(The Daily Upside) email newsletter this morning:- ELECTRIC VEHICLES Tesla Gets Caught In EU-China Crossfire As it cracks down on China-made electric vehicles, the EU isn’t just rounding up the usual suspects. The probe will ensnare big international names as well, including BMW, Renault, and EV superstar Tesla, which all export EVs from China. Elon Musk might need to break out some diplomatic skills soon. The EU’s antitrust investigation claims that China is artificially flooding the market with cheap EVs via enormous state subsidies. An EU official told the Financial Times on Tuesday that the probe applies to any company that exports EVs from China. Unmade In China For Tesla in particular, its China operations are a crucial part of its logistics network. Tesla’s Shanghai plant is its largest by output, accounting for half of the company’s global deliveries in 2022. Per data provided to Bloomberg by Schmidt Automotive research, 47% of the vehicles Tesla sold in Europe during the first seven months of this year came from Shanghai. With some vigorous re-jigging Tesla could turn this into an opportunity. Unlike its China-based rivals, Tesla has a European plant, opening the Berlin Gigafactory in March 2022 after various delays. Though the factory is operating and helped Tesla overtake Volkswagen in European EV sales, it’s not fully ramped up yet: • Expansion plans submitted by the company in July show it wants to double vehicle production capacity at the Berlin factory to 1 million cars per year. It’s worth noting that the plant doesn’t currently produce the 500,000 cars it’s capable of making annually. • The Berlin plant only makes the Model Y, so reconfiguring it to produce other models like the Model 3 would be a heck of a sprint. The Berlin Gigafactory has also struggled with understaffing issues, Wired reported in December. Tesla might have time on its side, however, as it’s uncertain how long the EU probe will take. “We believe bark is worse than the bite here,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told The Daily Upside, adding: “we see a contained impact to Tesla from this latest EU issue with the can kicked down the road into 2024.” By then, Tesla might be building a whole new factory somewhere. Imitation is the Highest Form of… Nevermind: Another automaker re-thinking its China tactics is Ford. Per a report from The Wall Street Journal, Ford attempted to mimic Tesla’s strategy of selling direct to consumers in China, but has found precious little success.
I don't recall which article I got the information from, but the jist of it was that Chinese EVs represented 0.02% of European EV sales or 3k cars. The largest number came from Tesla in China, but with a factory in Germany, it's a bit politically sensitive to challenge Tesla's imports, although not out of the question. The real issue is retaliation from China who can prevent foreign manufacturers from selling cars there. Volkswagen and Renault would be particularly hard hit in light of the ridiculously low number of Chinese brands sold in Europe.
https://youtube.com/shorts/QaVNKxWEgc8?si=EAoQakxiv3hKxLCR And his fortune is 100% stock options based on objectives.
Newsflash, options are a way better of being paid. Tax-wise for the individual, PR and earnings-wise for the company. Just about every tech company does it. Elon the trendsetter ... that is just following the trend, started long before Tesla was a twinkle in his eye.
The point I was making is he doesn't draw a 20-40 million salary... The point he was making is, it wasn't easy to get to where he is and could have failed easily.
sad how such sympathies seldom extend to line workers that have to collectively bargain to get theirs.
Tesla workers get both salary/health package and stock options. Some have become millionaires, thanks to share value.