How Tesla Fumbled 

One note: this video is going to get a lot of negative response, and we’ve made it with full knowledge of that. In fact, #TSLA investors pre-planned their brigading strategy for this video on Reddit, having seen it yesterday on Nebula, so take the comments with a grain of salt. 
A couple of things I’d like to highlight: - This video is titled “How Tesla Fumbled.” It’s not “The State of Tesla in 2023.” This video is specifically focused on the ways that Tesla squandered its lead, so it inherently omits the positives-that’s the video we decided to make. - The thesis of this video is not that Tesla will fail, but rather that Tesla made some missteps that squandered the massive lead it built for itself, and that it’s therefore going to be more difficult for the company to maintain a dominant market position (but not necessarily impossible.) - This video has no undisclosed funding sources. Wren is the only sponsor on this video. I am not currently a Tesla shareholder, not do I hold any options on the stock.

You know what essentially does full self driving, without you needing to make any interventions? Trains

Electric cars, while somewhat better than regular cars for the environment, will never be as good and as helpful as just building a decent transport network Lol 420 replies nice 🍁

I work in a parts department, and every time we get in a used Tesla to sell at my dealership I die a little inside, we can't get parts from Tesla and have no way to repair them, can't even get license plate screws for them or wiper blades for some. It's so annoying, they operate like an Apple store not a dealership.

The build quality issue is somewhat of a self-inflicted wound as well. I'm from Ohio, and Tesla was once offered the chance to buy a GM factory as long as they agreed to take the skilled workforce that came with it, and they refused because of the labor union that came with it. Now that workforce makes cars and batteries for yet another competitor

Would have been good to touch on Tesla's anti right to repair as well.

I hope the trend of everything being a touch screen that Tesla started will reverse. They just aren't the best way to control a car. If you look at F1, they've got a foot pedal for gas and break and literally every other control in the car is mounted to the steering wheel. There's also only one screen and it isn’t touch-sensitive. Maybe that's too far the other direction, but I think it'd be nice in a consumer car. All-touchscreen was a terrible design choice by Tesla, making it unsafe and inconvenient.

As a Tesla owner who lined up for a Model 3, I agree with your points. The only thing I’d add is at least in the US, Tesla’s continued short term advantage will be its charging network. It’s 2023 and PBS Newshour just did a roadtrip with a Rivian in California and ran into all the issues we’ve seen before with these charging networks. Broken chargers, payment systems off line, it was kind of a nightmare. That stuff has got to get fixed before I’d ever have my primary trip vehicle be a non-Tesla EV. Superchargers just work. The company did get that experience right from the get-go, and the payment system is seamless.

The Cybertruck is appropriately named because it literally looks like a truck in Cyberpunk 2077 that didn't fully load, so just appears to be a polygon.

I know that right to repair wasn’t in the thesis for the video but I think it would have been a nice mention when you were talking about service centers. Tesla could provide better service if they provide parts and repair manuals to independent repair shops but instead they vehemently want customers to go through official channels only which is why they’re in that predicament.

Severely overlooked consequence: the drivers are gunning to outdo BMW drivers as some of the absolute worst on the roads. They either didn't know what they were getting and don't use any of the driving assist, still leaning with one arm on the wheel and riding the lane lines with a significantly heavier and jerkier steering ratio, or relying entirely on the driving assist and overly cautiously navigating traffic with extended braking distances and mile long lane changes. They're also really fighting for the reputation of not using turn signals.

The EV market really needs to settle on a single charger design. If Tesla's is propriety, the rest of the market may be able to catch up by standardizing a design that they all use. Having the USB-C of chargers would help the rest of the market greatly.

As a Tesla owner myself, and someone who really enjoys my Model 3 and absolutely purchased one because of the emerging EV reality, this video was spot on. I always thought the same thing about Tesla, that it could have been basically a monopoly, with their superior charging network as their wall to guard them so to speak. Honestly the Model 3 was supposed to be the "grown-up" moment, but it just wasn't. I love my car, I really do, I wouldn't trade it for any other car, but I could also never, in good-faith recommend it to just any random person, since the experience really is so niche. I love this Channel, and this video was truly excellent. Great job

Elon Musk: "Delivery logistics hell." Wendover: "Future content inbound."

Does anyone else feel like this is a concerningly more common issue with products now of days? Like even expensive products are built so cheap and are liabel to break early in their lifespan.

As it turns out, building a factory that produces half a million cars per year is really hard.

The only way to digest this video is watching with SMR on Solving The Money Problem ! 😂

being in a tesla has the aesthetics of a dentists office with the comfort of an airport waiting area

The Tesla cult is real. It seems like they're taking the Apple approach: Sell a product not as a product but as a lifestyle. Then, it doesn't matter if the product is actually good in any objective way, people will buy it because of the lifestyle it represents. And will act like it's a personal insult whenever you point out the product's shortcomings. Honestly I don't understand how people get so sucked in by marketing like that, but obviously it works.

One reason I think people buy Teslas, which was not mentioned, is because of the charging infrastructure/network. I own a F150 Lightning and on a road trip finding reliable, fast CCS chargers can be hard and off putting.

Always glad to see Wichita in a video, even though it's almost always because of a problem.

Aged like wine

The failure to deliver something compelling in the truck market despite turning the Tesla hype machine up to 11, nearly a half decade ago, is telling. But what that says about the future of their other models is very concerning, too. The Model S is over a decade old. There doesn't seem to be any move to update/refresh/replace it. And with all of their efforts focused on getting Cybertruck out the door, it's unlikely we'll see any movement on refreshing their existing lineup anytime soon. There's a reason the established manufacturers have shortened their refresh cycles to as short as 2 or 3 years, on some models; and Tesla is not in a position to keep up. They no longer have the cache to coast by on "because it's a Tesla". They're just another car company now. And they need to start acting like it.

Being one of those Kansas F-150 owners, surprisingly, I am seeing more hyundai's and even Rivians out here than Teslas or even F-150s

The things Tesla did was to make EVs sexy and build out a massive charging network. I owned a volt for years and I loved it, but if you looked at a Leaf, Volt, or other EV at the time, its clear the major manufactures were never going to build something better unless pulled kicking and screaming. Charging overnight is pretty much all the changing anyone will need 97% of the time; but having a fast way to charge that isn't cumbersome goes a long way to erasing range anxiety... and frankly 240v level 2 charging doesn't fill that gap. Tesla changed those things.

It's the same problem that so many of these startups have. A group of financiers and tech bros get together and decide to sell dog food. They hire a bunch of 22 year Olds straight out of Stanford, build a web site and find supply chain solutions. But what they don't do is hire anyone with experience in the dog food industry.

Me seeing this in my feed right now and fully expecting the video to be brand new😂

Sam, in my city of Kosice, Volvo is buidling huge factory exclusively for the production of EV's. Would be cool if you make a video about the insane logistics of opening up EV factory 😋

For service centers, it is worth remembering that close to half of states barred them from operating there due to local dealers fighting tooth and nail. It is down to single digits, but has been a large uphill legal battle

All good points, I really appreciate your video. I am no fan of any vehicle manufacturer, but battery capacity is a large portion of this problem.

Musk stans can keep coping.

the thing that does set tesla apart is the relatively fleshed out supercharger network, but that network can be unreliable and far too expensive, unless you have an older model that supercharges for free, this is not a selling point

I just want to ride a train instead of sitting in EV traffic

Also of note: You point out Rivian and Lucid as rivals, but they too have yet to make it through "production hell". As of last quarter, Lucid's reservation holder list was shrinking due to withdrawn reservations faster than due to delivered vehicles. Tesla problems are not always unique.

My Tesla M3 has been sitting in the shop for the past 15 days of 20 days ownership.

This whole thing is so much more hilarious knowing how bafflingly bad the cabertruck turned out to be.

I'm a tesla owner up in the Dakotas. I really wanted to go with the Ioniq 5 when I was going the EV route, but the CCS charging network up here at the time of purchase was almost non existent. I can road trip a tesla out of the Dakotas. the same can not be said of other EV's, unless you plan to make loooooong stops for level 1 charging. If I were to buy today, I would still likely lean towards tesla, just because of the supercharger network. Electrify America has taken the crown for CCS fast charging in the US, and they have a long ways to go to match the Supercharging network in terms of reliability, availability, and number of locations.

I'm surprised you didn't mention Tesla's superior charging infrastructure.

13:35 It's wild to see a bit of stock footage filmed somewhere I have driven past hundreds of times, but very cool!

Very based video, reminds me of the California rail video. Focus just on the negatives and ANYTHING can look terrible. But i do get it negativity gets views.

In my state, Georgia, the senate put a hard limit of 5 showrooms Tesla can have open at any time. Dealerships have been lobbying very hard to prevent manufacturers from selling direct to consumers, and Tesla - among other car makers such as Rivian and Lucid, will have problems with expanding.

I've been in Automotive Manufacturing for nearly a decade (including a small 'fail fast' start-up). I recently applied and got through a series of interviews with Tesla and during the final interview was able to recognize without working there: "Everything is chaos, It's fast for the sake of being fast, Sacrifice Quality for Delivery". The most senior to least senior professional I interviewed with (6 total people) demonstrated that no one knew what the position would truly cover and had different comprehension on what problems the position was actually solving. I'd worked in this environment before and making measurable changes is near impossible - meaning the 60-70 hours weeks would be pointless because of the culture of "I want it fast a week ago" would create burnout for no 'measurable' reason. I was disappointed; expecting chaos but not something to such a catastrophic level.

This is a rather good overview. Tesla has fulfilled its "historical role" - dragging the incumbents, kicking and screaming, into the third millennium. That it still leads the market is thanks to two factors: fanatical loyalty of initial "well off Silicon Valley nerd" early adopters, and relative incompetence of traditional carmakers in this new set of technologies (see, for example, persistent problems VW has with software, while mechanically and design-wise their ID series cars are every bit as good as the ubiquitous Golf.) Bot neither of this will last - the supply of the former is finite, and the latter will learn.

"legacy car manufacturers, as a Saturn rolls across the screen" 😂😂😂😂

Uncharacteristic of Wendover production to make such a video

I got my Tesla Model 3 online, for me, I don’t have any issues except battery degradation, otherwise the build quality is very good and close to my Porsche and Mercedes.

I just watched the video of first Cybertruck reveal. It was laughable to read the comments where people discussed how good and innovative this truck, and how they paid deposit and waiting...still waiting.

I've had a Model S since 2017 and I've experienced almost all the negative things the video talks about, but one area where Tesla still blows everyone else out of the water is their supercharger network. My battery has degraded by 5-10% since I got my car, but it's actually easier to road trip than before because there are so many more superchargers than there used to be. When I got my Model S, there were 2 superchargers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Now there are at least 10. The superchargers are very reliable too. There might be one or two not working, but most superchargers have 10 or 12 and they usually all work. I've tried these other 3rd party chargers like EVGo, etc, but they suck. You really can't count on them working and when they work, they're really slow. Tesla is experimenting with opening them up to other EVs, but they can always stop doing it if it causes more problems than it's worth. The other automakers don't have anything close right now. Road tripping in my Tesla and hopping between superchargers is one of my favorite parts of the Tesla ownership experience.

“People don’t care about panel gaps.” - MKBHD

Honestly, looking at the history of 'trend setting' or 'innovative' companies. It's very rarely the first guy to market who actually ends up coming out top of the heap. I think Tesla may yet prove to be 'one of those' sorts of companies. Where the market conditions of their early growth change out from underneath them.

Gonna be fun to see how this video ages. I'll check in, in 10 years

It seems like the biggest draw to buying a Tesla in 2023 is the supercharger network. It probably won't be as ahead as it is now by 2030, but for now every other charging station is a gamble.

I've been noticing so many Rivians on the road lately. Granted, I'm in an area with a HUGE Tesla presence (since the consumers in this area can easily afford them, and there's a location to repair them near here), but still, every time I see a Rivian, it seems like that easily could have been a cybertruck sale.

Still don't understand why Tesla's stock price is so high when looking at the build quality of the vehicles.

After looking at some funding site scams, there clearly is an audience that will buy into a dream, even as it becomes a nightmare or such, funding the hubris of the creators/owners (some with good some with grifting intents). So Tesla has a real product, just problems with making/delivering on but it's also the crowd that funds it to see the flaws and truly evaluate where they put their money.

Your graph at 6:30 is wrong. For $50,995 you can get a Mach E with a 247 mile range. If you want a 310 mile range its an additional $7,000 and the 0-60 time jumps to 6.1 seconds.

I’ll prep my popcorn for the Tesla comments

I've been suprised many times by the ability of other companies to fumble when they seemed poised to rise to challenge Tesla in EVs. Nissan used to be the global leader, and they just dropped it. GM with their Volt and Bolt looked very promising, but then they dropped the ball too. I think Ford is playing for keeps, and looks very promising, but there's a very good chance that all the biggest automakers will keep fiddling the time away until Tesla releases their Model 2, and continues their dominance.

I think you forgot to talk about their supercharger network

I'm surprised the video didn't touch on the fact Tesla hasn't refreshed/redesigned any cars, which is what legacy car companies do every 3-5 years. This means Tesla cars haven't changed much in years and the aesthetic is getting long in the tooth.

As a Bolt owner, I agree with others that Tesla's competitive edge is its charging network. I can't help but think that Tesla is the Blackberry of EVs - it has really led the pack, but if the kinks continue, it will be left behind. I do give it huge credit for getting the EV market going and exciting people to try EVs at all.

17:10 You are forgetting one argument; Tesla earns money on EVs.

Damn, Wren picked correctly sponsoring you. The only more powerful sponsorship they could get in. My eyes is last week tonight.

The only part I really question is about why Western companies fail in China: it is less about not understanding the market and more about an incredibly unfair playing field set by the government.

I took delivery of a 2023 Model Y two weeks ago. As others in the automotive space have pointed out, I would say the build quality is greatly improved. In fact, I traded in a 2021 BMW for it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it is BMW build quality, but one of our other vehicles is an Acura RDX, which has a noticeable rear driver’s door alignment issue and I would rate it on par with Honda / Acura, who IMO, has declined over the years. Yes, as I’ve studied this vehicle 10x more than any other car, I would say I’ve found small things. But there are no issues, no squeaks, no rattles, virtually no body flex/creaks over driveway aprons (which tends to be an issue for European cars like my old BMW that seem to get creaky door seals), etc.

NEXT, do an episode on how RU-vid "fumbled" the 1st AMENDMANT! An in-depth investigation on why POSTING INTERVIEWS with folks using their OWN WORDS is considered "hate speech"... or am I the ONLY one who thinks that MATTERS???

Yeah have wondered for a few years what Tesla was going to do when BMW, Mercedes, Ford and GM started making electric vehicles, Tesla could make electric vehicles they had about a decade to learn how to make good cars. Elon taking over Twitter was probably the worst thing that could have happened to Tesla.

Rivian isn't a good example for "better quality". They have a lot of fit&finish problems, and even more unjustifiable for the price point

TOP 3 electric cars by market share in the US: 1. Tesla Model Y: 29% 2. Tesla Model 3: 23% 3. Ford Mustang Mach-E: 4%

Let's not forget that Tesla has been heavily subsidized both directly and indirectly through EV Tax Breaks that came out in conjunction with the Model 3. That is the massive advantage that made them a BIG company.

Love the misaligned door in the thumbnail 😂

Currently watching this while working at the Tesla Fremont Factory

Just to be fair, if someone knows where and how they can go to a dealership today and buy an non-tesla EV without any markups, or even just test drive one , any EV, let everyone know.

Ages so well,spot on!

I dont get the comparision with the Mustang, according to your chart Model Y had long range? but you said Mustang had longer? which is it?

As often as logistics is discussed by this channel im shocked the charging infrastructure is not mentioned in this video. Charging issues is quite possibly the biggest tesla advantage and biggest challenge for companies that are new to EV and havnt had a decade in charging infrastructure headstart.

I like how you included a scene of people NOT charging their cars with Electrify America, heh

I find it quite fitting that I got a Fisker ad on this video. 😂

i've bougth my 3rd model 3 in germay. Because of the benefits it was financial interesting Once i had a loos tire (from bad factory tighting). I had to drive by myself to the service center (1 hour drive). Tesla wanted me to pay full for the repairs becuse i could have changed the tires - noted, i only had a summer season with the car An aerodynamc sedan and good motorized for an acceptable price is the Model 3 alone on the market. A BMW i4 costs way more THe software makes sometimes concerning errors. I Work in Software testing for the 4 rings and thsi wouldnt be possible on these cars.

Personally I purchased my model 3 because it was objectively the best deal. Best efficiency, best price/features, best performance and best range. The only alternative that has significantly less range is the original hyundai Ionic. Keep in mind all the other brands have significantly smaller volume. Please tell me if i am wrong on one of these points. I would be happy to know if my opinion is shared.

Tesla keeps up the appearance of a startup because if the public and investors shifted their view of Tesla as a traditional automaker, people would instantly see that the company is extremely overvalued in marketcap and the stock price would tank overnight. And then we'd probably see Musk drive one of his cars off a cliff.

Might want to start looking at Rivians getting bricked, too. People are reporting not even being able to unlock and open the doors in cold weather and the support is atrocious.

Is there an aftermarket niche that specializes in the proper reassembly of Teslas?

Is it just me, or does anyone else want a more efficient station wagon? 😅 Electric or hybrid, I’m down for it!

"audacious" is certainly one way to describe the cybertruck's appearance.

Huge fan of Wendover. This video has a big problem, though. Yes, the Ford F-series is the most popular line of vehicles. But that's not the right way to look at Tesla's market strategy. Instead of the vehicle line, look at vehicle build type. The F-150 is a pickup truck. Look almost anywhere on the road today, and what are the most popular types of cars? Sedans (incl hatchbacks). Crossovers. SUVs. And guess what? Tesla made a great high-end Sedan (Model 3) and Crossover (Model Y). Their market strategy was clear, and honestly probably correct. Rivian made a pickup. How many Rivians do you see on the road? F-150 may be the single most popular car, but sedans, SUVs, and crossovers outnumber trucks by a huge margin.

I'm always baffled at the life cycle of these models, every single one of them looks outdated at this point. They need a serious facelift on every single model to keep them competitive. We call them California Camrys. There is just too much competition now to simply pass as the "coolest" option.

I feel like one thing you didn't mention is that they have developed a reliable charging network that makes the charging experience for their customer way way better than the competition. When it opens up the equation changes, but their chargers are far more reliable than the providers of charging of the legacy automakers.

As a two time Model S owner, I can attest to all being said. My first 2018 model had loads of issues, mainly with MCU not working properly and braking doorhandles. I now drive a 2020 Model S, which solved the MCU problems. However, braking doorhandles are still a thing (I'm on my 12th repair) and rattles are everywhere. I stopped using Tesla service, it's of no use. My contract stops in December, after that, I will go to a different brand.

Wow! This video DID age well. It's even more right than it was a year ago.

Someone clearly shorted Tesla stock.

tesla remote service will just drive to ur house and do maintenance there. I live 2 hours from a service center (mont tremblant canada) plus all the ice cars I've had have all had some dumb build issue. our teslas have had no problem so far

Part of the issue is you can't buy from the lot. You're ordering a $50k vehicle online and when it finally shows up a year later, you're so happy to finally get it, you over look any minor cosmetic slips... If they were sold on lots, people would notice the mistakes before purchasing, and Tesla would be forced to address the manufacturing problems or have any janky cars sit unsold.

I usually love this channel but this video felt like it had a few misconceptions like not at a single point during the video that Teslas biggest and arguable best advantage was mentioned, which is their charging network and its not even close. Range anxiety is still a major hindrance towards EV adoption amd Tesla is the only manufacturer currently that addresses this in a reliable manner hence why they are most popular and I also believe the loass in market share is overloaded because your comparing no competitors to having multiple which with any product like in existence will create a split in market share so Tesla is still by far way ahead of the other manufacturer ters despite its very real issues mentioned in this video.

Nothing on earth like a genuine, bonafide, electrified monorail!

Im from Denmark and now, almost a year after this videos release, something remarkable has happened. Here in Denmark, Teslas model Y became by far the best selling car in the country. Not even a competition, ub 2023 it sold over 3 times as many cars as the second best seller, the Peugeot 208 petrol. The reason for this huge boom in sale has been aggressive price dumps and loans. Over the last year Tesla has done 3 subsequent price dumps, several as much as 10% at a time. This has made Teslas models more affordable than ever before and made the price difference between the model Y and model 3 nearly non existant. Plus they also made trailer mounts for the model Y extremely affordable, and customers here in Denmark care a ton about the ability to pull a fully loaded trailer with no impact to acceleration, speed, and handling. And as if thats not enough, Tesla has also started doing very aggressive in house loans that undercut other car loans. Most car loans have a monthly interest rate of 5-10%. Teslas loans can be as low as 1.5-2% per month in the first 3 years and immune to interest rate changes, which entices a ton of customers since its cheaper for them up front and per month. In fact this makes Teslas more affordable up front than nearly all equivalently sized EV's in the country, and many have already dubbed the Tesla model Y "The Volkswagen Beetle of the electric age" whether that even makes sense or not. In short Danish customers care most about having a few basic needs met and having them met at a low price for them. And somehow, in Teslas attempts to squander the competition and distract danish consumers from the strikes against them in neighbouring countries, they met that goal. Not as the luxury brand they initially were, but as a budget brand for the mass market. Who knows how long this will last. The price dumping has likely just been made available by lumping sales or cuts against Tesla in other markets, like in Sweden, meaning a surplus of vehicles. Plus these are all the current model Y's that are doing sales records. Tesla is launching a new version of it soon and likely just wanted to get rid of their existing surplus of the current model before the new one reaches the market. So what made them a juggernaut for 2023 in Denmark might not be lasting.

Counterpoint on Solving the Money Problem channel. I'm not sure how they fumbled. They went from nothing to the world's biggest EV auto maker. You can only make as many cars as you have batteries for. If it were that easy to make EV cars, surely the legacy auto producers wouldn't have let Tesla even enter the auto market, never mind dominate it.

What Tesla has that definitely outdoes others in North American automobile is the Supercharger network, which is reliable and easy to use. That’s significant, although exactly how they leverage that to make more money remains to be seen (although they are planning to offering charging to at least CCS-equipped vehicles, and probably Aptera vehicles as well.)

I'd rather deal with minor Tesla issues than an EV with perfect panel gaps and low range, slow charging and unreliable charging stations of the competition. Note the only issue I have with my Model 3 is inconsistent panel gaps, everything else has been perfect.

I think one thing that could have been noted in this video, is that Tesla is already profitable on the EV segment. All startup competitors (esp. Lucid and Rivian) are struggling with money, and legacy automakers are spending hundreds of millions to convert their factories to EV making ones. I think that it still a big advantage for Tesla.