When Tesla releases its first quarter earnings this afternoon, the company’s CEO Elon Musk will field the usual questions about new products, new factories, and progress toward its futuristic vision of self-driving cars and robot workers. But Musk will also face increasingly urgent questions about its current state of affairs — and why everything seems to be going to shit.

Earlier this month, the company reported its first year-over-year sales drop in four years, a sign of rougher waters ahead. Tesla’s stock has fallen more than 40 percent since the start of the year, including a 13 percent drop in the last week. The company laid off over 14,000 employees last week, 10 percent of its global workforce — which could end up being closer to 20 percent when all’s said and done, according to Bloomberg. Today’s earnings report is expected to include Tesla’s lowest profit margins in six years, a sign that rampant price-cutting continues to exact a toll.

  • Flying Squid
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    102 months ago

    I’m sorry, the response to ‘these people are making cars without being trained’ should not be ‘cars and car companies suck’ because that would not be the case in any other car company.

    Teslas are rolling deathtraps.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 months ago

      You seem to be missing the point. Show me a car company that’s not screwing over the consumers and the workforce, and I’ll buy from them. Not every consumer has the luxury of maximizing altruism with their car purchase. At least those supposedly untrained employees are US citizens getting paid a US wage. Do you honestly think that things are better at the Mexican plants?

      Maybe Honda and Toyota or Subaru? But they’ve been too busy sucking off the oil industry with their hydrogen push, and now their EV offerings can’t compete.

        • @[email protected]
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          22 months ago

          Replies to a thread with lots of well-thought out comments with some BS and doesn’t even elaborate.