Tesla’s This fall 2024 earnings convention name was loaded with Elon Musk’s trademark swagger, big-time confidence, and daring predictions. From full self-driving (FSD) to humanoid robots, Musk painted a imaginative and prescient of a future the place Tesla dominates not simply the automotive sector however synthetic intelligence and robotics. Listed here are the eight largest takeaways from the decision:
1. Tesla Mannequin Y leads the complete trade
Musk began off by celebrating Tesla’s manufacturing and supply achievements. “In This fall, we set a report and delivered autos at an annualized fee of almost 2 million a yr,” he mentioned, emphasizing that the Mannequin Y was the best-selling automotive of any type globally. “That is value noting. Not simply the most effective electrical car—the most effective car of any type on Earth, No. 1 was Mannequin Y.” Tesla’s shareholder letter added, “we now have made it even higher, with the New [Juniper] Mannequin Y now launched in all markets.”
2. Full self-driving (FSD) is the important thing to Tesla’s future
Musk restated his long-standing perception that car autonomy would be the largest driver of Tesla’s worth. “Autonomy is like 10X-ing,” the expansion potential for Tesla, based on Musk. He additionally reaffirmed Tesla’s aggressive push towards deploying an autonomous ride-hailing community, stating, “We can be launching unsupervised full self-driving as a paid service in Austin in June.” He additionally talked about that the rollout may embody California as properly this yr.
3. Tesla may very well be essentially the most helpful firm on this planet—by far
How far? Musk threw down the gauntlet — making maybe his most audacious monetary prediction but: “I see a path. I’m not saying it’s a simple path, however I see a path the place Tesla is value greater than the subsequent high 5 firms mixed.” He acknowledged the challenges forward however insisted it will be an achievable purpose, given the corporate’s speedy developments in synthetic intelligence, self-driving know-how, and robotics.
4. FSD shouldn’t be a toddler anymore — it’s rising up quick
Musk addressed ongoing skepticism about Tesla’s FSD progress, utilizing this analogy: “If somebody’s final expertise with FSD was a toddler, they assume will probably be a toddler endlessly. However clearly, it’s rising up—it walks and talks now.” He reiterated his problem to skeptics: “Strive it. When’s the final time you tried it?”
5. The robotaxi revolution is coming
Tesla’s FSD developments are main on to what Musk calls “the biggest asset worth improve in human historical past.” He defined, “A passenger automotive usually has solely about 10 hours of utility per week. As soon as that automotive is autonomous, my tough estimate is that it’s in use for at the very least 35, possibly 50 hours per week.” He emphasised that the identical car may very well be used for each individuals and cargo transportation, vastly growing its worth. That mentioned, Tesla’s shareholder letter gave this timeframe: “Our purpose-built Robotaxi product – Cybercab – will proceed to pursue a revolutionary ‘unboxed’ manufacturing technique and is scheduled for quantity manufacturing beginning in 2026.”
6. Tesla’s future can be ‘ballistic’
Musk predicted that Tesla’s development within the coming years can be exponential. “Issues are actually going to go ballistic subsequent yr and actually ballistic in ‘27 and ‘28,” he mentioned. He highlighted that Tesla is laying the groundwork for a producing and AI revolution that may drive unprecedented enlargement on the firm. Tesla’s shareholder letter additionally forecasted huge issues within the brief time period: “2025 can be a seminal yr in Tesla’s historical past.”
7. Tesla made $600 million from Bitcoin
Tesla’s Chief Monetary Officer, Vaibhav Taneja, highlighted a major monetary achieve from the corporate’s Bitcoin holdings. “Our internet earnings in This fall was impacted by a $600 million mark-to-market profit from Bitcoin as a result of adoption of a brand new accounting customary for digital property,” he mentioned. This marks one of many largest cryptocurrency-related good points in Tesla’s monetary historical past — an attention-grabbing flip of occasions because the incoming administration pivots to a extra Bitcoin-friendly future.
8. Tesla’s new (cheaper) fashions are coming quickly
Tesla’s shareholder letter notes, “Plans for brand new autos, together with extra reasonably priced fashions, stay on monitor for begin of manufacturing within the first half of 2025. These autos will make the most of elements of the next-generation platform in addition to elements of our present platforms and can be produced on the identical manufacturing strains as our present car lineup.” This method, Tesla said, will allow “greater than 60% development over 2024 manufacturing earlier than investing in new manufacturing strains.”
Closing Ideas
If there’s one factor Musk made clear, it’s that Tesla shouldn’t be slowing down. From FSD to Optimus, the corporate is betting huge on car autonomy and synthetic intelligence. Whether or not Tesla can ship on these aggressive timeframes stays to be seen, however one factor is for positive—Musk is as assured as ever. And as historical past has clearly demonstrated, betting towards him is never a successful technique.
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Co-founder of EVANNEX, Matt Pressman owns each a Tesla Mannequin S and Mannequin 3 and stays a long-term investor in TSLA inventory. He’s written extensively about Tesla and his work has been printed in CleanTechnica, InsideEVs, and Teslarati. He’s additionally appeared quite a few occasions on Fox Enterprise Information and PBS to supply his views on Elon Musk and Tesla.
