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Comment by alangibson | Hacker News Reader

My cynical take on them cancelling the model 2 in favor of robotaxis is that they've (temporarily?) given up on being a car company. They're hoping a new influx of capital after going all in on AI hype will keep them afloat.

Given that the Cybertruck is a laughing stock and growth/profits from China are in bad shape, they may actually be doing the right thing if the only goal is to stay in business for one more quarter.

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How many investors are going to humour Elon on his robotaxi plan? He's made public statements about Tesla getting robotaxis out in 2020, if not even earlier.

We're going to find out soon. I think it totally depends where we are in the AI hype cycle.

They're not cancelling the model 2 - they're delaying next gen platform and introducing a new intermediate platform based on the 3/Y platform with some of the good stuff from next gen thrown in. They're doing this so they can start selling the model 2 in late 2024 (Elon time, adjust as you see fit). Next gen is now 2026 rather than 2025 (again, Elon time).

They still want to make an affordable car.

If that were true they would have worked on the model 2 instead of the Cybertruck. As it turned out the model 2 is shelved in favor of robotaxis.

TBH, it doesn't matter too much what their intent is because they can't make a cheap car. Battery prices have not dropped fast enough.

They literally wrote it in their investor presentation.

>Battery prices have not dropped fast enough.

Irrelevant. It is about if they actually want to compete in that segment.

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