DETROIT: Elon Musk will face a key challenge during Tesla’s investor day on March 1: Convincing investors that even though rivals are catching up, the electric vehicle pioneer can take another leap to widen its lead.
According to JEE News analysis of global and regional EV sales data provided by EV-volumes.com, Tesla Inc was the No. 1 EV maker worldwide in 2022, but China’s BYD and others narrowed the gap.
In fact, BYD passed Tesla in EV sales in the Asia-Pacific region last year, while Volkswagen Group has been the EV leader in Europe since 2020.
While Tesla chipped away at VW’s lead in Europe, the American carmaker surrendered in the Asia-Pacific as well as its home market as competition heated up.
The most significant challenges to Tesla are coming from a group of established automakers and Chinese EV manufacturers. Several US EV startups hoping to ride Tesla’s coattails are struggling, including luxury EV maker Lucid, whose shares fell 16 percent on Thursday after disappointing sales and financial results.
Over the next two years, rivals including General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai Motor and VW will introduce a range of new electric vehicles, ranging from sub-$30,000 Chevrolets to luxury sedans. and up to SUVs over $100,000.
On Wednesday, Mercedes used Silicon Valley as the backdrop for a lengthy presentation about how future Mercedes models will immerse owners in rich streams of entertainment and productivity content, the “HyperScreen.” will be delivered through which spans the dashboard and forms a rectangle. The screens in Teslas look weird. Executives also emphasized that only Mercedes has an advanced, Level 3 partially automated driving system approved for use in Germany, pending approval in California.
In China, Tesla has had to cut prices of its best-selling models under increasing pressure from domestic Chinese manufacturers including BYD, Geely Automobile’s Zeekr brand and Nio.
China’s EV makers could get another boost if Chinese battery maker CATL follows through on plans to heavily discount batteries used in its vehicles.
Holy grail
Musk has said he will use the March 1 event to outline his “Master Plan Part 3” for Tesla.
In the nearly seven years since Musk published his “master plan part deux” in July 2016, Tesla has overtaken established automakers and EV startups in key areas of electric vehicle design, digital features and manufacturing.
Tesla’s vehicles offered features, such as the ability to move into a parking space or make obnoxious noises, that other vehicles lacked.
Tesla’s then-novel vertically integrated battery and vehicle production machine helped it achieve higher profit margins than most established automakers — even as larger rivals lost money on their EVs.
Fast forward to today, and Tesla’s “Full Self Driving Beta” automated driving is still classified by the company and federal regulators as a “Level 2” driver assistance system that requires a human driver to take control at all times. Need to be prepared for. Such systems are common in industry.
Earlier this month Tesla was forced by federal regulators to revise its FSD software recall order.
Tesla has established a vast lead over its rivals in manufacturing technology — an area where it was struggling when Musk presented the final installment of his “master plan.”
Now, rivals are copying the company’s production technology, buying some of the same equipment Tesla uses. IDRA, the Italian company that makes the large presses for making the large one-piece castings that are part of the construction of Tesla vehicles, said it is now receiving orders from other automakers.
Musk has told investors that Tesla can maintain its lead in EV manufacturing costs. The company has promised investors that on March 1st they will “be able to see our state-of-the-art production line” in Austin, Texas.
“Manufacturing technology will be our most important long-term strength,” Musk told analysts in January. Asked if Tesla could make money with a vehicle that sells for $25,000 to $30,000 in the United States — the Holy Grail of the EV industry — Musk was upbeat.
“I would probably ask the same question,” he said. “But we’ll be gunning for future announcements.”
