Wendover Productions wants to have the commenters attack them for making and publishing a one-sided hit-piece video.
Wendover says:
One note: this video is going to get a lot of negative response, and we’ve made it with full knowledge of that. In fact, #TSLA investors pre-planned their brigading strategy for this video on Reddit, having seen it yesterday on Nebula, so take the comments with a grain of salt.
A couple of things I’d like to highlight:
– This video is titled “How Tesla Fumbled.” It’s not “The State of Tesla in 2023.” This video is specifically focused on the ways that Tesla squandered its lead, so it inherently omits the positives—that’s the video we decided to make.
– The thesis of this video is not that Tesla will fail, but rather that Tesla made some missteps that squandered the massive lead it built for itself, and that it’s therefore going to be more difficult for the company to maintain a dominant market position (but not necessarily impossible.)
– This video has no undisclosed funding sources. Wren is the only sponsor on this video. I am not currently a Tesla shareholder, not do I hold any options on the stock.
[1] Wendover Production fumbled with a biased Tesla hit piece video. They try to make it ok with a comment that intentionally chose to make a one-sided hit piece. $TSLA https://t.co/SpiWm0eig6 @SawyerMerritt @elonmusk
— nextbigfuture (@nextbigfuture) February 23, 2023
[2] They repeat accusations about Tesla build quality. Paint. Panel gaps. They praise Rivian and other EV makers. Rivian recalled 13K out of 15K cars built Oct 2022 with steering defect (actual major cost to fix and safety issue). A real quality problem. @SawyerMerritt $TSLA
— nextbigfuture (@nextbigfuture) February 23, 2023
[3] Wendover one-sided ignores. GM recalled every Chevy Bolt with batteries that catch fire. Hyundai Kona same multi-billion fire safety problem. Not just panel gaps. Big dangerous problems. F150 Lightning stopped production with has battery issues. $TSLA @SawyerMerritt
— nextbigfuture (@nextbigfuture) February 23, 2023
GM is offering Bolt EV customers $6000 rebates but only if they agree not to sue GM over the battery fire recall. It already cost GM $11000-12000 per Chevy Bolt EV to fix and replace the batteries. Hyundai recalled all Kona’s. LG had to compensate GM about $2 billion.
[4] Tesla EVs are safer and better without dangerous problems. 99% of Tesla recalls are fixed instantly with over-the-air updates. My Bolt paint was good before it spontaneously caught fire. $TSLA @SawyerMerritt
— nextbigfuture (@nextbigfuture) February 23, 2023
[5] The panel gaps on my Toyota BZ4X were great before the wheels fell off. $TSLA @SawyerMerritt https://t.co/QlCFfp1L5H
— nextbigfuture (@nextbigfuture) February 23, 2023
[6] Wendover Productions said Wendover Production intentionally chose to push out a biased hit piece. Mission accomplished. One-sided hit piece achieved. Sponsored by carbon offset company, Wren. Lets make sure we have more carbon to offset. $TSLA https://t.co/SpiWm0eig6… https://t.co/KRdLEM1T8q
— nextbigfuture (@nextbigfuture) February 23, 2023
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
Tesla no longer has a monopoly on EVs. There are number of companies e.g. BYD, MG, that are offering very nice cars with good range and a much cheaper price.
Whoosh!
The point of the video was not that other car makers didn’t make missteps (the biggest misstep being waiting until 2020 to start mass EV production when the technology was around 20 years earlier, and missing out on potentially 2 decades of R&D), but rather that Tesla had a huge lead but let others catch up through a few rookie mistakes.
I seem to remember that the purpose of Tesla was to force the car industry to transition to electric. So is Tesla making rookie mistakes, or is Tesla forcing other companies to provide competitive products? Note that if Tesla weren’t burning billions in FSD and Optimus, they might have made just a really cheap EV and undercut everyone else. That’s not in the Master Plan however.