By Ethan McDonagh

The latest Tesla product announcement saw the company reveal their new self-driving car dubbed ‘Robotaxi’, a vehicle capable of transporting 20 people nicknamed ‘Robovan’ as well the latest iteration of Tesla’s humanoid robot given the moniker ‘Optimus’. 

Reaction to the announcements made at the ‘We, Robot’ event has been mixed with consumers and experts displaying a combination of excitement and scepticism.  

Tesla’s new robot on display at ‘We, Robot’ event. Picture credit: Tesla website 

One thing that has not been mixed however, is the Tesla share price. At the time of writing the stock sits at $219.57, which is 9.94% lower than what it was on the day of the ‘We, Robot’ event.  

The market has not responded favourably to the lack of clarity shown at the event with one major criticism being that the event was more a showcase of what Tesla dreams to be, rather than what it can currently deliver.  

There was a serious lack of short-term opportunities on display – with the self-driving car not entering production until 2026 or 2027, the ‘Robovan’ not having a price point or time frame for availability and ‘Optimus’ being remote controlled by humans which would indicate the product being years away from commercial viability.  

All of this leads to investors being cautious about Tesla’s ability to turn annual profits over the next few years, especially given that the company had less than 50% of the American electric vehicle market for the second consecutive quarter.  

Despite this, there is reason to be optimistic regarding electric vehicles in Ireland specifically with the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan announced on October17^th, a new National Road Grant scheme to improve the electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country.  

This is good news for companies like Tesla as electric vehicles will become more desirable as the environment surrounding their usage becomes more appealing. Minister Ryan stated that: “Electric vehicles are an important part of our transport mix going forward and we want to make it easier for people to make the switch. Providing comfort of mind with more choice and availability of charging infrastructure is key to this.” 

The international view though is not so optimistic with one of Tesla’s most famous investors, Ross Gerber, CEO of a wealth management fund expects the stock to decline from current levels stating that: “I see the stock as really overvalued right now because I don’t think they make any of their numbers.” 

“I just thought that their basic strategy is flawed, and I think that became pretty glaringly evident last night by completely pivoting to robots and trying to basically shun their EV sales business, which is really 95% of their revenue.” 

With market experts such as Gerber pessimistic and public reactions mixed, the upcoming quarterly earnings report expected to be released on October 23^rd is going to be crucial for the future of Tesla’s place in the stock market.  

However, this is not the first time the company’s stock has gone down in 2024, with April being the low for this year at $142.05. This fall came after price reductions to the company’s vehicles as well as a voluntary recall on the Cybertruck.  

But given how the share price has rebounded since then it would not come as a surprise to anyone should this latest slide be reversed over the next fiscal quarter.