00:00Yeah, I was sad about the FM radio station being pulled, but myself, of all the features, you know, to save money on.
00:06But I think for Tesla owners who've bought cars over the last two years, we've all lost money on the car from its residual value due to the lowering of the prices of the car on a consistent basis due to less and less demand.
00:21And with this vehicle, they've priced it at a price point where it clearly won't sell.
00:26So we expect the discounts to come probably within 30 to 60 days.
00:30So if you buy the car today for, let's say, $39,000, it's going to be for sale for $36,000 or $35,000 in the next couple of months, is my guess.
00:40And that's been the trend for all Tesla vehicles that have been bought new over the last several years.
00:45So I caution people, you can lease vehicles from Tesla, which is a much smarter way to buy an electric vehicle than to own one.
00:52I mean, partially people buy Teslas for the acceleration power, right?
00:56And some of the other features like that, it's not taking away those features, is it?
01:01No, it's the slowest of all the Teslas by far.
01:03And so it just doesn't compare in any way to a Model Y, you know, like a regular Model Y.
01:10They've stripped out some of my favorite things about Tesla, including the glass roof on top of the sound system.
01:17You know, being a music guy and a musician, you know, the sound system in the Tesla with the quiet, you know, it's such a quiet car to drive.
01:24You can put on Miles Davis and it sounds like he's sitting next to you.
01:28And to pull all this stuff out, it kind of is like ripping the soul out of what made Tesla so cool and unique.
01:34You know, it's like they took the stuff out of the back seat so your kids can't watch YouTube and not bother you on a six-hour drive, you know, things like that.
01:43And so I just don't see the point of buying this.
01:45You can go into the used car market right now, buy a 2023 Model Y performance for the same price as this car, and it's fully loaded.
01:54And Teslas are like iPhones.
01:56They just don't depreciate in the same way as traditional cars.
01:59And the software gets upgraded.
02:01So the most important thing when you buy a used Tesla is to make sure you have at least hardware four, because hardware three cars are going to become worthless pretty soon.
02:09And so hardware four cars, a pretty new Model Y with low mileage, you can get a phenomenal deal, and it's a much better car.
02:17So, Ross, why do you think they made the decision to do this then?
02:20I mean, was it really just to get around the fact that the EV tax credits were going away and, you know,
02:25wanted a headline to be able to reassure those who wanted to buy a Tesla that they wouldn't have to pay all of that subsidy themselves?
02:34Right.
02:34And that's the idea is we lose the $7,500 credit, but we'll cut, you know, $5,000 worth of great things out of the car and sell a worse version of the car.
02:45And it doesn't really offset the pain 100% of losing the tax credit, first of all.
02:51But second of all, I think there's a cost to this because you cannibalize other models of the car who people just can't afford.
02:59And the car isn't that cheap.
03:00It's still $700 a month plus insurance.
03:03So when you're really looking at who can afford this car, they're not entering a new market of new consumers.
03:10It's really just to placate the fact that because of Elon, we lost this credit.
03:15So let's not forget who's to blame for this loss of this incredible benefit, which clearly people took advantage of last quarter because it was ending.
03:25And the credit worked and created huge demand for EVs.
03:28And this is a big step back for climate and the environment.
03:32And it's all because of the support for the current administration's anti-climate views.
03:37And it was supported by Elon himself.
03:39So, you know, no offense, but Elon, this sucks.
03:42And it's your fault.
03:44Then, Ross, why aren't investors punishing the stock more?
03:47Because, yeah, we saw a little bit of a sell-off, but we're still very much close to our all-time highs.
03:52We're maybe $50 off the high.
03:56Well, you know, if you don't believe in miracles, you know, that was a great time if you want to sell your Tesla stock to get this kind of premium for the company at 260 times earnings, which makes no sense.
04:06So the way we look at Tesla and we own Tesla is, you know, the core business is now worth about $150 a share.
04:13And there's about $300 a share of hope in the price.
04:17And so that hope is built around robotics and this cab business and full self-driving eventually working, which it still doesn't work.
04:25So, you know, people are willing to pay a bigger and bigger premium.
04:28I hope now that Elon's doubled down and said that he's not leaving Tesla and all this kind of stuff.
04:33But in the end, over time, Tesla has to deliver.
04:36And they've got to deliver robots that work, which I'm not sure anybody really wants, number one.
04:41And I don't think they're ahead in this business.
04:43And they've got to make this cab business work, which I think is really tough when Waymo works so well already and is already taking over city after city.
04:52I mean, where is there room for another cab company after Uber and Waymo and Lyft and many other robo competitors that are coming?
05:00So Tesla had a great business selling electric vehicles that were going to drive themselves, and they should have leaned in on that business.
05:08And instead, they've moved completely in a different direction.
05:11And a lot of people believe in this direction, and they're betting on it.
05:14And I wish them luck.
05:16You know, I still own stock in the company because I've had it for all these years, and I have this emotional problem selling my last shares.
05:23But, you know, many of our clients own Tesla still and believe in this story.
05:27So we advocate on behalf of shareholders, and I think many people get confused by my position.
05:33I'm not a short seller.
05:34Yeah.
05:35No, no, no.
05:35I hear you.
05:36So Tesla is losing out to competitors in sort of every area of its strategy right now.
05:41What does Elon need to do in order to meet the goals that his board has set for him so that he can earn those pots of money?
05:47Well, that's the other thing.
05:49The way that comp package is set up, it's almost like a ridiculous board of challenges,
05:54that all of which I think are pretty broad and vague so they can easily be reached, unlike the previous comp package, which was much harder.
06:03But I think if you look at the comp package, you can see how confused the company is and how many directions the company is going.
06:09And instead, they really need to focus on the main thing that they need to solve, which is full self-driving.
06:14And Elon says it himself.
06:15If we can't solve full self-driving, there's no value in Tesla.
06:18And I agree, and even more so today than in the past.
06:23And so when you look at the problems of full self-driving, which I've analyzed now and used for years,
06:28I've been testing full self-driving for five years now, I'm convinced that they need to add LiDAR
06:34and they need to add more sensors and hardware to the vehicle to get it to work.
06:38And we know that it works with Waymo.
06:40I've taken Waymo through all kinds of tests now, and it drives better than humans.
06:46And so if we know it works with Waymo, Tesla and Elon need to sort of like get off their stubborn,
06:53egotistical high horse and start accepting that full self-driving doesn't work.
06:58And every day we fall further behind because he thinks it's a software solution, and it's not.
07:03It's a hardware solution.
07:04And he could solve this in three months if he just accepted that LiDAR needed to be put on the car.
07:10And that's where we're at, and so I don't see full self-driving getting solved anytime soon.
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