Good video.
As I noted in an earlier post, Tesla has not accompanied the Supercharger layoffs with responsibly communicating its future plans to its customers who rely on the network. Based on what we know, and as further indicated in the video, it also has not responsibly communicated its plans to other auto manufacturers who have signed onto the Supercharger network or to the various suppliers and partners who are/were working on developing Supercharger locations; indeed, those remaining at Tesla do not even know how to get into contact with those partners or how to pay bills that are owing. Nor has Tesla responsibly communicated its plans about a key part of its technical infrastructure to its investors.
Whatever the ultimate reason for and outcome of this change, it also matters how it is done. The arbitrary and chaotic manner it is happening reflects very poorly on the leadership of Tesla and undermines confidence of those who might consider dealing with the company in the future, whether as customers, employees, suppliers, investors or business partners.
^^^ this, coupled with the fact that the macro environment now is very much different than it was in 2019, the last time we saw major layoffs at Tesla performed in a similar manner. The fanboy base seems to be justifying this methodology as how Silicon Valley companies do these types of things, or this is how Musk executes on these sorts of genius approaches to layoffs that, despite the seemingly bad perception/look, actually work out for the best over the long term - as doing so accelerates the growth curve for innovation. That may or may not be true - and while this approach has worked in times past, when Tesla was the only game in town, the macro environment is very much different today. Consumers have a wealth of other options to choose from now. Norway, perhaps the most progressive BEV adopter country on earth by the numbers, just published the following April 2024 BEV sales data:
While the layoffs didn't occur until late April timeframe, there's an argument to be made that the Tesla platforms/models are aging, and even though Tesla takes a somewhat different approach to improving their vehicles iteratively over time since they are SDVs, the look of the vehicles has not changed much if at all over time. This perception, especially in the MSM, results in consumers, especially traditional consumers, seeing the Tesla models as aging and out of date. Perception is reality, especially for a company that outright refuses to educate/advertise on any meaningful scale. The above sales data is likely predictive for other countries in the EU, and likely why we're seeing falling sales volumes here in the US markets - and even in China. Couple this with the controversial nature of the Tesla CEO - who is politicizing himself quite a bit via X on a near daily basis - which by definition polarizes his reputational aspects - and likely alienates both existing and prospective customers in the process - and it's not hard to see why the numbers are going in the wrong direction. Yes there are macroeconomics in play as well, without a doubt, but it's not
just macroeconomics, it's a combination of things. Musk is likely looking at some really bad Q2 numbers behind the scenes, otherwise he wouldn't be cutting as deeply as he's cutting with these layoffs. He's the type that has already admitted that if you don't have to hire back, then you didn't cut deep enough in the first place. Again, controversial without a doubt, and to the markets and to prospective customers, it's not a good look. Where this goes from here is really anyone's guess. I remain skeptical that this is going to work out in Musk's favor given Tesla is no longer the only game in town, and if traditional consumers get the message from the MSM that things at Tesla are unstable, they will simply spend their dollars elsewhere. Volvo/Polestar are owned by Geely (China BEV manufacturer), so expect
more of what we see in the sales chart above in the EU, and eventually here in the US, not less. Chinese BEV manufacturers are Tesla's primary competition in reality, and we're starting to see what Musk has likely feared for the past few years now, happening in Norway, and coming soon to theatres near all of us.
As it relates to the topic at hand - cutting the entire SC team - definitely doesn't send the right message in the current environment. Perception is reality, and the
perception given is that something is wrong within Tesla now. That is how the MSM is portraying this recent move:
Tesla “ultra-hardcore” cuts stall EV charging projects.
www.theverge.com
Back in 2019, Tesla was pretty much the only game in town, so it really didn't matter how they treated their employees, or how they handled layoffs - they were on the verge of a major upswing in sales with the M3 mass market model. Fast forward to today, after having built the premiere SC network world-wide, and with competition releasing mass market BEVs almost every week that compete directly with aging Tesla models, and the market leader kills off it's entire SC team in a mass layoff, and, literally today, is supposedly laying off thousands more employees - and it's not even remotely a good look - the reality is it's a really bad look - and everyone is watching this time around.
www.canarymedia.com
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