{"id":8967,"date":"2023-12-02T00:20:46","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T00:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=8967"},"modified":"2023-12-02T00:20:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T00:20:46","slug":"cybertruck-aside-tesla-hasnt-released-a-new-consumer-model-in-years-and-analysts-are-worried-tesla-has-a-product-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=8967","title":{"rendered":"Cybertruck aside, Tesla hasn't released a new consumer model in years, and analysts are worried: \u2018Tesla has a product problem\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Few would deny that Tesla\u2019s Cybertruck catches the eye, though whether it does so in a good way is up for debate. But aside from the striking new vehicle\u2014which Tesla<\/a> CEO Elon Musk handed over to early customers<\/a> in person on Thursday at the company\u2019s Austin headquarters\u2014the EV maker has not done much in recent years by way of new models or refreshes. That has some analysts worried about the impact a relatively stale lineup could have on the company\u2019s growth, especially with little in the pipeline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cTesla has a product problem,\u201d Bernstein analysts warned<\/a>, pointing to \u201can older line-up that does not address enough of the market, and has no new mass market offerings until likely late 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some analysts, on the other hand, believe the Cybertruck can make older Tesla models seem fresher than their age by association.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of staleness that\u2019s come about with the Model 3 and Model Y,\u201d Tom Narayan of RBC Capital Markets told CNBC<\/a> on Thursday. \u201cNow we have excitement\u201d with the Cybertruck, he added, with a \u201chalo effect\u201d on older Tesla vehicles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teslas can be updated via software, of course, but whether that\u2019s enough to satisfy an itch for something new is debatable. Sam Fiorani, an automotive analyst for AutoForecast Solutions, told<\/a> Business Insider<\/em> earlier this year that Tesla may need greater variety in models as it becomes more of a mass-market vehicle maker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you move to higher-volume vehicles, you have to start keeping up with the Joneses,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you sell some 300,000 of the same vehicle every year, and then they\u2019re all parked together in a grocery-store parking lot, those customers suddenly want something to set them apart from their neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tesla has delivered<\/a> about 494,000 vehicles in the U.S. this year as of the third quarter, a jump of about 26% from the same period last year, but its share of the EV market has fallen from 62% at the start of the year to just half<\/a> today, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, relatively few Cybertrucks are likely to be sold in the near term. While Musk has said Tesla will likely be producing 250,000 Cybertrucks by 2025, Bernstein estimates<\/a> just 75,000 deliveries for next year, cautioning that even that \u201cmay be ambitious.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Musk himself has warned about<\/a> production difficulties with the Cybertruck, partly stemming from its ultra-hard stainless steel exterior, which required some new machinery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do want to emphasize that there will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with the Cybertruck, and then making the Cybertruck cash-flow positive,\u201d Musk told investors in October. He added in jest, \u201cWe dug our own grave with the Cybertruck.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian was among the first customers to pick up a Cybertruck on Thursday. He said in a livestream<\/a> that driving it felt \u201csuper futuristic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s increasingly unlikely that Tesla customers will feel that way about the EV maker\u2019s older vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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