European Tesla enthusiasts may have to resign themselves to paying for the company's existing models, as more rumours emerge of the company abandoning its plans for a cheaper electric vehicle.
ADVERTISEMENTElon Musk's Tesla is back in the news, with shares see-sawing to the upside once more, following the company's recent Robotaxi announcement. The rise came after the company saw shares falling after disappointing Q1 2024 delivery numbers, revealed in early April.
Further speculation of the electric vehicle (EV) company scrapping plans for a cheaper $25,000 (€23,027.75) vehicle have been met with dismay from European and global Tesla fans alike. Although Musk attempted to deny the rumours, investors and clients were not convinced and shares lower.
The continuing streak of losses has prompted the company to announce a new product, the Robotaxi, which is expected to be a futuristic self-driving car that would not even need a steering wheel. As expected, the announcement led to renewed excitement among buyers. That was reflected in the share price, which rose.
Tesla's shares were trading at €162.0 on Tuesday.
Scepticism remains
However, not everyone seems to be entirely convinced about the Robotaxi or Tesla in general. The company has been known to announce plans for extravagant products in what is seen as a bid to get investor attention, when times have been difficult.
This means that both buyers and investors are constantly focused on new products, and anticipating where the company can potentially go, rather than how it might do so. This is despite the company proving time and again that it can take several years for these impressive products to ever go live.
As a result, existing issues, which might be a hindrance to these ambitious plans, often go ignored for some time. However, this strategy does reduce Tesla's need to spend large amounts on other advertising and marketing avenues.
Will the Robotaxi ever be made?
Speculations of whether the Robotaxi will ever see the light of day have already started circulating, mainly due to Tesla promising fully autonomous vehicles for several years now.
However, even the company's earlier autonomous driving features such as Full Self-Driving and Autopilot leave much to be desired, with several complaints of the car suddenly disengaging without warning and swerving unpredictably, amongst other things.
Another product previously announced by the company, the Semi, has also still been stuck in pilot mode, despite being announced back in 2017. Similarly, the Cybertruck, which attracted quite a lot of buzz, has also been seeing extremely low sales, only being rarely used in Los Angeles and Austin.
This has led to more fears about the Robotaxi also seeing a similar fate, especially due to Musk's own declining reputation spooking investors further.
As the founder of analysis company Vital Knowledge, Adam Crisafulli said regarding the Robotaxi, as reported by Yahoo Finance: "Investors need to curb some of their enthusiasm with this stock and its various product announcements, as there tends to be a wide chasm between hype/speculations and reality.
"This seems to be an example of Tesla trying to distract from the current EV market conditions, which are very bleak at the moment."
