During the annual shareholders' meeting of Tesla on Thursday, CEO Elon Musk unveiled several new vehicle models. The timing of the presentation was perfect, as the shareholders had just approved his gigantic 56 billion dollar salary package.
The excitement is building: New Tesla-models in the pipeline
Musk, visibly pleased with the shareholders' approval, revealed that Tesla is working on new vehicles. He showed an image of several vehicles, three of which were shrouded under white sheets. Although he didn't reveal any specific details, he did say: "Obviously we have some new products that we're working on behind closed doors. I think those are going to be pretty special."
One of the shrouded vehicles hinted at a large, boxy silhouette - possibly a van. The other two models appeared flatter and sleeker. Tesla The company plans to unveil its long-announced robotaxi on August 8, so one of the secret models could be this one.
In April Tesla announced an accelerated launch of new, more affordable models, which are due to be launched in late 2024 or early 2025.
Challenges and opportunities: an overdue update to the model range
Tesla published similar images of two secret vehicles in April 2023 as part of its "Master Plan Part 3". In this document, the company stated that the Tesla-equivalents of a small car, a commercial vehicle/passenger car and a bus were "still to be determined".
The mention of new models, vague as it may be, is probably music to the ears of Tesla-fans and investors. Industry analysts have been warning for some time about an outdated Tesla-product range. The extremely popular saloon Model 3 and the SUV Model Y could not sustain the company's growth indefinitely. After all, the latter was the best-selling car in the world in 2023.
After years of rapid growth, vehicle deliveries of Tesla fell by 8.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. In addition, BYD, a Chinese electric car manufacturer, is shaking up Tesla's leading position in the sale of electric vehicles (BEVs).
New models and future visions
Despite the pressure, Musk has delayed the introduction of a cheaper model that could boost sales. Instead, he focused on Tesla on the launch of the Cybertruck, an extreme-looking, expensive pickup truck. However, experts in the automotive industry believe that the Cybertruck is unlikely to sell in significant numbers. Musk himself does not expect the Cybertruck to have a major impact on the company's results this year.
Elon Musk also seems to be losing interest in the pure car business and is increasingly investing in autonomous vehicles and robotics. Although he only briefly mentioned the presentation of the upcoming models, he spoke at length about robotaxis, Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" function (which is not yet truly autonomous), artificial intelligence and the humanoid robot Optimus.
Musk claimed, Tesla could one day produce 100 million bots per year and make unimaginable profits of one trillion dollars. He based this on the assumption that there would be a humanoid robot for every person on Earth - an extremely optimistic expectation given the current global challenges.
He also said that the robot and robotaxi business of Tesla could one day be worth around 30 trillion dollars. That's about ten times the current market capitalization of Apple, the most valuable publicly traded company in the US.
Conclusion: concrete plans required
At the end of the day Tesla a car manufacturer that makes the majority of its profits from selling cars. To expand this business and widen access to electric cars, the company needs concrete plans for new models, not just vague hints. Otherwise, companies like Hyundai and BYD will be happy to fill the gap in the electric car market.
