During the presentation of the financial results for the third quarter of 2023, only one word seemed to come out of the mouth of Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla: “interest rate”. The businessman was very pessimistic about the global economic situation which could harm the electric car. Explanations.
Tesla’s financial results are still eagerly awaited, both by shareholders and observers. Just a few months ago, Tesla announced insolent growth of around 50%.. But, this is ancient history, at least since 2022, as recalled Bloomberg. At issue: the multiple global crises that have occurred since. And 2023 should not escape this new rule of moderate growth.
If there was talk of 2 million electric cars being produced in 2023 a few months ago, the figure should ultimately be around 1.8 million. Which in itself remains a record. And this should allow the American manufacturer to maintain its position as industry leader, ahead of BYD and far ahead of the Volkswagen group. But growth is stalling and Elon Musk explains it to us using rather pessimistic sentences.
Elon Musk points finger at interest rates
Tesla boss criticizes interest rates: “they must go down. If interest rates continue to rise, you simply reduce affordability» electric cars and investments. To make matters worse, Elon Musk adds “I’m not saying things will go wrong, I’m just saying they could go wrong.“. What is the businessman referring to?
We don’t know exactly, and we hope that he doesn’t half-heartedly mention the bankruptcy of Tesla, which seems quite far away all the same. The American boss still announced, during this same conference, that the Cybertruck has “dug your own grave» by Tesla. The reason: complicated production which would prevent a return on investment for many months.
On the factory side, interest rates (them again!) seem to have significantly slowed down the installation of a new electric car factory in Mexico. However, it is she who should, according to rumors, bring out the future (but hypothetical) affordable Tesla Model 2. Elon Musk, however, announces that Tesla is not moving full speed ahead on this project because of the state of the global economy.
Other manufacturers are not spared
To make matters worse, there is no not just Tesla which is in a bad position. This is also the case for certain Chinese manufacturers (we think in particular of Aiways or WM Motor), but also European (Volkswagen is not in top form), as well as in the United States. There, General Motor and Ford have reduced production of certain electric pickup models.
Finally, macroeconomic problems are felt even more in the field of electric cars which require numerous investments (construction of car and battery factories). But these problems exist in all sectors of society, and also for thermal cars. It is perhaps less felt in this last sector since manufacturers can continue to surf on models that are already profitable. But not forever.
Fortunately, a breath of fresh air is coming to the electric car from Europe. We can cite, for 2024, the future Citroën ë-C3 at less than 20,000 euros, but also the electric Renault R5 at 25,000 euros. For 2025, Volkswagen is preparing the ID.2 which could well revolutionize the compact electric car segment.