We Are Witnessing the End of Tesla’s EV Empire
The brand that was once synonymous with electric vehicles is in precipitous decline.
In 2011, Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared on CNBC, where he was asked about a then-obscure Chinese company called BYD (which is an acronym for Build Your Dreams).
“They’re ramping up production of their electric vehicles,” the host told Musk.
The South African-born entrepreneur laughed.
“Why do you laugh?” she responded.
“Have you seen their car?” he carried on, grinning from ear to ear.
“You don’t see them at all as a competitor?” she asked.
“I don’t think they have a great product…I don’t think it’s particularly attractive. The technology is not very strong,” he told her with an arrogant tone.
In 2024, BYD surpassed Tesla in total revenue.
Last year, they surpassed Tesla in total electric vehicles sold globally.
And that’s not the end of the bad news for Tesla and Musk.
The Canadians just announced that they’d be reducing their 100% tariff on Chinese cars to single digits, all but guaranteeing that the country will be flooded with Chinese automobiles. And there’s a lot of reason to think the Canadians will bite.
Tesla’s sales have been plummeting across the world, with a particularly sharp dive in Europe — registrations were down 71% in Sweden and 66% in France year over year.
The company is laying off more than 1,000 workers in Germany, a fact disclosed by the local workers’ council.
The reason for these sales declines can be debated, but they are occurring as Chinese EV sales are seeing massive growth, especially in Europe. We aren’t seeing a broader decline in EV registrations at the same level as what is happening to Tesla, and it’s obvious why.
Musk has become one of the world’s most polarizing billionaires by attaching himself to far-right politics from the United States to Germany. The days where Musk cozied up to presidents Democratic and Republican alike (like most CEOs) are over. Today, he spends his days telling us that white people are so persecuted they are on the verge of being slaughtered en masse if they become a minority in the United States (Elon apparently never goes outside in Texas, where he lives, where white people are already a minority.)
It would be easy, however, to blame Musk’s increasing embrace of extremist politics as the sole reason for the company’s sudden failures.
There’s also the greed.
Earlier this year, Musk announced that Tesla would no longer be offering their Full Self-Driving (Supervised) [FSD] service as a one-time purchase. Instead, the company will require you to subscribe month to month if you want to use the autonomous technology.
Uptake of these subscriptions has been very low, despite all of the hype Musk has put out there into the world about how amazing FSD is.
So the company just announced that they would be removing Autopilot from cars that are newly sold. Autopilot has long been a free feature in Tesla cars. It combines basic lane centering with traffic-aware cruise control. It is not only a basic feature on Tesla cars, it’s a basic feature on each of Tesla’s competitors. It lets you let the car drive itself, within the confines of one lane, safely on the highway. When I owned a Tesla, I probably used Autopilot for dozens of hours. I use the equivalent technology on the competitor EV I use today. It doesn’t cost me a dime.
By removing Autopilot, Musk is essentially making his smart car dumber than a Toyota Corolla you could buy ten years ago. He’s also making it more unsafe. These sorts of highway driving systems reduce fatigue and help avoid deadly driver errors. Now, you will only be able to get any self-driving aides by paying Musk $99 a month for an FSD subscription.
Rather than improving the service or lowering the price, Musk is simply using his market power to coerce his consumers to give him more money. One reason why he might want to boost FSD subscriptions is that his trillion dollar pay package is tied to the goal of achieving a certain number of subscriptions. We now know that safety and value matter far less to him than getting even more obscenely rich.
All across social media, EV enthusiasts are swearing to never buy another Tesla. And if the West continues to go in the direction of Canada, they may make good on their promise. The EVs coming out of China have been wowing consumers who have access to them for years. Even Ford’s American CEO decided to daily drive a Chinese EV.
It now looks like China is poised to take over the automotive industry in the same way the Japanese did with the rise of giants Honda and Toyota. The U.S. auto industry will continue to shrink, and Tesla will become a niche brand rather than a market leader.
It didn’t have to be this way, but it seems like we here in America put all our eggs in the Tesla basket; other American automakers did not have Musk’s wisdom of investing early and big in electric vehicles.
But now that Musk’s wisdom has given way to insanity, prepare to live in an automotive world where Beijing calls the shots.
ve you seen their car?” he carried on, grinning from ear to ear.
“You don’t see them at all as a competitor?” she asked.
“I don’t think they have a great product…I don’t think it’s particularly attractive. The technology is not very strong,” he told her with an arrogant tone.
In 2024, BYD surpassed Tesla in total revenue.
Last year, they surpassed Tesla in total electric vehicles sold globally.
And that’s not the end of the bad news for Tesla and Musk.
The Canadians just announced that they’d be reducing their 100% tariff on Chinese cars to single digits, all but guaranteeing that the country will be flooded with Chinese automobiles. And there’s a lot of reason to think the Canadians will bite.
Tesla’s sales have been plummeting across the world, with a particularly sharp dive in Europe — registrations were down 71% in Sweden and 66% in France year over year.
The company is laying off more than 1,000 workers in Germany, a fact disclosed by the local workers’ council.
The reason for these sales declines can be debated, but they are occurring as Chinese EV sales are seeing massive growth, especially in Europe. We aren’t seeing a broader decline in EV registrations at the same level as what is happening to Tesla, and it’s obvious why.
Musk has become one of the world’s most polarizing billionaires by attaching himself to far-right politics from the United States to Germany. The days where Musk cozied up to presidents Democratic and Republican alike (like most CEOs) are over. Today, he spends his days telling us that white people are so persecuted they are on the verge of being slaughtered en masse if they become a minority in the United States (Elon apparently never goes outside in Texas, where he lives, where white people are already a minority.)
It would be easy, however, to blame Musk’s increasing embrace of extremist politics as the sole reason for the company’s sudden failures.
There’s also the greed.
Earlier this year, Musk announced that Tesla would no longer be offering their Full Self-Driving (Supervised) [FSD] service as a one-time purchase. Instead, the company will require you to subscribe month to month if you want to use the autonomous technology.
Uptake of these subscriptions has been very low, despite all of the hype Musk has put out there into the world about how amazing FSD is.
So the company just announced that they would be removing Autopilot from cars that are newly sold. Autopilot has long been a free feature in Tesla cars. It combines basic lane centering with traffic-aware cruise control. It is not only a basic feature on Tesla cars, it’s a basic feature on each of Tesla’s competitors. It lets you let the car drive itself, within the confines of one lane, safely on the highway. When I owned a Tesla, I probably used Autopilot for dozens of hours. I use the equivalent technology on the competitor EV I use today. It doesn’t cost me a dime.
By removing Autopilot, Musk is essentially making his smart car dumber than a Toyota Corolla you could buy ten years ago. He’s also making it more unsafe. These sorts of highway driving systems reduce fatigue and help avoid deadly driver errors. Now, you will only be able to get any self-driving aides by paying Musk $99 a month for an FSD subscription.
Rather than improving the service or lowering the price, Musk is simply using his market power to coerce his consumers to give him more money. One reason why he might want to boost FSD subscriptions is that his trillion dollar pay package is tied to the goal of achieving a certain number of subscriptions. We now know that safety and value matter far less to him than getting even more obscenely rich.
All across social media, EV enthusiasts are swearing to never buy another Tesla. And if the West continues to go in the direction of Canada, they may make good on their promise. The EVs coming out of China have been wowing consumers who have access to them for years. Even Ford’s American CEO decided to daily drive a Chinese EV.
It now looks like China is poised to take over the automotive industry in the same way the Japanese did with the rise of giants Honda and Toyota. The U.S. auto industry will continue to shrink, and Tesla will become a niche brand rather than a market leader.
It didn’t have to be this way, but it seems like we here in America put all our eggs in the Tesla basket; other American automakers did not have Musk’s wisdom of investing early and big in electric vehicles.
But now that Musk’s wisdom has given way to insanity, prepare to live in an automotive world where Beijing calls the shots.
He could have so easily just stayed as a strange, but successful and not largely objectionable industrialist. The internet brained heel turn was such a stupid, needless waste
I’ve ridden in multiple BYD Ubers in Dubai. It’s a smart, futuristic car with great design and great ambition. You, know, like Tesla used to be (it’s in the opening anecdote below). Before Musk went full MAGA and bought a government for a mere $44B. This edition of The American Saga nails all the ways in which Tesla is in trouble. Couldn’t happen to a worser man!