{"id":47881,"date":"2023-04-21T00:03:15","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T04:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=47881"},"modified":"2023-04-21T00:03:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T04:03:15","slug":"elon-musk-was-grilled-on-tesla-s-price-cuts-during-the-company-s-earnings-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=47881","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk was grilled on Tesla&#8217;s price cuts during the company&#8217;s earnings call &#8211; Autoblog"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><figcaption>\n  <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/tag\/elon+musk\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:0;\">Elon Musk<\/a> faced more than a half dozen questions about<br \/>\n  <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/tesla\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:1;\">Tesla&#8217;s<\/a> price cuts during the company&#8217;s earnings call.<br \/>\n  <span class=\"copyright\">Getty Images<\/span><br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul class=\"summary-list\">\n<li>Elon Musk was grilled about Tesla&#8217;s recent price cuts during the carmaker&#8217;s earnings call.<\/li>\n<li>Musk said Tesla could sell its product for &#8220;zero profit&#8221; due to future yields from its autonomous technology.<\/li>\n<li>The company has trimmed prices six times this year, and its profit margins have dropped as a result.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Investors and analysts questioned Elon Musk on Tesla&#8217;s recent price cuts during the companies earnings call on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The Tesla CEO answered over a half dozen questions around the company&#8217;s recent price cuts and their impact on the electric-car maker&#8217;s profit margin during the call.<\/p>\n<p>The company has slashed its prices <a href=\"https:\/\/markets.businessinsider.com\/news\/stocks\/tesla-stock-price-cuts-model-3-y-earnings-evs-musk-2023-4?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=yahoo.com\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:2;\">six times this year<\/a>. Just this week, Tesla <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/cheapest-tesla-now-costs-less-than-40000-price-cuts-2023-4?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=yahoo.com\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:3;\">trimmed the prices<\/a> for some of its <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/tesla\/model+y\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:4;\">Model Y<\/a> and <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/tesla\/model+3\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:5;\">Model 3<\/a> vehicles by $3,000 and $2,000, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Tesla owners and investors alike have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/tesla-buyer-price-cuts-lost-11k-felt-cheated-vent-frustration-2023-1?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=yahoo.com\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:6;\">not responded positively<\/a> to the price cuts. During the first quarter, Tesla&#8217;s automotive revenue dropped more than $1.3 billion compared to the previous quarter, even as the carmaker carmaker made a record number of deliveries. Its gross profit margin dipped <a href=\"https:\/\/markets.businessinsider.com\/news\/stocks\/no-rose-colored-glasses-tesla-s-auto-gross-margin-dipping-below-magical-20-threshold-sparks-concern-says-very-bullish-analyst-1032246896?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=yahoo.com\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:7;\">just below analyst expectations<\/a> to about 19.3%, with analysts blaming price cuts.<\/p>\n<p>Tesla signaled in its report that it could cut prices further. Musk told investors that he believes Tesla could technically even sell its cars for &#8220;zero profit&#8221; and that the company could instead make money in the future through its autonomous software.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve taken the view that pushing for higher volumes and a larger fleet is the right choice here versus a lower volume and higher margin,&#8221; Musk said during the call. &#8220;However, we expect our vehicles over time will be able to <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/article\/best-power-generators\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:8;\">generate<\/a> significant profit through autonomy. So we do believe we&#8217;re like laying the groundwork here, and then it&#8217;s better to ship a large number of cars at a lower margin and subsequently harvest that margin in the future as we perfect autonomy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Musk has <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1647337392268021761\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:9;\">spoken out<\/a> against claims that the electric-car maker has launched a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/tesla-electric-vehicle-price-war-winning-elon-musk-ford-gm-2023-3?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=yahoo.com\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:10;\">price war<\/a> with traditional carmakers in the past.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not trying to, say, take pricing actions in order to deliberately undermine competitors or anything like that,&#8221; Musk said on Wednesday&#8217;s call. &#8220;We really don&#8217;t think about competitors that much.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tesla&#8217;s stock has dipped about 10% since the company released its earnings on Wednesday. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/tesla-stock-price-sinks-elon-musks-price-war-worries-investors-2023-4?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=yahoo.com\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:11;\">said in a note<\/a> to investors that the carmaker&#8217;s profit margins &#8220;are keeping Tesla investors up at night.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Elon Musk is using pricing as a cudgel against the competition,&#8221; former <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/ford\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:12;\">Ford<\/a> CEO Mark Fields <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/squawkcnbc\/status\/1649114068240695315?s=12&amp;t=J3rbOqeI43MgiUv5oHCcbQ\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:13;\">told CNBC<\/a>. &#8220;He&#8217;s doing it because he has positive margins on EVs versus the competition which may not. When you look at using pricing to grow demand, you have to ask &#8216;how low can you go?'&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-original\">\n  Read the original article on<br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/elon-musk-grilled-tesla-price-cuts-earnings-ev-price-war-2023-4\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:14;\">Business Insider<\/a>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk faced more than a half dozen questions about Tesla&#8217;s price cuts during the company&#8217;s earnings call. Getty Images Elon Musk was grilled about Tesla&#8217;s recent price cuts during the carmaker&#8217;s earnings call. Musk said Tesla could sell its product for &#8220;zero profit&#8221; due to future yields from its autonomous technology. The company has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}