Ohh vooke. NYTimes is a longtime Tesla cynic. Tesla's success is pegged on brand... which is unbroken otherwise there would be order cancellations. I am looking out for the Q1 results this week - especially orders (brand) - not deliveries (automation). How can the analysts talk of over-automation? what is that based on - guesswork? Ramp up will have teething problems as it picks up; so expect the cash-burning cries to escalate right now and abate in the medium term.. as Model 3s and semis are minted flawlessly and cheaply. That's as far as production goes.
Autopilot - just like the last 2 crashes and I think even with Uber and GM Cruise, the driver ignored repeated warnings from Autopilot. These includes signals, bonks and water spray
How is Autopilot responsible? Level 3 autonomy means the AD does not have complete agency or autonomy but will assist on the free highway or well-marked streets. Unmarked roads and complex case scenarios it will alert the human driver.
SolarCity - also called Tesla Energy, is a perfect synergy for Tesla Motors. EV's basically replace the combustion engine with the battery. So the merger was a vertical integration. They also acquired Grohmann Engineering from Germany which became Tesla Advanced Automation. To help with the automation of course.
I see no reason to short Tesla at this point at all. Model 3 cannot fail because - duhhh - it is already on sale. Mass production is a matter of time - they can't fail here because scaling through automated assembly lines has already been proven to work in other autos and industries. GM delivers millions of cars - the robots don't care if it's an EV or combustion or hybrid. Why should that matter? The only thing Tesla is innovating is 1)speed of ramp up. As in the Fords, Toyotas, etc took decades to scale - to grow and go cheap. 2)cost to produce a hitec sedan on 35K sio mchezo. Automation and vertical integration comes in here. This is the catch that has Daimler and GM worried. Musk has done this before with SpaceX rockets and it is therefore not unproven.
You see , the 'hype' is not a trick, it's a plan. In short, my diagnosis of Tesla is healthy. Hold. Buy.