On April 26, local time, the U.S. auto safety regulator announced that it had begun a new investigation into Tesla. The survey covers Model Y, X, S, 3 and Cybertruck vehicles with Autopilot manufactured in the U.S. from 2012 to 2024.
It is reported that the main reason for Tesla's investigation is that there have been multiple collisions after the vehicle was recalled and software updates were undertaken, and the preliminary test results of the regulator have also raised concerns.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Tesla announced a recall of more than 2 million vehicles in December 2023 and a functional upgrade to its driver assistance system, Autopilot, but they doubt it's safe enough. NHTSA, after concluding a nearly three-year investigation into Autopilot, said it found evidence that "Tesla's weak driver engagement system was not suitable for Autopilot's lax operational capabilities," leading to "serious security breaches."
Tesla announced in December 2023 that it was implementing the largest recall in its history, involving 2.03 million U.S. vehicles, nearly all Tesla vehicles on U.S. roads, with the goal of better ensuring that drivers are focused when using its advanced driver assistance systems. At the time, Tesla said Autopilot's software system controls "may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse" and could increase the risk of a crash.
It is reported that Tesla's Autopilot is designed to enable the car to automatically steer, accelerate and brake in the lane, while the enhanced Autopilot can assist the driver to change lanes on the highway, but it cannot make the vehicle autonomous.
Just a week ago, a Tesla driver was arrested on suspicion of homicide after a Tesla car that may have used Autopilot killed a motorcyclist near Seattle, USA.
According to the latest Reuters report, since 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched special accident investigations into more than 40 cases of Tesla's alleged use of driver systems such as Autopilot, and 23 accident fatalities have been reported so far.
Tesla did not respond immediately to this.
A little more news:
Tesla cuts prices again, and the stock market is not flat
At the end of last week, Tesla lowered the prices of several models in major markets such as the United States and China, with a drop of about $2,000. Among them, the starting prices of the Model 3 and Model Y models in China have dropped to 231,900 yuan and 249,900 yuan, respectively.
In response to questions from the outside world, Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied on April 21 under an article about "Tesla's frequent price adjustments" that the price of the traditional dealer model is also unstable. He stressed that other automakers will also adjust their prices through constant dealer price increases or incentives from manufacturers and dealers. As a result, "only a fool would think that MSRP is the actual selling price." ”
He said Tesla's prices must be constantly adjusted to ensure that production matches market demand.
At the same time, a news about Tesla's reduction in holdings has also attracted attention. On April 26, it was reported that the latest regulatory disclosure documents showed that Drew Baglino, the former senior vice president of Tesla, who announced his resignation earlier in April, sold about 1.14 million shares of the company, with a total value of about 181.5 million US dollars (about 1.32 billion yuan).
According to the filing, Drew Baglino has previously reduced his stake in Tesla twice, with a total value of about $4 million.
It is reported that Drew Baglino joined Tesla in 2006, first as an engineer, and was promoted to senior vice president in 2016, and reported directly to Musk, and was regarded as an informal head of operations in the eyes of many employees.
It is worth noting that since the beginning of this year, Tesla has continued to suffer a wave of selling, and its stock price has plummeted, and its stock price once fell to $138.8 in intraday trading on April 22, local time, with the largest decline of more than 44% this year.
Last week was a tough week for Tesla's shareholders, with its stock price falling every day, with a total weekly decline of about 14.03%. Tesla's share price rebounded this week, recovering last week's losses.
As of the close of local time on April 26, Tesla's stock price was $168.29, down 1.11%, with a market value of $536.71 billion.
Tesla's financial report released on April 23 showed that in the first quarter of 2024, the company's revenue was $21.3 billion, down 9% from the same period last year, and net profit was $1.129 billion, down 55% year-on-year.
In the first quarter, Tesla's revenue from automobile-related businesses was $17.378 billion, down 13% from $19.963 billion in the same period last year, and a bigger decline than $21.563 billion in the previous quarter.
According to the financial report, Tesla has recently begun to improve operational efficiency by cutting costs, and will continue to focus on achieving profitable growth by reducing costs such as sales, while using existing factories and production lines to introduce new and more favorable products. Tesla believes that global EV sales are currently under pressure, but EVs and autonomous driving are the future of automobiles.
According to the data, the company's global deliveries of electric vehicles in the first quarter of this year fell by nearly 9% compared with the same period last year, the first quarterly year-on-year delivery decline in nearly four years. According to the latest disclosed data, in the first quarter of this year, Tesla delivered a total of 386,810 vehicles, far below the previous average expectation of 449,080 by analysts, and the largest short-than-expected margin ever. This is also the first time Tesla has fallen below the 400,000 mark since the third quarter of 2022, and it is also the first year-over-year decline since the second quarter of 2020, a decrease of more than 8.5% compared to the delivery of 422875 vehicles in the first quarter of last year.
Faced with the pressure of sales and performance, Tesla began to improve operational efficiency by cutting costs. In an internal email to employees in mid-April, Musk announced that the company would lay off more than 10% of its workforce, affecting about 14,000 employees, to cut costs and increase productivity.
At the same time, in order to cope with the fierce competition in the new energy vehicle market, Tesla's production plan for low-cost models is accelerating.
During Tesla's earnings call, Musk made it clear that more competitively priced budget models are planned to hit the market in early 2025. Musk said that the new model will be manufactured from the existing production line, without the need for a new factory, and does not rule out the possibility of being put on the market earlier.
China Business Daily is synthesized from the Daily Economic News, Securities Times, and Shangguan News