TSLA
New problem, same Tesla
Ross Gerber lit up Tesla after saying the company is spending money to shut down the Model S and Model X production line — the kind of move that feels a little like canceling your best-selling album to spend more time in the studio on a robot band. He called the Model S the “best EV ever made” and basically said, why torch a premium car line to chase humanoid robots?
The Optimus obsession is getting louder
That frustration lands right in the middle of Tesla’s broader pivot. Elon Musk has been talking up Optimus, the company’s humanoid robot, and even hinted the reveal is lining up closer to its production timeline in July and August. Translation: Tesla wants you looking at the future, not the cars that made the brand cool in the first place.
Why investors should care
This isn’t just nostalgia for the Model S. A move like this raises a few real questions:
- Is Tesla trading near-term auto economics for a longer-shot robotics bet?
- Does slimming down premium vehicle production hurt margins, mix, or brand cachet?
- And if the company is pouring cash into Optimus and AI, what does that do to free cash flow?
Bigger than one car line
Tesla shares were already under pressure, with the stock sliding Thursday after the chatter around robots, capital spending, and self-driving progress. So even if this is framed as operational cleanup, it reads more like a signal flare: Tesla may be getting more comfortable acting like a robotics company that happens to sell cars.
Big picture: if Tesla keeps putting the car business in the rearview mirror, investors may have to decide whether they’re buying an automaker, an AI story, or a very expensive science project.