1/ Once again, @WSJ's $TSLA beat reporter, @timhiggins, promotes the myth that Tesla is production constrained. Story today is called "Tesla's E-Truck Plan Lifts Stock". Let's briefly deconstruct.
2/ Higgins notes the $tsla share price pushed past $1k after Musk's memo that it is time to bring out the Tesla semi. Higgins notes the semi has been "long promised" & later details how it was unveiled in 2017 & promised for 2019.
3/ Higgins also notes that Musk neglected to say where or when the semi would be built, and that Tesla refused to comment. And, Higgins also reports on Musk's weekend memo about Model Y production being the top priority. So, credit where credit is due for proper context.
4/ So, the real story is: Musk says Tesla will do what it said three years ago it would do last year, but now won't say where or when.
And that's a "Plan"?
Maybe my issue is with the headline writer, not Higgins.
And that's a "Plan"?
Maybe my issue is with the headline writer, not Higgins.
5/ My real bone to pick with the Higgins story is this sentence: "[Tesla's 500k] delivery targets are now in question after local government efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus shut down Tesla's lone U.S. assembly factory starting in late March."
6/ That's quite true. But it comes immediately after a sentence about how analysts predicted 2020 would be the first year with annual profits. In other words, it implies Tesla won't be profitable *because of* constrained production.
7/ That's very subtle. Higgins finds a way to do that in every Tesla story he writes. The truth is that even with the shutdown of production, Tesla still had inventory it couldn't unload, and had to slash prices.
8/ But, I suppose, if you're an access journalist whose book on Musk is nearing publication, you don't want to offend The Great One by hinting at the truth: demand for these cars is very weak, and getting weaker.
