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Tesla faces second straight year of falling sales after another bad quarter | TechCrunch

Tesla faces second straight year of falling sales after another bad quarter | TechCrunch

Tesla delivered 384,122 vehicles in the second quarter of this year, wrapping up another weak quarter for the company as it struggles to bring the pace of sales back up to 2023 levels.

That represents a 13.5% drop from the number of cars Tesla delivered in the second quarter of 2022, and it means Tesla runs a real chance of underperforming its total sales figure from 2024. If that happens, it would mean Tesla’s sales will have fallen two years in a row — despite the company once promoting the ability to grow deliveries at 50% annually.

This quarter’s sales were only slightly better than in Q1, which was the company’s worst quarter for deliveries in more than two years. This was also the first full quarter of sales since CEO Elon Musk started working inside the Trump administration, which kicked off nationwide “Tesla Takedown” protests.

Musk repeatedly explained that Tesla’s poor first-quarter sales were due in part to the company shutting down production lines at all of its factories to prepare for the launch of the upgraded Model Y. The company did not have any similarly planned production changeovers in the second quarter, although Business Insider reported that some staff working Model Y and Cybertruck lines were told to stay home for a few days in late May.

Tesla will reveal the financial impact of the tough quarter on July 23, when it releases its official earnings report.

Just last week, Musk reportedly fired his longtime confidant Omead Afshar, who oversaw both manufacturing and sales for the U.S. and Europe in his role as vice president. With the CEO reducing his time in the Trump administration, he has pledged to dedicate more time to Tesla and his other businesses. Since then, Tesla has launched a limited version of its long-promised Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, and Bloomberg News reported Musk is taking over Afshar’s sales perch.

Other automakers have struggled to move EVs lately, with Ford announcing this week that sales of its electric vehicles fell 31% year-over-year in the U.S. (Tesla’s figures were for global sales.) Even Hyundai and Kia, which had found early success with their EVs in the States, saw sales drops in the second quarter, too. General Motors bucked the trend, growing U.S. EV sales year-over-year thanks to a slate of new and improved models.

Tesla has tapped just about every lever it has to juice sales over the last two years. It dramatically lowered prices in the U.S. and abroad. It has run multiple low interest rate promotions. And it has made some minor upgrades to all of its models, with the Model Y SUV getting one of the most noticeable face lifts.

The company has spent the last few quarters teasing that it is working on “more affordable” models that are reported to be something like super stripped-down Model Ys and Model 3 sedans. It promised those were on track to start production in the first half of this year, but the company has not said whether or not that happened. Musk previously abandoned a plan to build a $25,000 car on the same next-generation platform that powers Tesla’s dedicated robotaxi vehicle, the Cybercab, which is still in the prototype phase.

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#Tesla #faces #straight #year #falling #sales #bad #quarter #TechCrunch

In March, Honda announced it would take a writedown of up to 2.5 trillion yen ($15.7 billion) on its EV investments. Now Honda says its EV-related losses will be “resolved” by 2029, and that it will reevaluate its EV plans in 2030.

#Hondas #hybrid #future #starts #Accord #RDX #prototypesCars,Honda,News,Transportation">Honda’s hybrid future starts with new Accord and RDX prototypesHonda revealed prototypes of two new hybrid models, an Accord sedan and the Acura RDX SUV, during its annual business briefing this week, built on a platform that it says will begin launching next year. The RDX was announced earlier this year as Honda’s first SUV to feature the next-gen version of its two-motor hybrid system.In March, Honda announced it would take a writedown of up to 2.5 trillion yen (.7 billion) on its EV investments. Now Honda says its EV-related losses will be “resolved” by 2029, and that it will reevaluate its EV plans in 2030.#Hondas #hybrid #future #starts #Accord #RDX #prototypesCars,Honda,News,Transportation

Accord sedan and the Acura RDX SUV, during its annual business briefing this week, built on a platform that it says will begin launching next year. The RDX was announced earlier this year as Honda’s first SUV to feature the next-gen version of its two-motor hybrid system.

In March, Honda announced it would take a writedown of up to 2.5 trillion yen ($15.7 billion) on its EV investments. Now Honda says its EV-related losses will be “resolved” by 2029, and that it will reevaluate its EV plans in 2030.

#Hondas #hybrid #future #starts #Accord #RDX #prototypesCars,Honda,News,Transportation">Honda’s hybrid future starts with new Accord and RDX prototypes

Honda revealed prototypes of two new hybrid models, an Accord sedan and the Acura RDX SUV, during its annual business briefing this week, built on a platform that it says will begin launching next year. The RDX was announced earlier this year as Honda’s first SUV to feature the next-gen version of its two-motor hybrid system.

In March, Honda announced it would take a writedown of up to 2.5 trillion yen ($15.7 billion) on its EV investments. Now Honda says its EV-related losses will be “resolved” by 2029, and that it will reevaluate its EV plans in 2030.

#Hondas #hybrid #future #starts #Accord #RDX #prototypesCars,Honda,News,Transportation
Elon Musk’s newly rebranded SpaceXAI is reportedly losing top talent, with more than 50 researchers and engineers departing since February, according to The Information. The exits include key leaders across coding, world models, and Grok voice. 

Rivals like Meta and Thinking Machine Labs are reportedly scooping up former staff, with the company’s core pre-training team dwindling to just a handful of people. Since February, at least 11 xAI employees have defected to Meta, according to The Information’s report. At least seven have left to join Mira Murati’s Thinking Machine Labs. TechCrunch has previously reported on 11 of the xAI departures announced directly after the merger, including two co-founders.

SpaceX acquired xAI — two companies owned by Musk — in February and has since installed new leadership at the company. Musk renamed the combined company SpaceXAI earlier this month.

The pre-training departures, which followed the exit of team lead Juntang Zhuang, have particularly concerned employees and people close to SpaceXAI, per The Information. Pre-training is the first step to building new AI models, and many have questioned whether the company is still committed to developing leading models. 

The report also found that Musk’s culture of extreme work led some staff to leave — something Musk employees across his companies, including Tesla, have complained about. A source who spoke to The Information said Musk set unrealistic deadlines for training models, which led to cutting corners on Grok. 

Of course, several of the exits could have been driven by a desire to cash out.

SpaceX regularly offers tenders so employees can sell vested shares privately. Others might simply feel confident that their equity is close to liquidity given the company’s blockbuster IPO expectations. Once employees see the financial upside light at the end of the tunnel, they’re less likely to work at a company that puts undue pressure on them and may not be building the leading models they want to work on.

TechCrunch has reached out to SpaceX for comment.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Elon #Musks #SpaceXAI #bleeding #staff #merger #TechCrunchElon Musk,SpaceX,spacexai,xAI">Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI has been bleeding staff since its merger | TechCrunch
Elon Musk’s newly rebranded SpaceXAI is reportedly losing top talent, with more than 50 researchers and engineers departing since February, according to The Information. The exits include key leaders across coding, world models, and Grok voice. 

Rivals like Meta and Thinking Machine Labs are reportedly scooping up former staff, with the company’s core pre-training team dwindling to just a handful of people. Since February, at least 11 xAI employees have defected to Meta, according to The Information’s report. At least seven have left to join Mira Murati’s Thinking Machine Labs. TechCrunch has previously reported on 11 of the xAI departures announced directly after the merger, including two co-founders.







SpaceX acquired xAI — two companies owned by Musk — in February and has since installed new leadership at the company. Musk renamed the combined company SpaceXAI earlier this month.

The pre-training departures, which followed the exit of team lead Juntang Zhuang, have particularly concerned employees and people close to SpaceXAI, per The Information. Pre-training is the first step to building new AI models, and many have questioned whether the company is still committed to developing leading models. 

The report also found that Musk’s culture of extreme work led some staff to leave — something Musk employees across his companies, including Tesla, have complained about. A source who spoke to The Information said Musk set unrealistic deadlines for training models, which led to cutting corners on Grok. 

Of course, several of the exits could have been driven by a desire to cash out. 

SpaceX regularly offers tenders so employees can sell vested shares privately. Others might simply feel confident that their equity is close to liquidity given the company’s blockbuster IPO expectations. Once employees see the financial upside light at the end of the tunnel, they’re less likely to work at a company that puts undue pressure on them and may not be building the leading models they want to work on.


TechCrunch has reached out to SpaceX for comment.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Elon #Musks #SpaceXAI #bleeding #staff #merger #TechCrunchElon Musk,SpaceX,spacexai,xAI

11 of the xAI departures announced directly after the merger, including two co-founders.

SpaceX acquired xAI — two companies owned by Musk — in February and has since installed new leadership at the company. Musk renamed the combined company SpaceXAI earlier this month.

The pre-training departures, which followed the exit of team lead Juntang Zhuang, have particularly concerned employees and people close to SpaceXAI, per The Information. Pre-training is the first step to building new AI models, and many have questioned whether the company is still committed to developing leading models. 

The report also found that Musk’s culture of extreme work led some staff to leave — something Musk employees across his companies, including Tesla, have complained about. A source who spoke to The Information said Musk set unrealistic deadlines for training models, which led to cutting corners on Grok. 

Of course, several of the exits could have been driven by a desire to cash out.

SpaceX regularly offers tenders so employees can sell vested shares privately. Others might simply feel confident that their equity is close to liquidity given the company’s blockbuster IPO expectations. Once employees see the financial upside light at the end of the tunnel, they’re less likely to work at a company that puts undue pressure on them and may not be building the leading models they want to work on.

TechCrunch has reached out to SpaceX for comment.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Elon #Musks #SpaceXAI #bleeding #staff #merger #TechCrunchElon Musk,SpaceX,spacexai,xAI">Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI has been bleeding staff since its merger | TechCrunch

Elon Musk’s newly rebranded SpaceXAI is reportedly losing top talent, with more than 50 researchers and engineers departing since February, according to The Information. The exits include key leaders across coding, world models, and Grok voice. 

Rivals like Meta and Thinking Machine Labs are reportedly scooping up former staff, with the company’s core pre-training team dwindling to just a handful of people. Since February, at least 11 xAI employees have defected to Meta, according to The Information’s report. At least seven have left to join Mira Murati’s Thinking Machine Labs. TechCrunch has previously reported on 11 of the xAI departures announced directly after the merger, including two co-founders.

SpaceX acquired xAI — two companies owned by Musk — in February and has since installed new leadership at the company. Musk renamed the combined company SpaceXAI earlier this month.

The pre-training departures, which followed the exit of team lead Juntang Zhuang, have particularly concerned employees and people close to SpaceXAI, per The Information. Pre-training is the first step to building new AI models, and many have questioned whether the company is still committed to developing leading models. 

The report also found that Musk’s culture of extreme work led some staff to leave — something Musk employees across his companies, including Tesla, have complained about. A source who spoke to The Information said Musk set unrealistic deadlines for training models, which led to cutting corners on Grok. 

Of course, several of the exits could have been driven by a desire to cash out.

SpaceX regularly offers tenders so employees can sell vested shares privately. Others might simply feel confident that their equity is close to liquidity given the company’s blockbuster IPO expectations. Once employees see the financial upside light at the end of the tunnel, they’re less likely to work at a company that puts undue pressure on them and may not be building the leading models they want to work on.

TechCrunch has reached out to SpaceX for comment.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Elon #Musks #SpaceXAI #bleeding #staff #merger #TechCrunchElon Musk,SpaceX,spacexai,xAI

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