models ahead of our

275
00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:44,800
Speaker 3: previously communicated startup production the second half of twenty twenty five,

276
00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:48,640
Speaker 3: accelerating that launch, he he writes by including these statements

277
00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:50,760
Speaker 3: in the investor decka shows Tesla has identified that a

278
00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,079
Speaker 3: lack of new models is a problem. But are there

279
00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,520
Speaker 3: actually actions being taken or just a continued lack of clarity?

280
00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:58,800
Speaker 3: And I guess you know, I'm going to go back

281
00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:00,920
Speaker 3: to you Max for a second, like, right, we want

282
00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,000
Speaker 3: a little bit more specifics, right, And what this means?

283
00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:07,520
Speaker 5: Yeah, again, it almost it does have the feel of

284
00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,760
Speaker 5: a deck that's being written for maximum optionality, and and

285
00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:13,480
Speaker 5: you know this is all happening.

286
00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:14,720
Speaker 1: Very very quickly.

287
00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,400
Speaker 5: You know, we saw we've seen Elon Musk get re engaged.

288
00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,360
Speaker 5: It appears in any case, you know, connected this layoff

289
00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:24,000
Speaker 5: in a way that has seemed, at least according to

290
00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,079
Speaker 5: you know, the reports that Bloomberg is published that Ed

291
00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:30,120
Speaker 5: has has written very hasty, and so you do wonder

292
00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:32,800
Speaker 5: like maybe they are trying to figure this out as

293
00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:35,440
Speaker 5: we speak, and and and who knows if we're definitely

294
00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,040
Speaker 5: going to get that level of clarity on the call

295
00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,960
Speaker 5: from Elon Musk, although given Elon Musk like he cannot

296
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,320
Speaker 5: help himself but sort of say controversial things. You know,

297
00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:47,400
Speaker 5: he's got that sort of trump characteristic of being sort

298
00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:51,440
Speaker 5: of really really honest. Sometimes to a fault, he may

299
00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:53,480
Speaker 5: you know, spout something off that could send the stock

300
00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:55,000
Speaker 5: in any number of directions.

301
00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:57,400
Speaker 2: And to that point, you know, what's like, what's what

302
00:13:57,440 --> 00:13:59,360
Speaker 2: are you looking for on the call at if you're

303
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:00,760
Speaker 2: when you're tuning.

304
00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:03,440
Speaker 6: In the car. So I don't want to be inconsistent,

305
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:05,319
Speaker 6: you know, I posted in the blog before we kick

306
00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:09,400
Speaker 6: things off, clarity, but actually to be fair, I think

307
00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,160
Speaker 6: that Tesla has given us one single line of clarity.

308
00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,640
Speaker 6: So I'm just going to read it. This update may

309
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:19,000
Speaker 6: resolve in a result in achieving less cost reductions than

310
00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,880
Speaker 6: previously expected. So Carol read out the section in which

311
00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:26,520
Speaker 6: they outline the explanation. There will be multiple affordable models,

312
00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,280
Speaker 6: but I think that the market, and indeed, because Elon

313
00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:31,960
Speaker 6: Musk kind of guided us there was thinking this will

314
00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,360
Speaker 6: be a brand new model, maybe it will be called

315
00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:38,600
Speaker 6: M two, Maybe it will specifically cost twenty five thousand

316
00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:41,280
Speaker 6: US dollars. I think in that single line of the

317
00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:45,040
Speaker 6: shareholder deck on page ten, they're saying it will be

318
00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,720
Speaker 6: less expensive than the average cost of a Y or three.

319
00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,840
Speaker 6: Now it will not be twenty five thousand dollars. And

320
00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,880
Speaker 6: so now we go to the big picture clarity. How

321
00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,280
Speaker 6: many of these things will you build? And what is

322
00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:00,800
Speaker 6: the strategy with that visa v ROBOTAXI because they all

323
00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,800
Speaker 6: occupy the same physical production space in Austin. Based on

324
00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:08,440
Speaker 6: our understanding, I also would think maybe the tone of

325
00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:11,920
Speaker 6: Elon Musk tim to answer your question, I thought he'd

326
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,360
Speaker 6: be a bit combative and frazzled. Yeah, now I just

327
00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:14,960
Speaker 6: don't know.

328
00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:22,080
Speaker 3: Wait wait for surprise, all right, ed, Lola, We're gonna

329
00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:23,520
Speaker 3: let you go because we know you've got a full

330
00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,560
Speaker 3: play to continue. But of course Bloomberg Technology co host

331
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,000
Speaker 3: ed Ludlow. But we got to talk about with Max

332
00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:33,080
Speaker 3: final minute here or so Elon Bingo right.

333
00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,840
Speaker 5: You know again, I've talked about this three months ago.

334
00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,320
Speaker 5: This is a thing that many Tesla watchers, bulls bears,

335
00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,840
Speaker 5: everybody in between, Elon Musk, super fans, Elon Musk's haters

336
00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:46,360
Speaker 5: tend to do, which is to kind of create a

337
00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:49,720
Speaker 5: Bingo card and look for some of his catchphrases. So

338
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,320
Speaker 5: we at the Elon Ing Podcast, we've got a new

339
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,320
Speaker 5: episode out right now and we have this Bingo card.

340
00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:58,520
Speaker 5: Just want to flag a few items. Horse that would

341
00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:02,280
Speaker 5: be one. Now, Elon Musk has said that anyone who's

342
00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,080
Speaker 5: driving a non autonomous card not a robotaxi, it'll be

343
00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,480
Speaker 5: like driving a horse compared to a car. So see

344
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:10,600
Speaker 5: if he tries that line on us a few others

345
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:16,120
Speaker 5: and to Grock uh uh and uh for reasonably optimistic.

346
00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,920
Speaker 5: He's often reasonably optimistic about lots of things. So so yeah,

347
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:21,560
Speaker 5: lots of fun to be had here and we'll see

348
00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:22,440
Speaker 5: if anyone gets bingo.

349
00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:24,040
Speaker 3: It's a fun card.

350
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:26,600
Speaker 2: Quefully we'll get you back in three months and also

351
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,480
Speaker 2: earlier than three months. I'll be sure to check out

352
00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:32,080
Speaker 2: the Elon Inc. Podcast wherever you get your podcast. That's

353
00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:35,160
Speaker 2: Max Chafkin, a columnist for Bloomberg Business Week,