Ironic now it appears Tesla and their suppliers are under the guns from unions because a funny thing happens when a union worker gets a raise (put aside whether they should or not or by how much, walk a mile in someone's else shoes before doing so Vic) non-union workers at some point usually do too.
Tesla 2023
- Thread starter VicBee
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EVS
Tesla Tells German Workers They’re On the Low-Cost Model Team
Can Germany, home of the original people’s car (that’s literally what Volkswagen means in the vernacular) create a people’s EV? Elon Musk certainly hopes so.
Tesla’s CEO reportedly told workers at the company’s German Grünheide gigafactory last Friday that the plan there is to construct a €25,000 (~$27,000) car. A source confirmed the plan to Reuters on Monday but didn’t say when it might go into production. The move may be a way to curry favor with the EU, which is in the process of investigating China-made EVs on antitrust grounds, as EU President Von der Leyen said cheap Chinese models are flooding the market.
Show Me das Geld
This has been a volatile year for EV price points. Tesla slashed prices in China this August, spurring a race-to-the-bottom price war there. However, since Tesla manufactures a high number of its cars in China, the company could be caught in the crossfire as the EU cracks down on China-made EVs. A cheap German car could get around the problem as well as win some brownie points.
Exactly how Tesla could make a car that affordable in Germany is another question. The cheapest car for sale on Tesla’s German website clocks in at €42,990, so that would mean a 41% decrease in price, which seems like a big ask just now:
• EV-makers have caught a slight chill recently, as consumer demand hasn’t quite taken off as previously forecast. During Tesla’s recent quarterly earnings call, Musk warned high interest rates and the release of the new Cybertruck model (due later this month) will weigh on the company’s fortunes.
• Tesla also is going to have higher personnel costs at Grünheide, as last week the unionized workforce there was awarded a raise. Germany’s auto workers' union IG Metall had previously criticized Tesla, saying workers there were paid on average 20% less than at other unionized car companies.
It’s possible union agitation won’t stop at base wages, either. IG Metall regional director Dirk Schultze told The Wall Street Journal other automakers typically offer routine summer holiday and Christmas bonuses, which Tesla does not. For now, Tesla is offering a 4% raise and a one-off $1,600 inflation-adjustment bonus this Christmas, per the WSJ.
Hungary for Business: Tesla isn’t the only EV-maker with its sights set on Europe. Hungary, which has been far friendlier to Chinese investment than other EU nations, is reported to be next in line for a new factory from Chinese EV-maker BYD — one of Tesla’s biggest rivals.
- Isobel Asher Hamilton
EVS
Tesla Tells German Workers They’re On the Low-Cost Model Team
Can Germany, home of the original people’s car (that’s literally what Volkswagen means in the vernacular) create a people’s EV? Elon Musk certainly hopes so.
Tesla’s CEO reportedly told workers at the company’s German Grünheide gigafactory last Friday that the plan there is to construct a €25,000 (~$27,000) car. A source confirmed the plan to Reuters on Monday but didn’t say when it might go into production. The move may be a way to curry favor with the EU, which is in the process of investigating China-made EVs on antitrust grounds, as EU President Von der Leyen said cheap Chinese models are flooding the market.
Show Me das Geld
This has been a volatile year for EV price points. Tesla slashed prices in China this August, spurring a race-to-the-bottom price war there. However, since Tesla manufactures a high number of its cars in China, the company could be caught in the crossfire as the EU cracks down on China-made EVs. A cheap German car could get around the problem as well as win some brownie points.
Exactly how Tesla could make a car that affordable in Germany is another question. The cheapest car for sale on Tesla’s German website clocks in at €42,990, so that would mean a 41% decrease in price, which seems like a big ask just now:
• EV-makers have caught a slight chill recently, as consumer demand hasn’t quite taken off as previously forecast. During Tesla’s recent quarterly earnings call, Musk warned high interest rates and the release of the new Cybertruck model (due later this month) will weigh on the company’s fortunes.
• Tesla also is going to have higher personnel costs at Grünheide, as last week the unionized workforce there was awarded a raise. Germany’s auto workers' union IG Metall had previously criticized Tesla, saying workers there were paid on average 20% less than at other unionized car companies.
It’s possible union agitation won’t stop at base wages, either. IG Metall regional director Dirk Schultze told The Wall Street Journal other automakers typically offer routine summer holiday and Christmas bonuses, which Tesla does not. For now, Tesla is offering a 4% raise and a one-off $1,600 inflation-adjustment bonus this Christmas, per the WSJ.
Hungary for Business: Tesla isn’t the only EV-maker with its sights set on Europe. Hungary, which has been far friendlier to Chinese investment than other EU nations, is reported to be next in line for a new factory from Chinese EV-maker BYD — one of Tesla’s biggest rivals.
- Isobel Asher Hamilton
That's not what Forbes and others say. Let's not generalize Ford and GMs failures to the global health of the EV market.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwi...th-slows-but-2030-forecasts-remain-ambitious/
I love those expert journalists and trust Tesla's manufacturing team will demonstrate how it's done, even in IG Metall land.
Not easy trying to sell your goods abroad while trying to prevent foreign made goods in.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/elect... recently acquired,on producing new EV models.
Right its what Musk himself said - in black and white:
"Musk warned high interest rates and the release of the new Cybertruck model (due later this month) will weigh on the company’s fortunes."
What Musk said has nothing to do with the so called chill in consumer demand for EVs. There is no reduction in consumer demand on YoY basis.
YoY lol.
But The Street cares about QoQ (so does Elon BTW), and they have more clout than one private investor. Sorry to break it to you.
Lol... The Street is one of many media outlets vying for respectability. As we get closer to end of year, the attention will be on YoY and no one will care about QoQ.
Not The Street, THE Street. Wall and Broad geez funds etc. I'll spell it completely out the next time.
https://electrek.co/2023/11/09/which-is-it-already-is-us-ev-demand-slowing-or-growing/
Which is it, already – is US EV demand slowing or growing?
Michelle Lewis
| Nov 9 2023 - 5:00 am PT
Some media say EV demand is slowing, and other media claim there’s record demand. So what’s going on? ZETA’s Albert Gore and I chatted about it.
Let’s look at the latest US EV sales stats first. Cox Automotive reported on October 12 that EV sales volumes set another record in Q3, as total sales of BEVs passed 300,000 for the first time in the US market. That’s a 49.8% increase year-over-year.
What’s more, the market is “firmly on track” to surpass 1 million this year for the first time ever – and indeed, that milestone is expected to be reached this month. Cox says EV sales have now increased for 13 straight quarters. But it also concludes its report with the subtle words, “Change is never easy.”
That’s for sure. So, the EV industry is growing, but there are a lot of growing pains.
Let’s look at GM as an example. The automaker abandoned its plans to build 400,000 EVs by mid-2024 and will wait several months to begin to sell some new EV models. But its CFO, Paul Jacobson, said in its Q3 2023 earnings call that slowing demand was not something the company was seeing in its portfolio. He noted that “customers have been remarkably resilient in the order book, continuing to keep their orders on the books.” I even searched the call’s transcript for the phrase “slowing demand,” and it was nowhere to be found.
So, Albert Gore, the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) executive director, and I discussed what he’s observing when it comes to EV demand. ZETA advocates for the full adoption of EVs by 2030, and Gore was previously the lead for public policy and business development for the East and Midwest at Tesla. (And yes, because I know you’re wondering, he’s the son of the former VP and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore.)
Gore cited the data when I asked him about the slew of recent doom stories. He said he’s been “puzzled by the avalanche of stories about how EVs are piling up on dealer lots. I tried to do a deep dive into sales data, and if there’s [a slowdown] it must be highly specific or regional, but year-over-year, the sales growth is 40-50%. It’s enormous. And there are a much greater variety of vehicles being sold.”
So perhaps it’s not that EV sales aren’t growing, much less growing quickly – they are. Perhaps it’s just that they’re not selling as fast as OEMs want them to, seeing how they’ve staked a lot on the EV transition. That’s a big change, and change makes them, and the market, nervous. And there are some substantial losses occurring – Ford, for example, expects a full-year loss of $4.5 billion for its EV unit.
Add to that the fact that prices are being pushed down due to rising competition – Tesla cut the Model Y’s price so the least expensive model is $2,500 less than the Ford Mustang Mach-E after IRA tax credits in order to compete.
So, both demand and supply are up. Going back to GM, its EV production climbed 40% from Q2 to Q3, while EV sales grew 28%. Dealers’ lots are no longer empty, and we’re moving past the EV-buying pioneer phase into the beginnings of mass market sales. Consumers who are preparing to buy EVs know that upfront rebates of $7,500 at dealerships are coming, too.
Gore noted that folks who want to “maintain the status quo” want to use the number of cars on dealer lots as a data point, but “that’s not a data point that shows sales are slowing down. Why is this single thing magnified to a hundred stories when you zoom out and see phenomenal growth?”
Gore said that he feels “it’s a mistake to imply that people don’t want to buy EVs because data shows demand is resilient and sales are growing consistently. But the transition will take hard work, sustained effort, and commitment.
“There are just so many different dynamics related to EVs right now.”
Which is it, already – is US EV demand slowing or growing?
Michelle Lewis
| Nov 9 2023 - 5:00 am PT
Some media say EV demand is slowing, and other media claim there’s record demand. So what’s going on? ZETA’s Albert Gore and I chatted about it.
Let’s look at the latest US EV sales stats first. Cox Automotive reported on October 12 that EV sales volumes set another record in Q3, as total sales of BEVs passed 300,000 for the first time in the US market. That’s a 49.8% increase year-over-year.
What’s more, the market is “firmly on track” to surpass 1 million this year for the first time ever – and indeed, that milestone is expected to be reached this month. Cox says EV sales have now increased for 13 straight quarters. But it also concludes its report with the subtle words, “Change is never easy.”
That’s for sure. So, the EV industry is growing, but there are a lot of growing pains.
Let’s look at GM as an example. The automaker abandoned its plans to build 400,000 EVs by mid-2024 and will wait several months to begin to sell some new EV models. But its CFO, Paul Jacobson, said in its Q3 2023 earnings call that slowing demand was not something the company was seeing in its portfolio. He noted that “customers have been remarkably resilient in the order book, continuing to keep their orders on the books.” I even searched the call’s transcript for the phrase “slowing demand,” and it was nowhere to be found.
So, Albert Gore, the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) executive director, and I discussed what he’s observing when it comes to EV demand. ZETA advocates for the full adoption of EVs by 2030, and Gore was previously the lead for public policy and business development for the East and Midwest at Tesla. (And yes, because I know you’re wondering, he’s the son of the former VP and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore.)
Gore cited the data when I asked him about the slew of recent doom stories. He said he’s been “puzzled by the avalanche of stories about how EVs are piling up on dealer lots. I tried to do a deep dive into sales data, and if there’s [a slowdown] it must be highly specific or regional, but year-over-year, the sales growth is 40-50%. It’s enormous. And there are a much greater variety of vehicles being sold.”
So perhaps it’s not that EV sales aren’t growing, much less growing quickly – they are. Perhaps it’s just that they’re not selling as fast as OEMs want them to, seeing how they’ve staked a lot on the EV transition. That’s a big change, and change makes them, and the market, nervous. And there are some substantial losses occurring – Ford, for example, expects a full-year loss of $4.5 billion for its EV unit.
Add to that the fact that prices are being pushed down due to rising competition – Tesla cut the Model Y’s price so the least expensive model is $2,500 less than the Ford Mustang Mach-E after IRA tax credits in order to compete.
So, both demand and supply are up. Going back to GM, its EV production climbed 40% from Q2 to Q3, while EV sales grew 28%. Dealers’ lots are no longer empty, and we’re moving past the EV-buying pioneer phase into the beginnings of mass market sales. Consumers who are preparing to buy EVs know that upfront rebates of $7,500 at dealerships are coming, too.
Gore noted that folks who want to “maintain the status quo” want to use the number of cars on dealer lots as a data point, but “that’s not a data point that shows sales are slowing down. Why is this single thing magnified to a hundred stories when you zoom out and see phenomenal growth?”
Gore said that he feels “it’s a mistake to imply that people don’t want to buy EVs because data shows demand is resilient and sales are growing consistently. But the transition will take hard work, sustained effort, and commitment.
“There are just so many different dynamics related to EVs right now.”