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What happened to Jim Cramer’s love affair with Tesla and Elon Musk?

Credit: YouTube/CNBC Television

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Jim Cramer’s love affair with Tesla and Elon Musk appears to be over, based on recent comments the long-time Mad Money host has made in the past few months. Cramer flipped from bear to bull on Tesla stock several years ago following a drive in his daughter’s Tesla, essentially becoming one of the company’s most outspoken supporters. However, Cramer has moved on from his bullish Tesla outlook.

Recently, Cramer’s overwhelming support for Tesla started to crumble after he stated that the Cybertruck would be Musk’s “first disaster.” Instead, Cramer told car buyers to look at the all-electric F-150 Lightning from Ford, the automaker’s battery-powered version of the United States’ best-selling pickup truck. The F-150 Lightning is set to begin deliveries next Spring.

While purchasing a vehicle based on aesthetics is purely up to the consumer, there is no evidence to suggest that the Cybertruck will be a disaster at all, especially in terms of interest. In fact, the Cybertruck has already accumulated over 1.2 million pre-orders. Even if 50% of those orders are unfulfilled based on pure speculation, that would still make the Cybertruck one of the most popular vehicles in the country. The most popular vehicle in the United States is the Ford F-Series, which sold 787,372 units in 2020, according to GoodCarBadCar.

Earlier today, Cramer made another bold statement regarding who he would rather put his trust in between Musk and Ford CEO Jim Farley. His choice would certainly not appease Tesla fans by any measure, as Cramer stated he would much rather have Farley than Musk.

Jim Farley is undoubtedly a credible CEO, with a proven record of success thus far. He has supported Ford’s transition to electrification, and the company’s stock price has soared since he assumed the role of CEO in October 2020. While Farley has been a supporter and crutch for Ford’s transition away from combustion engines, he is not as innovative or revolutionary as Musk, and there isn’t much of a comparison based on what the two men have done in their careers as CEOs.

In a matter of months, Cramer has gone from perhaps the biggest Elon fan and supporter to relatively no trust or enthusiasm regarding Tesla or its products. One can only ask: What’s the reason for this?

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The flip on Cramer’s view was drastic and uncharacteristic of someone who has supported Tesla and been a very vocal bull for several years. Here are some of the things that Cramer has said about Tesla as recently as May 2021:

May 2021: Elon Musk states Tesla will halt Bitcoin transactions due to environmental concerns

“I don’t know why the hell he said it. I don’t know whether there was another objection besides the environmental, because the environmental [reason] doesn’t hold water. It’s been this way the whole time. But he chose to do this, and I don’t get it. But, he does a lot of things that I can’t fathom that turn out to be brilliant.”

Tesla’s Bitcoin reversal confuses Jim Cramer, but he’s not giving up on Elon Musk

January 2021: Musk’s contribution to Tesla’s valuation 

“If you don’t have any, you can still buy some. Don’t buy a lot, but you can certainly still buy some. The roadmap is clear, Elon, every time he talks, it’s going to be good, and I just think we all have to accept the fact that President Biden will do anything to make the EV to be the central form of transport.”

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“Every time Elon opens a new market, like he is about to do with his factory in Berlin, the stock will go up again. It’s really a question of whether you believe in iterations.”

Tesla still a ‘Buy’ to Jim Cramer: ‘Everytime [Elon] talks, it’s going to be good’

September 2020: Battery Day critics just didn’t get it

“They’re [critics] just bummed that the things they hyped didn’t happen.”

“Tesla rolls out a plan to create an electric car for the masses and greeted with a yawn because Musk didn’t roll out a magic battery…That’s what happens when you let expectations get out of control.”

Tesla (TSLA) shares snatched up by ARK after Battery Day: “It’s going to be hard to catch up”

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While many critics of Cramer’s simply claim he has changed his $TSLA position, or that he is supporting ICE-based automakers, there is no evidence of this yet. However, Cramer’s sudden flip on Tesla is interesting, and only he knows why he has chosen to openly ditch the efforts of the electric car company that is undoubtedly leading the charge.

 

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk gives his most telling Tesla-SpaceX merger conversation yet

Elon Musk hinted a Tesla-SpaceX merger could be coming, and Wall Street is taking notice.

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Elon Musk gave his clearest signal yet that Tesla and SpaceX could eventually combine, telling the All-In Summit in Los Angeles that the two companies’ deepening collaboration makes the question worth asking. Sawyer Merritt first surfaced the highlight on X Tuesday.

Asked directly why Tesla and SpaceX remain separate given how closely they already work together, Musk told hosts at the summit: “Great question there. With all this collaboration, on so many levels, who can imagine what action one might take when there’s so much close collaboration in so many areas.” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who joined Musk on stage, added that SpaceX personnel have already moved into xAI to fill leadership and engineering gaps, saying the businesses are integrating “faster than I thought,” though “not fully integrated yet,”

The comments landed on top of merger speculation that has been building on Wall Street for months. JPMorgan has called a tie-up “strategically coherent on paper,” pointing to overlapping ambitions in AI, robotics, energy, transportation and space. Jefferies went further, estimating Musk could retain roughly 55.3 percent voting control in a deal structured without a premium, a scenario that would still leave room for Tesla shareholders to come out ahead. On Kalshi, traders now put the odds of a merger before 2028 at 66 percent.

Tesla’s stake in SpaceX, still under one percent, traces back to its earlier investment in xAI, which converted to SpaceX equity after SpaceX absorbed the AI company. The two are also jointly building Terafab, a chip facility in Austin meant to serve both Tesla’s AI computing needs and SpaceX’s satellite ambitions. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives has stood by a 2027 merger timeline for months, and Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest recently floated a similar case, an idea Musk pushed back on directly at the time.

Another Tesla SpaceX merger prediction by ARK Invest has Elon Musk talking

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The timing adds another layer. Tesla has scheduled an October 1 unveiling for its next generation Roadster at a venue near SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas test site, using the phrase “Go for launch” in its promotional material. Both stocks dipped roughly 2 percent Monday before recovering slightly in premarket trading Tuesday, with SpaceX shares up about 0.4 percent and Tesla essentially flat.

Musk stopped short of confirming anything is in motion. But unlike his past denials of a corporate restructuring, this response didn’t rule one out, and it came with Shotwell sitting next to him describing an integration that’s already underway.

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Elon Musk

Tesla Cybercabs narrowly miss deadly Amazon cargo plane crash

An Amazon cargo plane crash near Miami’s airport stopped feet from dozens of Tesla Cybercabs.

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Photorealistic depiction of the Amazon Prime plane crash in Miami on Sep 3, 2026 near a fleet of Tesla Cybercab
Photorealistic depiction of the Amazon Prime plane crash in Miami on Sep 3, 2026 near a fleet of Tesla Cybercab

An Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 cargo jet overran the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon, killing five people and injuring five more. The jet, operated by North Carolina based carrier 21 Air as Flight 7598, touched down around 2 p.m. after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, then crossed the airport perimeter, plowed across NW 67th Avenue and struck multiple vehicles before catching fire, according to the Associated Press.

Photos and video from the scene show the aircraft’s nose stopped within meters of a fenced staging lot holding dozens of gold painted Tesla Cybercabs, the steering wheel free robotaxi Tesla began putting on public roads in Austin last week. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has confirmed the plane struck “multiple vehicles” but has not said whether any Cybercabs were among them, and neither Tesla nor airport officials have addressed the fleet directly.

The Cybercabs had not yet entered commercial service in Miami. Tesla’s existing Robotaxi operation there runs on modified Model Y vehicles and has been unsupervised since Ashok Elluswamy confirmed the detail on X in July.


Elon Musk offered the briefest of reactions. Replying to a Zero Hedge post about the Cybercabs sitting so close to the wreckage, he wrote a single word: “Weird.” He has not commented further, and Tesla has not issued a statement.

The timing puts Tesla’s newest vehicle near an unrelated but highly visible tragedy just days after its Austin debut, a launch that had already drawn scrutiny from federal regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an audit how Tesla certified the Cybercab as compliant with federal vehicle safety standards, a process Teslarati covered after the vehicle’s September 3 launch event. That inquiry concerns the car’s lack of a steering wheel and pedals, not the Miami crash.

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Investigators from the FAA and NTSB are focused on the plane, not the parking lot beside it. Flight data reviewed by outlets including Simple Flying show the 767 touched down around 170 knots, well above the 135 to 140 knot range typical for the aircraft, though investigators have not determined a cause. Amazon said it is working with authorities and that its priority is the safety of everyone affected.

Whether any Cybercabs were damaged, and what Tesla plans for the fleet parked near one of the country’s busiest airports, remain open questions.

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Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins

Tesla Asia says Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai this month.

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Concept image of Tesla Cybercab in the streets of Hong Kong via Grok
Concept image of Tesla Cybercab in the streets of Hong Kong via Grok

Tesla’s Cybercab is heading to Asia. The official Tesla Asia account posted on X Thursday, inviting Cybercab fans to “Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai.” The post went up within hours of Tesla’s own Cybercab milestone in Texas, where the company said Thursday it had begun offering rides in across Austin.

Exact dates and venues for the Asia tour haven’t been released yet, though Tesla Hong Kong replied to the announcement with “Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong soon,” while Tesla Japan’s response pointed fans to a sign up page for updates. Neither post mentions test rides or a service area, and nothing so far suggests Tesla is launching Robotaxi operations in any of the four cities. Based on how Tesla has run past Cybercab tours, in Europe in late 2024 and at US shopping centers that same December, the Asia stops are almost certainly static displays at Tesla stores or public venues as a means to stimulate buzz for its future driverless ride-hailing service in the big cities.

The timing lines up with Tesla’s only prior Cybercab appearance in the region, a booth at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last November, which Teslarati covered at the time. At that event, Tesla’s regional general manager for Shanghai framed the car as evidence of the company’s broader mission, a message Tesla has since formalized in its Master Plan Part IV, which states that “autonomous vehicles have the capacity to dramatically improve the affordability, availability and safety of transportation while reducing pollution, particularly in our increasingly dense global cities.” The same document is where Tesla lays out its “sustainable abundance” framing for Cybercab and Optimus alike, describing the two as the hardware behind an AI driven push to cut the cost of transportation and labor at scale.

Whether Cybercab actually operates as a robotaxi anywhere in Asia remains an open question, considering China has already pushed an autonomous ride-hailing market that’s run on homegrown players like Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony AI. For now, the four city tour reads as a marketing push timed to Austin’s momentum.

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