No Electricity at Tesla’s Investor Day

$TSLA soared nearly 80% leading up to its annual Tesla Investor Day presentation held on Wednesday. Tesla investors were waiting for a new ride but all they got was a disappointment. Its stock fell 6% yesterday due to a lack of news on its next-generation vehicle or existing ones.

But Tesla teased its next vehicle (which’ll be much cheaper).

Musk said “affordability” is still the biggest barrier to mass adoption, and Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering expects the next vehicle to “be a huge-volume product.”

• Tesla aims to cut production costs by half — which could put the MRSP of its new EV at $25-$30K.
• Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas seriously questions “how the competition can keep up” with such a steep cost cut.

Over the years, Tesla has built a massive profitability advantage with its EVs over competitors. $9.5K net profit per car vs. General Motor’s $2.2K.

When will Tesla debut its next vehicle? Musk said a “proper sort of product event” will be held at a later date, TBD. But Tesla did confirm a new manufacturing plant in Mexico — where the vehicle will be built.

Other highlights from the event:

1/ Tesla wants to go even greener… by replacing rare earth metal (a commonly used material in EV motors) with a magnet motor.

2/ Musk may be answering analysts’ concerns over a succession plan.

He brought out 16 execs — many unseen at the event before, including Tom Zhu, seen as one candidate to succeed Musk.