[hamac]

Hier zie, meer FUD.

Tesla may be abandoning Semi project: Analyst

...
In the company’s most recent earnings call, Engle points out that Musk never mentioned the Tesla Semi – the darling of the company just mere months ago – until he was asked specifically about it by Phil LeBeau of CNBC, who wanted to know about reservation numbers and how far along in the process the development was.

Musk’s answer was eye-opening.

“I actually don’t know how many reservations we have for the Semi. About 2,000? Okay. I mean, we haven’t really tried to sell the Semi. It’s not like there’s like an ongoing sales effort, so sales – orders for Semi are like opportunistic, really companies approaching us. Yeah, it’s not something we really think about much,” Musk answered.

To Engle, the acknowledgement that Tesla isn’t actively selling the Semi is telling.

“If the Semi looked like it could claim a significant market, then Tesla would be moving forward with it,” he wrote. “That would not necessarily require massive capital outlays toward building a production facility – not at first, anyway. But one would expect the company to at least tout the market opportunity and continue to promise that development would be coming soon. Instead, investors have been left with a rather peculiar silence.”

So, what is the status of the Semi?

Last week, the Semi triggered a lawsuit from Nikola Motor, which claims Tesla violated three of its patents in designing the Semi. That suit is seeking $2 billion in damages. In addition, Anheuser-Busch announced that it will purchase up to 800 Nikola Two tractor models over the next seven years as it works to convert its entire dedicated fleet to alternative power.

With all the bad publicity swirling around Tesla, many are now wondering if Tesla itself will survive.
...
Engle surmises that with only about 2,000 orders for the Semi – a total he calls “anemic” – and Musk announcing that Tesla would be cutting its capital expense budget from $3.4 billion to less than $3 billion gives Engle reason to believe the Tesla Semi is not a priority.
...