Earlier, Tesla announced its sales data for the first quarter of this year: the production of new cars reached 433371 million, basically in line with external expectations, and the delivery of new cars reached 386810000, a year-on-year decrease of 8.53%, and a month-on-month decline of 20.16%. Not only was it far below the 457,000 units previously estimated by Wall Street analysts, but it also recorded its worst performance since the third quarter of 2022.
The performance was poor, and Tesla's stock price fell in response. Since the beginning of this year, it has shrunk by nearly one-third, and its market value has evaporated by more than $260 billion. As for the poor delivery, Tesla said that it was due to the upgrade of the production line of the new version of the Model 3 in the factory, the arson of the German factory and the Red Sea conflict affecting shipping. It is undeniable that these have affected Tesla's performance, but the more core reason is the decline in competitiveness.
Under the siege of endless price wars and countless fierce competitors, the Model 3 and Model Y have lost their status in their respective market segments. Competitors can always outperform Tesla in one or several aspects. So much so that when it comes to Tesla's competitive advantage now, brand influence has always been put in the first place.
BYD, another major giant in the new energy vehicle market, also recently announced its first-quarter sales data: 302,500 new cars were sold in March, a year-on-year increase of 46.06%, and the cumulative sales in the first quarter were 626,300, a year-on-year increase of 13.44%. In terms of sales data alone, Tesla is very envious. Don't forget, BYD's 2023 financial report is also in full bloom, and the key data that "exploded" one by one may also impress Tesla.
Based on their respective performance, the momentum of public opinion is biased in favor of BYD, and many netizens claim that Tesla's good days are coming to an end. In other words, the competition between BYD and Tesla is about to be completely reshaped, and the former will gradually gain the upper hand, and Musk should envy Wang Chuanfu. Really?
In all fairness, Musk must have envied BYD's sales, but only at the level of praise. After all, in terms of positioning development, the two companies are not direct competitors.
In December, an analyst made bearish remarks about Tesla, saying that Tesla has no unique advantages over Toyota, and at the same time faces a catch-up by Chinese competitors, and expects 2024 to be a difficult year for Tesla. Musk responded that the analyst chose the wrong frame of reference, and that Tesla is a technology company that combines artificial intelligence and robotics, not just a car manufacturer.
Is Musk trying to elevate Tesla? Not really.
In 1995, Musk and his younger brother founded Zip2 (Baidu Maps + Dianping), which was acquired by Compaq four years later. In 1999, Musk co-founded an electronic payment company, which was later merged into PayPal and eventually acquired by eBay. Everyone should be familiar with the story after this, Musk founded SpaceX, Tesla (investment entry) and SolarCity one after another.
Counting Musk's entrepreneurial path, you will find that he has been taking a completely new path and letting others play with him and play the rest.
Let's talk about SpaceX, the reason why Musk founded it is to realize Martian immigration in the future and create a real space civilization for mankind. As a result, SpaceX is taking a new path of development: the rocket shell is made of stainless steel, the fuel is natural gas, and the rocket is manufactured in an assembly line; the launch site is completely open, and the astronauts can pay for it; it is researching to reduce the cost of rocket launches, and promoting rocket recycling and reuse technology. Now, SpaceX has made a profit, and in the future it will send hundreds of thousands of satellites and set up a "Starlink" network in space.
Look back at Tesla. Musk's creation of pure electric vehicles is not just to subvert traditional fuel vehicles, but to truly realize autonomous driving in science fiction movies. Therefore, Tesla has been specializing in intelligent driving technology. Tesla's full range of models has not been updated so far, and it insists on not being equipped with lidar, because the existing body structure has supported the current intelligent driving technology. Perhaps, in Musk's eyes, the traditional performance, configuration and design of cars will be useless in the future. When autonomous driving is truly implemented, cars will be like shared bicycles now, and any "decoration" will actually be meaningless.
One is to use new energy vehicles to explore intelligent driving technology, and the other is to create high-quality new energy vehicles in research and development technology, the company's mission and purpose are different, and BYD is naturally not a direct opponent of Tesla. Since they are not on the same track, there is obviously no point in judging wins and losses based on sales performance. As for other car companies, I can't find anyone who can compare with Tesla.
In 2018, the first successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket placed a Tesla's first-generation Roadster sports car, with the circuit board on the car that reads "made on earth by human". Chinese means made by humans on earth.