Tesla Cyber Roundup: Musk Stays, Advertising Begins, Next-Gen Car and Roadster Updates

Tesla shows a glimpse of its next-gen vehicle

Tesla

It was a whirlwind of announcements at Tesla's Annual Shareholder Meeting held in Austin, Texas. The company announced significant updates about the company's future, including ambitious product plans, leadership changes, and bold strategies to address human rights issues in the supply chain. Musk's engagement with shareholders and his unexpected revelations left the audience more enthusiastic than ever about what lies ahead for the electric vehicle giant.

Musk to Continue as Tesla CEO

In his typically candid style, Elon Musk began the meeting by expressing his appreciation for the Tesla community, stating, "I just want to say I love you guys." This sentiment set the tone for the event, highlighting the close-knit relationship between Tesla and its shareholders.

Many investors breathed a sigh of relief as Musk announced he will not be stepping down as CEO of the company, squashing circulating rumors. Asserting the importance of Tesla's role in AI and AGI, Musk emphasized his necessity in overseeing the operations. Tesla co-founder JB Straubel was officially elected to the company's board of directors, alongside the re-election of Musk for another three-year term.

Tesla Dabbles in Traditional Advertising

In a surprising turn, Musk disclosed plans to venture into traditional media advertising — a departure from the company's typical non-traditional marketing approach. He acknowledged the importance of reaching potential customers outside of the company's devoted fan base. The crowd's overwhelming excitement caught Musk off guard, leading him to promise to evaluate the effectiveness of this new strategy.

Updates on Cybertruck and Tesla Roadster

In addition, Musk revealed that Tesla is targeting to deliver its first Cybertrucks within the year, with plans to deliver between 250,000 to 500,000 Cybertrucks annually. The return of the much-anticipated Roadster is slated for 2024. Musk gave insights into the challenges and breakthroughs in Cybertruck production, focusing particularly on the vehicle’s unique stainless-steel exoskeleton.

Despite rumors suggesting otherwise, Tesla successfully navigated the challenges, sticking to its original design intent and developing new manufacturing techniques for an exoskeleton-based vehicle. Further, the Cybertruck will be equipped with multiple attachment points to support third-party accessories.

Teaser of the Next-Gen Tesla Cars

In the meeting, Musk also teased two new electric vehicle models being designed by the company. One of these next-generation EVs appears to be a compact hatchback with a silhouette resembling the Model Y. No further details were given on the second vehicle. Still, Musk suggested that the combined production of both vehicles would exceed 5 million units per year.

Watch the Cyber Roundup Event

Watch Tesla's Cyber Roundup event in its entirety below. The Q&A session, one of the most interesting parts of the event, begins at the 1-hour 4-minute mark of the video below.

Update on the Next-Gen Tesla Roadster

Despite the excitement surrounding the next-generation Tesla Roadster, its production has been pushed back to 2024. While it will not be a significant contributor to revenue, Musk assured that its unique SpaceX thruster package will make it a "modest contributor to profitability."

Tesla Responds to Human Rights Concerns with Third-Party Audit

Tesla, facing increasing scrutiny over human rights abuses linked to its supply chains, has committed to a third-party audit. The concerns arise from the company's sourcing of cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo, known for pervasive child labor, and potential ties to forced labor in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Amidst these allegations and ongoing lawsuits, Tesla's decision to hold a third-party audit marks a critical move toward addressing these issues. 

Market Outlook Amid Economic Uncertainties

While Tesla has always been a forerunner in the electric vehicle market, Musk acknowledged that the company is not immune to the potential economic pressures that lie ahead. During the shareholder meeting, he cautioned about a potentially tough period for the economy and the consequent impact on consumer discretionary spending. Yet, he urged investors to remain resilient.

Musk offered some advice, saying, "Don't look at the markets for the next 12 months. If there's a dip, buy the dip." Despite acknowledging these challenges, he expressed confidence that Tesla will emerge stronger in the face of adversity, reinforcing the company's long-term investment appeal.

The Tesla annual shareholder meeting was packed with exciting revelations and announcements, from the CEO's continued leadership to the unveiling of future product plans. The surprises continued with the company's venture into traditional advertising and the commitment to cobalt auditing. As the meeting concluded, one thing was clear: Tesla continues to disrupt the industry with its forward-thinking strategies and unwavering dedication to innovation.

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Musk Teases New Model for Early 2025 That Will Use a Mix of Next-Gen and Current Platforms

“We have updated our future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025”. This was one of the key sentences that were part of Tesla’s deck shared on Tuesday directly before its financial results.

Since Reuters’ report a few weeks ago saying Tesla had “scrapped” the highly expected cheaper model— which Elon quickly denied on X —retail and institutional shareholders started asking for more details on Tesla’s product roadmap for 2024 and beyond.

In the earnings conference call, Elon Musk reiterated that Tesla expects to launch the next model in “early 2025, if not late this year”.

“We've updated our future vehicle lineup to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of previously mentioned start of production in the second half of 2025. So, we expect it to be more like the early 2025, if not late this year. “

Over concerns of temporary production halts to update the factories for these new models, Musk said that Tesla will produce new models with certain aspects from their next-generation platform and current models. This will reduce the number of changes needed on production lines and allow Tesla not only to ramp up production faster but also to get the vehicles to market quicker.

Model Y Redesign

Tesla appears to hit that their next-gen vehicle will be less “next-gen” than they were initially aiming for, but to get a new vehicle out the door by late 2024, the process would already have to be in motion. Tesla may likely be referring to the redesigned Model Y, which is expected to reuse many parts from the new Model 3. Earlier this year, Tesla said that the redesigned Model Y will not be released this year, so it makes sense that they’re looking to speed up that production.

Tesla CEO concluded by saying that these measures will allow Tesla to reach a capacity of over 3 million units. Tesla produced 1.84 million vehicles in 2023. However, this year they’re ramping up Cybertruck production and introduced the new Model 3 into new markets.

And we think this should allow us to get to over 3 million vehicles of capacity when realized to the full extent.

Tesla reported on Tuesday its earnings results followed by a conference call where it teased its upcoming Robotaxi and its next-generation platform saying its “purpose-built Robotaxi product will continue to pursue a revolutionary ‘unboxed’ manufacturing strategy”.

Earlier in the day, Tesla announced the new Performance variant of its sedan Model 3 with deliveries in the United States starting already next month. The new version starts at $45,490 (after applying the $7,500 Federal EV tax credit) and goes from 0 to 60mph in 2.9 seconds.

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Tesla on FSD: Close to License Deal With Major Automaker, Announces Miles Driven on FSD v12

On Tuesday Tesla reported its earnings results followed by a conference call that brought several updates on the company’s roadmap for future vehicles, autonomous driving, Optimus and much more.

While answering a question from Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney about updates on the licensing of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, Elon Musk said they’re talking to one major auto manufacturer and there’s “a good chance” the company signs the first deal before year-end. However, he went on to say that it would probably be three years before the necessary changes are integrated into the car.

I think we have a good chance we do sign a deal this year

Brings Benefits to Tesla

The technology would require other automakers to start using the same cameras and hardware as Tesla, meaning that Tesla may not only generate money from licensing FSD but also from selling the hardware itself. However, there would be other benefits as well. When licensing FSD, Tesla would likely own the data gathered with the system well, further helping them with data and edge cases that need to be solved to reach full autonomy.

people don't understand all cars will need to be smart cars… Once that becomes obvious, I think licensing becomes not optional.

Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja commented pointing out that future partners “take a lot of time in their product life cycle” resulting in a gap between the deal signing and the arrival in the market of Tesla’s FSD software.

Miles Driven With FSD

On the conference call, Musk added that Tesla now has over 300 million miles that have been driven with FSD v12 since it was launched just last month. He added that it's becoming “very clear that the vision-based approach with end-to-end neural networks is the right solution for scalable autonomy”.

Tesla said it will continue to increase its “core AI infrastructure capacity in the coming months” adding that in the first quarter, it completed the transition to hardware 4.0 with China now receiving the upgraded FSD computer and cameras.

Over the weekend, Tesla reduced the price of FSD dropping it from $12,000 to $8,000 for customers in the United States and from CA$16,000 to CA$11,000 in Canada.

Earlier this month, Tesla implemented a 50% price reduction for FSD subscriptions in the U.S. and introduced the subscription model in Canada at a great value of CA$99 per month.

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