..don't get me wrong, ...despite his many personal flaws, Elon Musk is quite a visionary genius, though unsure about his contribution to humankind.
..Tesla will succeed but it is questionable if it will be a long term EV success if its CEO does not see himself running a car company but a tech company.
..if a CEO looks at it from a different perspective, you have to wonder if it can be a long term successful car company. A successful car company does not just roll out a good car, it needs to ensure appropriate customer service and car maintenance support and Tesla sucks on that front (judging from feedback).
..now it is not too perturbed by the mass exodus of its senior engineering team, because Elon is now setting his sights on being Robotaxi. With Robotaxi, they don't need to roll out as many EVs as they can make more money on one EV (acting as taxi) as they do selling several tens of EVs. They can make FSD a recurring subscription like Netflix. And anyone who can work out the numbers will know it would be massive for Tesla PROVIDED he can truly pull it off and get approval. His Robotaxi would change the entire business landscape of car ownership - making car ownership less relevant. That concept resonates with the times, especially with the new generation (it could make owning a car in the future like having a TV now (note GenZs dont watch TV much)).
...Plus Tesla has its Optimus Robot which could be a major business segment, leasing robot as servants to businesses and households.
...with that in mind, producing millions of EVs like the Chinese do, is probably furthest from Elon Musk's mind at the moment. So where are all the new lithium supplies going to??
...which is why I said the entire lithium space is FLUID, assume nothing. Elon believes Tesla is better than just being a car company, which he categorically and repeatedly said it is not. It is now (though not functioning well as one) but not in due time if he pursues his new vision relentlessly as he always does. This IMO explains why he flies to China and giving India the miss, he goes to China to pursue his FSD dream, while India wants him to build EVs in India.
