Is Tesla losing control of their narrative?
Delaying, delaying and delaying production goals hurts credibility.
Constantly saying you're in production hell doesn't give confidence to the public about your ability to be execute.
Excuses don't matter after the first couple.
Now, even my landscaper tells me how much Tesla is struggling with production... and quality. Because to him if you struggle with production it means quality is poor.
Person in the parking lot looks at my Model 3 and says, "Is that a Model 3?" Yeah I answer. He says, "I hear they're having a lot of problems making those" with a very concerned look.
When you tell people you have a ton of problems making something and you give a lot of excuses and delays, this doesn't communicate competence. This is what a cargo bike company that my wife purchased a cargo bike from did before it went bankrupt and took my wife's money recently. I'm not saying Tesla is going bankrupt. No, I think they have a bright future. But, what am I saying is it appears Tesla is struggling with controlling the narrative around Model 3 production.
Sure, we can blame dishonest media, etc. But I'm not sure if that's the core problem.
I think Tesla could have and should be managing their narrative better.
Some suggestions:
1. Tesla should keep the weekly run rate stats for themselves internally and not use them for guidance. It's too vague and also imprecise to be used for guidance since weekly run rates can change and could be burst run rate to end the quarter.
2. Instead, Tesla should just say how many cars they will produce and deliver in the next quarter and make the guidance very conservative, so that they know they can beat their own guidance. And then on the next earnings call, they should give guidance for the next quarter in terms of production and deliveries. Since earnings calls are usually over a month into the quarter, Tesla should have some decent foresight by then.
3. Tesla should give guidance on how many Model 3s they will deliver in 2018, and they should make that guidance conservative.
4. Tesla needs to take control of the Model 3 production narrative and start communicating a lot of more optimism. Start talking about how well the production line is going. How well the cars are being received by new owners. Highlight mass shipments of cars going out. There should be a flood of good news going out. That's how you control the narrative. Tesla is already ramping production and has gone through the bulk of the ramp challenge, but the public doesn't know Tesla is close to a defining tipping point in their history by going profitable soon. Tesla needs to take ownership of this narrative and share it more. Tesla is relying too much on assuming people will give them the benefit of the doubt. In this modern world, it's more about what people constantly see and hear. And with Tesla not talking too much, they've given over power of the narrative to whoever chooses to write about it and whoever feels strongest about it... and at this point, it's a lot of bears and pundits. But if Tesla was to take control of the narrative themselves and share more, people will listen. And the word will get out... "Tesla is doing awesome and is on a roll!".
5. There are some on this forum that think volunteers should be writing comments and defending Tesla on media outlets more. I'm not against that. But I think that's largely Tesla's role, that is to control their own narrative.
6. So how does Tesla communicate anyway? Mostly Elon tweets. And his tweets are erratic, at best. Yes, I like him tweeting but his tweets are all over the place... candy company? Tesla needs a better and more comprehensive strategy to communicate with the world. (Note: I don't want to discount the other channels Tesla uses to communicate like their email newsletters,
@tesla twitter, PR, shareholder letters, etc. But I think if judging on effectiveness, Tesla needs an overhauled approach.)
7. Lastly, if Tesla takes control of their own narrative and communicates effectively how awesome they are doing and how awesome production of Model 3 is going and how awesome a car the Model 3 is, then you'll see media outlets all turn around (at least most of them). Because they are easily influenced. Problem right now is there's a lack of leadership from Tesla in terms of communicating, and thus others are filling that void.
It's time to step up, Tesla.