Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[j6Lpi429@3j]

If you think advertising is relevant in terms of effectively changing the minds and perceptions of people who’ve bought into the Tesla is garbage stories, than it most certainly is relevant that advertising is basically one big, fat lie and perceived as such, regardless of Tesla doing ‘honest’ advertising.

If you are seriously suggesting that all advertising is lying, and everybody sees it for what it is...errr no? and FWIW (I am heavily involved in advertising for my own company) 95% of the effect of any advertising is subconscious, and proven to be so with proper serious peer-reviewed science. In other words, you can watch an ad for a car, consciously think its annoying/obnoxious or even forget it entirely, and it *can still work*.

 

[kengchang]

If your web surfing habits are similar to mine, you've been bombarded with advertisements for Revero - The most beautiful electric car you have ever seen:

Every time I see it I wonder what is wrong with them that they need to advertise it - electric cars are constrained by production/battery supply. Shouldn't it sell itself if it's any good? And how come I don't know anyone with one?

Revero ain't electric.

 

[ggr]

Ark buys moar Tesla

View attachment 418547

Slight nitpick: what they bought is the recently issued convertible bonds, not the common stock. I think the ARK fund is probably "full" of TSLA, since they limit their holding in any one stock to 10% (although there must be some "slop" in that or they'd have to trade almost continuously), and TSLA has been going up.

 

[StealthP3D]

In other words, you can watch an ad for a car, consciously think its annoying/obnoxious or even forget it entirely, and it *can still work*.

Yup. That's why I have 3 Revero in my garage and no Tesla.

 

[StealthP3D]

Revero ain't electric.

Sure it is.

The ad even said it was "the most beautiful electric car you've ever seen".

 

[Pras]

Guys. I am in India right now and I have not seen a single Tesla so far. Surely no demand

 

[kengchang]

Sure it is.

The ad even said it was "the most beautiful electric car you've ever seen".

Just like Fastest production car* ad

*Excludes electric car

 

[ggr]

Sure it is.

The ad even said it was "the most beautiful electric car you've ever seen".

Mod: Acknowledged that it is a hybrid. We are ABSOLUTELY NOT going to have the discussion about electric vs. hybrid anywhere here. It has all been said before in Pure BEV Dogma . --ggr

Edit: 70 pages of it. Seems trivially small until you try to read it.

 

[KSilver2000]

Ark buys moar Tesla

View attachment 418547

WOWzers!!

They increased their TSLA holding by 0.3%.

I’m going to add a couple more shares to my account now.

/s

 

[Tslynk67]

Agree with your conclusions, but I would change the last sentence to "Positive publicity will be."

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about"

 

[BioSehnsucht]

Lots of new tech still waiting to be integrated into existing products:

• Model 3 AWD still uses an AC front motor

...

Well, the Raven S/X use an AC rear motor. Unless they find a way to get the non-AC motors to spin "freely" (with less total losses than the AC ones, which is difficult as they can't be simply just turned off and left to spin), we're likely to always see at least one "axle" with AC motor(s) on any AWD vehicle, so that the they can spin "freely" for better efficiency in low power situations.

 

[Mike Smith]

They've got a whole village set up at the Shanghai Gigafactory site

 

[Mike Smith]

Norway is starting to ramp up. 184 deliveries today, 106 yesterday

Tesla Registration Stats

 

[CyberDutchie]

If your web surfing habits are similar to mine, you've been bombarded with advertisements for Revero - The most beautiful electric car you have ever seen:

Every time I see it I wonder what is wrong with them that they need to advertise it - electric cars are constrained by production/battery supply. Shouldn't it sell itself if it's any good? And how come I don't know anyone with one?

Haha, this example proves the point Elon was making. Just watch this owner review of the car:

 

[Bobfitz1]

Sorry, I can't say I agree. Analysts are already stating that demand will drop off after this quarter due to drop in federal tax credit. Unfortunately, I don't think the bear thesis regarding demand will disappear until earliest sometime next year.

Analysts may assert demand will drop off due to ($1875) drop in tax credit, but it's a weak talking point when the drop is half that experienced in Q1 and demand is growing strongly outside the U.S.

 

[SO16]

I sent a message to the author and this was his response:


thanks for writing. here’s what he said in April:

“Next year for sure — we’ll have over a million robotaxis on the road.”

R



Does anyone have the transcript around this? I suspect Elon said it correctly and then messed up this line.

Here is my response to his response:

I can’t read people’s minds either. So don’t feel bad about that. But honestly, I don’t think this required the ability to read minds.

What I’d like to know is, what is the goal of journalism? Is it to understand a situation and report on it so people know what’s going on? Or is it to find a sentence out of a long speech which doesn’t fit the rest of the paragraph, and to exploit that?


On Jun 12, 2019, at 4:36 PM, Mitchell, Russ <[email protected]> wrote:

i can’t read people’s mind and pretend to know what they meant to say. he said he’d have a million robotaxis

Russ Mitchell
Los Angeles Times
Automotive Technology
510-599-4500

From: <>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:34 PM
To: Mitchell, Russ
Subject: Re: Robotaxi Elon softens claims.

EXTERNAL SOURCE



Thank you for your response! Greatly appreciated.


Here's the quote (quoted from the Youtube auto-generated transcript)
Here's what Elon said about a million vehicles on the Autonomy Investor Day, verbatim:

"we still have the data gathering ability and then by a year from now we'll have over a million cars with full self-driving computer hardware"

"by the middle of next year we'll have over a million Tesla cars on the road with full self-driving Hardware feature complete at a reliably level that we would consider that no one needs to pay attention meaning you could go to sleep in your from our standpoint if you fast for a year should look maybe a year maybe a year in three months but next year for sure we will have over a million Robo taxis on the road"

Which is true and has not changed: in 2020 there will be over a million AP HW 2 and later vehicles on the road.

He misspoke the "million robo taxis on the road", it was clear from the context right before it that he meant 1 million FSD-capable cars on the road.

In both contexts Elon correctly qualified it with "cars with full self-driving computer hardware", or with "cars with full self-driving hardware feature". He misspoke about the million robo taxis on the road but it was clear from the context right before it what he meant by that million.


Now seeing as how one part of the statement conflicts with the other, it probably would have been good to either try to determine which is the correct statement from Elon before running with it or maybe show more of the quote and let people determine for themselves on what the situation truly is. What do you think?

 

[CyberDutchie]

They've got a whole village set up at the Shanghai Gigafactory site

Now I want to eat Chinese food with a TsingTao beer

 

[JusRelax]

On Jun 12, 2019, at 4:36 PM, Mitchell, Russ <[email protected]> wrote:

i can’t read people’s mind and pretend to know what they meant to say. he said he’d have a million robotaxis

Russ Mitchell
Los Angeles Times
Automotive Technology
510-599-4500

Elon: I hate you have to suffer through all the cancer treatments you're getting

Russ: Elon says 'I hate you' to all cancer patients!

TMC: No, he said he hates that cancer patients have to suffer going through cancer treatments.

Russ: I don't know what he's thinking, all I know is that he said 'I hate you' to a cancer patient.

 

[SO16]

Here is my response to his response:

I can’t read people’s minds either. So don’t feel bad about that. But honestly, I don’t think this required the ability to read minds.

What I’d like to know is, what is the goal of journalism? Is it to understand a situation and report on it so people know what’s going on? Or is it to find a sentence out of a long speech which doesn’t fit the rest of the paragraph, and to exploit that?


On Jun 12, 2019, at 4:36 PM, Mitchell, Russ <[email protected]> wrote:

i can’t read people’s mind and pretend to know what they meant to say. he said he’d have a million robotaxis

Russ Mitchell
Los Angeles Times
Automotive Technology
510-599-4500

From: <>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:34 PM
To: Mitchell, Russ
Subject: Re: Robotaxi Elon softens claims.

EXTERNAL SOURCE



Thank you for your response! Greatly appreciated.


Here's the quote (quoted from the Youtube auto-generated transcript)
Here's what Elon said about a million vehicles on the Autonomy Investor Day, verbatim:

"we still have the data gathering ability and then by a year from now we'll have over a million cars with full self-driving computer hardware"

"by the middle of next year we'll have over a million Tesla cars on the road with full self-driving Hardware feature complete at a reliably level that we would consider that no one needs to pay attention meaning you could go to sleep in your from our standpoint if you fast for a year should look maybe a year maybe a year in three months but next year for sure we will have over a million Robo taxis on the road"

Which is true and has not changed: in 2020 there will be over a million AP HW 2 and later vehicles on the road.

He misspoke the "million robo taxis on the road", it was clear from the context right before it that he meant 1 million FSD-capable cars on the road.

In both contexts Elon correctly qualified it with "cars with full self-driving computer hardware", or with "cars with full self-driving hardware feature". He misspoke about the million robo taxis on the road but it was clear from the context right before it what he meant by that million.


Now seeing as how one part of the statement conflicts with the other, it probably would have been good to either try to determine which is the correct statement from Elon before running with it or maybe show more of the quote and let people determine for themselves on what the situation truly is. What do you think?

Here is my response to another response of his:

So if we go with that, how are you saying Tesla gets there?

1. Assume that every owner is going to use their vehicle as a Robotaxi since that’s about how many cars will have AP2 and above by then?

Or

2. He produces an extra million cars to just be Robotaxis by then?

Either scenario isn’t plausible. It doesn’t pass the “smell test”. This is where “investigative” reporting should come into play. If you can’t read his mind, perhaps at least include the full quote. Let others determine if his misstatement “adds to the first” or conflicts.

I’m not sure how to take Tesla not responding. It could either be that they agree with what you wrote (which I doubt is the case) or they think it is futile. Maybe another reason...not sure.


On Jun 12, 2019, at 4:38 PM, Mitchell, Russ <[email protected]> wrote:

ps the statements don’t conflict. the second part adds to the first

tesla has not complained about my story btw. when they do have a beef w me they let me know

Russ Mitchell
Los Angeles Times
Automotive Technology
510-599-4500

 

[Johan]

Sorry to barge in after being away for a long time from TMC. Ihor (Ihor Dusaniwsky on Twitter) is on Twitter claiming that currently we have the highest short interest ever in TSLA (not in $$$ but in % of the float) and we know there's some delay to the numbers. So short sellers were shorting all the way down to $177? They probably saw the "free falling" stock price as evidence for their thesis that Tesla was heading for bancruptcy? Is it really possible to be that stupid? And if so, wouldn't this mean that (once again) TSLA is like a loaded spring waiting to rebound with a vengance?