Tesla’s This autumn 2024 earnings convention name was loaded with Elon Musk’s trademark swagger, big-time confidence, and daring predictions. From full self-driving (FSD) to humanoid robots, Musk painted a imaginative and prescient of a future the place Tesla dominates not simply the automotive sector however synthetic intelligence and robotics. Listed here are the eight largest takeaways from the decision:
1. Tesla Mannequin Y leads all the trade
Musk began off by celebrating Tesla’s manufacturing and supply achievements. “In This autumn, we set a file and delivered autos at an annualized price of almost 2 million a yr,” he stated, emphasizing that the Mannequin Y was the best-selling automotive of any sort globally. “That is value noting. Not simply the perfect electrical automobile—the perfect automobile of any sort on Earth, No. 1 was Mannequin Y.” Tesla’s shareholder letter added, “now we have made it even higher, with the New [Juniper] Mannequin Y now launched in all markets.”
2. Full self-driving (FSD) is the important thing to Tesla’s future
Musk restated his long-standing perception that automobile autonomy would be the largest driver of Tesla’s worth. “Autonomy is like 10X-ing,” the expansion potential for Tesla, in response to Musk. He additionally reaffirmed Tesla’s aggressive push towards deploying an autonomous ride-hailing community, stating, “We will likely be launching unsupervised full self-driving as a paid service in Austin in June.” He additionally talked about that the rollout may embrace California as effectively this yr.
3. Tesla could possibly be probably the most invaluable firm on the earth—by far
How far? Musk threw down the gauntlet — making maybe his most audacious monetary prediction but: “I see a path. I’m not saying it’s a simple path, however I see a path the place Tesla is value greater than the following high 5 firms mixed.” He acknowledged the challenges forward however insisted it might be an achievable purpose, given the corporate’s speedy developments in synthetic intelligence, self-driving expertise, and robotics.
4. FSD isn’t a toddler anymore — it’s rising up quick
Musk addressed ongoing skepticism about Tesla’s FSD progress, utilizing this analogy: “If somebody’s final expertise with FSD was a toddler, they suppose it is going to be a toddler ceaselessly. However clearly, it’s rising up—it walks and talks now.” He reiterated his problem to skeptics: “Strive it. When’s the final time you tried it?”
5. The robotaxi revolution is coming
Tesla’s FSD developments are main on to what Musk calls “the biggest asset worth improve in human historical past.” He defined, “A passenger automotive sometimes has solely about 10 hours of utility per week. As soon as that automotive is autonomous, my tough estimate is that it’s in use for at the very least 35, perhaps 50 hours per week.” He emphasised that the identical automobile could possibly be used for each folks and cargo transportation, vastly rising its worth. That stated, Tesla’s shareholder letter gave this timeframe: “Our purpose-built Robotaxi product – Cybercab – will proceed to pursue a revolutionary ‘unboxed’ manufacturing technique and is scheduled for quantity manufacturing beginning in 2026.”
6. Tesla’s future will likely be ‘ballistic’
Musk predicted that Tesla’s development within the coming years will likely be exponential. “Issues are actually going to go ballistic subsequent yr and actually ballistic in ‘27 and ‘28,” he stated. He highlighted that Tesla is laying the groundwork for a producing and AI revolution that can drive unprecedented enlargement on the firm. Tesla’s shareholder letter additionally forecasted huge issues within the brief time period: “2025 will likely be a seminal yr in Tesla’s historical past.”
7. Tesla made $600 million from Bitcoin
Tesla’s Chief Monetary Officer, Vaibhav Taneja, highlighted a major monetary acquire from the corporate’s Bitcoin holdings. “Our web earnings in This autumn was impacted by a $600 million mark-to-market profit from Bitcoin as a result of adoption of a brand new accounting normal for digital property,” he stated. This marks one of many largest cryptocurrency-related good points in Tesla’s monetary historical past — an attention-grabbing flip of occasions because the incoming administration pivots to a extra Bitcoin-friendly future.
8. Tesla’s new (cheaper) fashions are coming quickly
Tesla’s shareholder letter notes, “Plans for brand spanking new autos, together with extra inexpensive fashions, stay on observe for begin of manufacturing within the first half of 2025. These autos will make the most of facets of the next-generation platform in addition to facets of our present platforms and will likely be produced on the identical manufacturing strains as our present automobile lineup.” This method, Tesla acknowledged, will allow “greater than 60% development over 2024 manufacturing earlier than investing in new manufacturing strains.”
Closing Ideas
If there’s one factor Musk made clear, it’s that Tesla isn’t slowing down. From FSD to Optimus, the corporate is betting huge on automobile autonomy and synthetic intelligence. Whether or not Tesla can ship on these aggressive timeframes stays to be seen, however one factor is for certain—Musk is as assured as ever. And as historical past has clearly demonstrated, betting towards him isn’t a profitable technique.
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Co-founder of EVANNEX, Matt Pressman owns each a Tesla Mannequin S and Mannequin 3 and stays a long-term investor in TSLA inventory. He’s written extensively about Tesla and his work has been printed in CleanTechnica, InsideEVs, and Teslarati. He’s additionally appeared quite a few occasions on Fox Enterprise Information and PBS to offer his views on Elon Musk and Tesla.
