4 Comments

$61B in gross revenue, not profit. You still have to, you know, build and deliver the truck and pay your employees. Of course, now that Musk realizes that, the stock grants are coming to an end. The rocket is running out of fuel (pun intended).

The Cybertruck is a marketing mistake waiting for the other shoe to drop. Playing to the truck crowd is a huge mistake because the influencers there know better. Those people want the ability to go offroad when they want, payload and towing capacity. Anyone who plunked down money on this glorified DeLorean watched as the towing capacity they were promised was 14,000 lbs. was revised to 11,000 - about on par with your entry-level trucks that don't cost $61,000 at the lowest trim level. And who knows if it'll be revised even further downward. It's AWD, not 4WD, so the truck guys are going to amuse themselves by watching urban wannabees get stuck on the beach on the weekends.

The truck people will go for vehicles that deliver on the promise of a truck. That original promise, which truck people actually accepted, was that electric motors produce insane power and torque on demand. They wanted to see that in a pickup. Instead, they got a DeLorean. So now they're buying electric Jeeps and other vehicles that deliver on the promise, if they're not just heading back to the dealer to trade in their F150 for another F150.

If Musk is trying to sell more trucks, he shouldn't be trolling to get the right-wingers riled up. He should be trying to build a truck.

Expand full comment

I loved LA Law when I was in high school. And the NYT article was hilarious (and challenging, as an old GenXer).

I have been putting forth your thesis on Musk since you first advanced it. At first, it was to submit the notion of what I like to call “the inconceivable alternative.” But over time, I’ve come around to think you’re right.

Expand full comment