Tesla boss Elon Musk. NTB/REUTERS
The boss of the American car manufacturer presented his strategy to investors. He merely announced a target of 20 million vehicles produced per year by 2030. Without giving details.
What was to be Elon Musk’s third “master plan”, his roadmap for the future of Tesla, turned out to be laborious on the evening of Wednesday March 1. For three hours, about fifteen leaders of the car manufacturer followed one another on a stage set up in the Austin factory, in front of a turquoise blue metallic architecture. Elon Musk, whose speech seemed hesitant, was obviously not in his best shape during this day devoted to investors.
While we were waiting for festive announcements on the next models, the arrival of more affordable cars, the leaders of Tesla were satisfied with two objectives. The first: the production of 20 million vehicles per year by 2030. This should require an overall investment of 150 to 175 billion dollars. As a reminder, Tesla produced 1.9 million cars in 2022 at its four factories, two of which are located in the United States. Second objective, to produce 1 TWh (terawatt hours) per year thanks to its stationary energy storage facilities. This time, the investment is expected to reach $28 billion. Elon Musk has explained that his ultimate goal is to completely eliminate fossil fuels. “It’s not wishful thinking, it’s the result of calculations based on physics,” he insisted.
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A 50% cost reduction on the next vehicles
But investors remained unsatisfied with concrete measures. Questions about the supply of lithium needed to produce the millions of batteries that will equip electric vehicles have been swept away by the boss of Tesla: “Lithium is a common mineral. There is no monopoly in one country, did he declare. There is enough in the United States to supply the whole world”.
Several thematic sequences, rather intended for an audience of engineers, took place, presenting the progress made by Tesla in designing vehicles, producing them, reinventing the design of microprocessors, deploying its super-charger terminals around the world… And especially to reduce costs. Tesla executives have promised a further 50% cost cut on upcoming vehicles to make them more accessible. Without however providing details or revealing other products. Currently, Tesla’s cheapest car, the Model 3, still costs over $40,000 in the United States.
The opening of a factory in Mexico, already announced with fanfare by members of the Mexican government, almost fell by the wayside. Elon Musk caught up with oblivion by confirming the Mexican project just before questions from analysts. Decidedly, the whimsical boss had his head elsewhere.
Hardening of competition in the electric sector
The financial markets did not appreciate this service. Thursday, the action lost 1.4%. Some observers wonder about Elon Musk’s ability to lead Tesla in this complicated period when competition from Chinese automakers, but also from General Motors, Volkswagen or Stellantis is getting tougher. He is accused of having focused his attention on Twitter, which he took over at the end of October.
After a big slump in 2022, the title of the manufacturer is however up around 65% since the start of the year, boosted by the drop in prices of its cars to attract customers and new rules on grants from the US government.
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