At the investor briefing session, only bragging about the achievements
Paying attention to the vision of cost reduction through process innovation
“Cybertruck will be released within the year”
market disappointment… stock price plummets in after-hours trading
“The master plan was provided, but there were few bold details.” (The New York Times)
“The introduction of past performance was long, but the explanation of the new product was insufficient.” (CNBC)
This was the evaluation of the local media after the ‘Investor Day’ held by Tesla, the world’s largest electric vehicle company, at its Texas headquarters on the 1st (local time). Originally, the presentation of new cars that had not been previously released, including the ‘Model 2’, a small low-cost vehicle called ‘half-price Tesla’, was expected at this briefing session.
However, the briefing session, which lasted more than four hours including questions and answers, continued for a long time only with self-praise for Tesla’s achievements. This is the reason why the criticism of ’empty gangjeong’ came out. Tesla shares once plunged 6.8% in after-hours trading. The disappointment of the market was revealed.
However, the vision of cost reduction through process innovation attracted attention. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, presented several major directions for future management on this day, one of which was process innovation. Tesla presented a vision to drastically reduce the cost of assembling new cars. The newly developed model is intended to be manufactured in a new way that reduces the complexity of assembly compared to the existing ones and shortens the time. “Tesla’s Model 3 reduced costs by 30% compared to the initial cost,” said a Tesla official. “The key is to reduce costs without compromising product quality.”
If this becomes a reality, a full-fledged price competition will begin in the electric vehicle market. Ross Gerber, a famous Tesla investor, predicted on Twitter that “you will be able to buy an electric car for $25,000 to $30,000 (about 33 to 40 million won).” Currently, the cheapest Tesla Model 3 vehicle is around 43,000 dollars (about 57 million won). In this regard, US General Motors (GM) plans to release the Chevrolet Equinox, an electric car starting at $30,000 within this year. Ford of the United States and Volkswagen of Germany also announced the release of new low-priced cars.
Lee Hang-gu, head of the Institute of Automotive Convergence Technology, said, “Tesla is also trying to release a more popular model as competitors are competing on cost. .
On this day, CEO Musk said “congratulations” to Mexico and formalized the construction of Tesla’s third overseas plant following Germany and China. The new plant in Mexico will cost 65% less than the existing plant through efficiency. However, there was no mention of South Korea and Indonesia, which, along with Mexico, are seeking to attract investment in Tesla’s new plant.
Tesla also announced new news that an electric pickup truck called’Cybertruck’ will be released this year. It was a vehicle that was planned to come out last year, but the schedule was delayed. Mass production will begin next year.
In addition to CEO Musk, 16 executives took the stage at the event. Many of them are unknown to investors. An automobile industry insider analyzed, “CEO Musk is being evaluated as having a serious ‘owner risk’ because of his frequent remarks on Twitter.”
New York =
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.