Tesla stock fell at one point Friday by 6% ($32 billion) on reports that crashing car and exploding rocket mogul Elon Musk was abandoning his plans to produce an affordable electric car to compete with Chinese and other foreign brands. The plan was to focus on robotaxis, which have long been a Musk goal. The Reuters report above cited company messages and three sources familiar with the plans.
Now, Musk is denying that Tesla will cancel it's less expensive version, saying on "X" that Reuters was "lying" (ed. note -- nuisance suit from Musk imminent). The back-and-forth is the latest in a bad year so far for the erratic mogul, with electric vehicle sales off, and competition with Chinese EVs strong and growing. First quarter vehicle deliveries for Tesla were off dramatically -- by 56,000 (8.5%). Some analysts attribute the drop to both competition and Musk's off-putting, radical right-wing utterances. It probably doesn't help that his favored candidate, the Malignant Loser, keeps talking in violent terms about electric vehicles, claiming they'll destroy our auto industry.
In related news, it must chafe the egomaniacal Musk to see that rival Mark Zuckerberg has passed him as the third richest person, putting him in fourth place (Jeff Bezos is second, and Bernard Arnault is first). The drop is attributed to the decline in Tesla's stock.
(photo: Mike Blake / Reuters)
