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Elon Musk taking a page from Henry Ford’s playbook with Tesla price cuts: Ford CEO

Steve Jurvetson from Los Altos, USA, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

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Ford CEO Jim Farley recently commented that Elon Musk’s strategy of lowering electric vehicle prices to maintain sales volume over profit margins is actually quite reminiscent of Henry Ford’s approach with the Model T.

Farley noted that Musk’s aggressive pricing strategy for Tesla’s all-electric vehicle lineup has historical roots. Amidst Tesla’s ambitious delivery and production targets, Musk has opted to protect volume over profit margins. Musk highlighted this during the Q1 2023 earnings call, when he noted that Tesla could sell its cars at low profits if needed since the company could profit in the future with products like Full Self-Driving.

This, as per Farley, was something right out of Henry Ford’s Model T playbook. The Ford CEO noted that the automotive trailblazer’s strategies were outlined in the book “1913,” which takes a close look at the year Ford became a mass producer of automobiles. “This has all happened before,” Farley said, as noted in an Insider report. 

Similar to Musk, Henry Ford reportedly slashed the prices of the Model T to boost sales in 1913. This was around the time when Ford started using a conveyor belt on the Model T assembly line, which allowed the automaker to build more units of the ubiquitous vehicle at greater volumes. 

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In a way, Tesla is quite a bit on its own “Model T moment.” The company has all but mastered the mass production of its mainstream vehicles, the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover. Tesla is also busy with its preparations for the buildout of its most affordable car yet, which will be produced at Gigafactory Mexico. For now, however, Tesla’s focus has been to sell as many vehicles as possible. 

As of 2023, Musk has decreased the prices of Tesla’s most popular models multiple times to achieve a production goal of 1.8 million, or perhaps even 2 million, vehicles for the year. This strategy has impacted Tesla’s profit margins and raised concerns among investors, but Musk believes it is laying the groundwork for future gains.

But while Musk’s pricing strategy is very similar to Henry Ford, Farley also offered some cautionary advice to his fellow CEO. “I think what he’s going to learn is product freshness means a lot. The product gets commoditized, and then you lose your pricing premium. That’s a really dangerous thing,” Farley said. 

Henry Ford eventually learned this lesson, and he proceeded to roll out new colors and the Model A. At the time, however, Chevrolet had already become the top car brand in the US.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla gathers Cybercab fleet in Gigafactory Texas

Images and video of the Cybercab fleet were shared by longtime Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer in posts on social media platform X.

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Credit: Credit: @JoeTegtmeyer/X

Tesla appears to be assembling a growing number of Cybercabs at Gigafactory Texas as preparations continue for the vehicle’s mass production. Recent footage shared online has shown over 30 Cybercabs being transported by trucks or staged near testing areas at the facility.

The images and video were shared by longtime Giga Texas observer and drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer in posts on social media platform X.

Interestingly enough, Tegtmeyer noted that many of the Cybercabs being loaded onto transport trucks were still equipped with steering wheels. This suggests that the vehicles are likely testing units rather than the final driverless configuration expected for the company’s Robotaxi service.

The vehicles could potentially be headed to testing sites across the United States as Tesla prepares to expand its Robotaxi fleet.

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Additional footage captured at Gigafactory Texas also showed the Cybercab’s side and rear camera washer system operating as vehicles were being loaded onto transport trucks.

The growing number of Cybercabs at Giga Texas comes amidst the company’s announcement that the first production Cybercab has been produced at the facility. Full Cybercab production is expected to begin in April.

The vehicle is expected to play a central role in Tesla’s Robotaxi ambitions as the company looks to expand autonomous ride-hailing operations beyond its early deployments using Model Y vehicles.

Tesla has also linked Cybercab production to its proposed Unboxed manufacturing process, which assembles large vehicle modules separately before integrating them. The approach is intended to reduce production costs and accelerate output.

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Musk has also noted that the Cybercab’s ramp will likely begin slowly due to the number of new components and manufacturing steps involved. However, he stated that once the process matures, Cybercab production could scale quickly.

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Elon Musk’s xAI, creator of Grok and Grokipedia, celebrates its third birthday

xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post. 

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Credit: xAI

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has marked its third anniversary. The update was shared in a post from the xAI Memphis account on social media platform X.

xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post

As per xAI, it has built three massive data centers in the city, launched a coherent cluster of 330,000 GBs, created over 3,000 jobs, and paid over $30 million in taxes to local communities.

xAI’s Memphis operation has become a key part of the company’s infrastructure as the company works to train and deploy its Grok artificial intelligence models. Elon Musk has been quite optimistic about Grok’s potential, noting in the past that the large language model might have a shot at achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). 

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xAI’s Memphis’ crown jewel is its Colossus supercomputer cluster. The project was announced in 2024 and has since become the home of one of the world’s largest AI compute facilities. The first phase of Colossus reached its initial 100,000 GPU operational milestone in just 122 days, or just about four months.

Industry figures such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have praised the facility, noting that projects of similar scale typically take two to four years to complete.

xAI has cited Memphis’ central location, skilled workforce, and industrial infrastructure as key reasons for selecting the city as the home of its AI training operations. The company has also emphasized plans to expand the site further as it scales compute capacity for Grok and future AI models.

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Tesla Sweden’s Megapack Supercharger near Arlanda continues to aggravate IF Metall union

The charging site, located in Arlandastad outside Stockholm, appears to be operating despite ongoing union blockade measures tied to Tesla’s labor dispute in the country.

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Credit: Tesla Charging/X

Tesla Sweden’s Megapack-powered Supercharger station near Arlanda Airport has continued to aggravate Swedish labor union IF Metall. The charging site, located in Arlandastad outside Stockholm, appears to be operating despite ongoing union blockade measures tied to Tesla’s labor dispute in the country.

Comments about the site were shared by IF Metall representatives in remarks to Swedish publication CarUp.

The Arlandastad location includes eight Tesla Superchargers powered by a Megapack battery system. Unlike traditional charging stations that rely on direct grid connections, the site uses a large battery installation to store electricity and power the chargers.

According to the Swedish publication, the setup allowed the station to come online despite sympathy measures from Sweden’s electricians’ union, which has attempted to prevent companies from cooperating with Tesla as part of the broader labor conflict.

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IF Metall press manager Jesper Pettersson indicated that the union was not aware that the Superchargers had already been connected and activated.

“We do not know the details around this. But it is further proof of how Tesla systematically finds loopholes to circumvent the sympathy measures through active strikebreaking. Every time this happens it gives us reason to sharpen our conflict measures,” Pettersson said.

Union representatives also noted that the Megapack appears to be charged using electrical cables routed through nearby terrain, though the exact power source remains under review.

The Megapack-powered site has then prompted questions from Swedish labor unions about how electricity is being supplied to the system.

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IF Metall has submitted a report to Sweden’s Energy Market Inspectorate asking the regulator to review whether the electricity supply arrangement complies with national regulations. The Megapack is reportedly charged using electricity from a local company, though the provider has not been publicly identified.

Peter Lydell, an ombudsman at IF Metall, previously stated that Swedish law limits electricity trading to companies with proper authorization.

“The legislation states that only companies that engage in electricity trading may supply electricity to other parties. You may not supply electricity without a permit, then you are engaging in illegal electricity trading. That is why we have reported this… 

“This is about a company that helps Tesla circumvent the conflict measures that exist. It is clear that it is troublesome and it can also have consequences,” Lydell said.

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IF Metall and Tesla Sweden’s conflict has been going on for over two years now. 

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