Tesla told Austin workers on its Model Y and Cybertruck lines to stay home for the week of Memorial Day, three workers told Business Insider.
The break is unusually long, the workers said. Production lines were up and running during the same period last year, they said.
The electric vehicle maker notified employees earlier this week. The workers, who are paid hourly, were told they could either take paid time off or come in for cleaning and training but would not be working on the production line.
Tesla deliveries dropped 13% year over year during the first quarter.
Down with Tesla
Yea pretty obvious. I need a car and Tesla would be a good choice if that fucking asshole didn’t own it.
Same. They sent me a survey for owning my 3 for so long. In the survey I pretty much gave the car good reviews. Then it asked me if I would buy another and pretty much stated I would not buy another tesla if Elon musk is part of the company. I doubt anyone reads the surveys but hey here’s to hoping. 🗿
Tesla = Pinto
I’ve been arguing the Q1 result was cooked already from day 1 they came out. The actual result is probably way worse. One of the reasons is that Tesla has been producing way to many cars, and the cars on stock are overvalued to push the deficit into the future. Where they probably hope to camouflage the loss in other ways.
But competition is intensifying, and Tesla is already at a very low margin on each car sold. Increased competition is at a point where Tesla will have to sell cars at a deficit. While at the same time write off value on stock. Or alternatively lose even more marketshare.
The glory days where Tesla had the highest margin per car sold in the industry are long gone.Yes, all that, but the effect of Elon completely alienating the people who wanted to buy Teslas can’t be understated. I don’t hate the cars at all, but my god I loathe Elon and would never give him money.
The brand can recover if they remove Musk but I’ll never support it cause the Nazi will still get his cake from w.e cars get sold.
Absolutely, if Elon had been a normal CEO, Tesla would probably still be riding on the reputation they had few years ago.
What I’m saying is that it will be hard for Tesla to make a comeback, even if they somehow manage to restore the name.
They are no longer a technology leader, and they aren’t leading on value either, which makes Tesla just one among many options.
And it seems they can’t keep up with the competition anymore, now that the traditional auto makers have learned the basics of making a good EV. And China is so far ahead on batteries and Fast Charging it isn’t even funny.
Both BYD and CATL have batteries that can charge 3 times faster than the fastest Tesla!In USA Tesla is protected by tariffs, So USA has lower competition, but in Europe and China, I don’t think Tesla has much of a future, (EU has 3 times as many BEV models to choose from than USA!) and even USA will be a a huge uphill struggle, because they have such poor brand recognition.
I don’t think Musk can turn Tesla around, the claimed options to do that are RoboTaxi, and AI and robots. But Tesla is not even close to be leading in any of those fields. So Tesla will be a company with huge R&D costs, but little money coming in. Unless Musk can keep conning new investors of course.The little Ford EV hatchback they sell in Europe is a lot more attractive than a Tesla personally. I just wish we could get them in the US, but the CEOs have apparently decided by fiat (hah) that no small cars are desired.
Maybe one more Trump commercial in front of the white house might break the spell
The beginning of the end
Absolutely, but you could also say that beginning was a year ago, where Tesla sales began to slump.
Remember when we hear about poor sales this year compared to 2024, that 2024 was already a bad year for Tesla!It was probably when their “founder” did two Nazi salutes on stage at the inauguration of the President of the United States.
For USA absolutely, for Germany and EU that and supporting AfD, for China no.
The biggest sales declines are in EU and China.THIS!☝️
Why are the humans cleaning. I thought Elon was building human robots to do that
Definitely because no one’s buying them. Elon is not generous with time off.
It’s not paid time off.
Edit: I used to work a salary position in Texas. On slow days it was common to tell the hourly employees we had nothing for them right now and to go home. The salary employees always had something to do.
If anyone still has Tesla stock it’s probably a good time to sell.
The good time to sell was December…
Suppose it’s now a “less bad” time than it’s probably going to get.
Anyone who has a 401k likely has Tesla stock, unfortunately.
I expect whoever runs that is really good at trading.
If anyone still owns a Tesla it’s probably a good time to sell it.
…as parts.
Looks like they arent paying their workers for the time either. Sounds like things are going really well there. I wonder if the workers who fall below 32 hours per week will get their full time benefits (like health care) cut. I’d bet yes.
The article says it is paid…
Edit: TIL that PTO means different in the US. Thanks for the explanations and downvotes 👍
The article says it is paid…
Yes but in USA words don’t mean what they say, they are merely spin on something worse.
It actually means UNPAID time off, in normal human speak, but you can take some of your holiday and get paid for that.This would of course be illegal in EU and many other places, so an easy mistake to make unless you are brought up with the craziness of USA.
The workers, who are paid hourly, were told they could either take paid time off or come in for cleaning and training but would not be working on the production line.
That wording is ambiguous, but given the alternative is “come in and do cleaning” my guess is “take paid time off” means workers have to burn their own vacation time if they don’t want to lose money. Otherwise, who in their right mind would volunteer to work if the company is offering paid furlough?
They likely have a lower salary for cleaning or training, often 2/3 or 1/2 of normal from my experience.
Yeah they’re not getting paid. I’ve been in a similar situation.
Also “give my employees paid time at home while business is slow” sounds exactly like the kind of magnanimity that Elon lacks.
Yeah, he’s not going to let those lazy workers get paid for just sitting around at home, even if this whole debacle is entirely his fault.
Take paid time off (PTO) means take your vacation time (or combined vacation/sick time). Otherwise no one would pick the “come in and clean or train” option.
I once worked at a place where every year they shut down the week between Christmas and New Year’s and you had to take a week of your vacation time then whether you wanted to or not (and we only got 2 weeks/yr). I started working there the first week of December, so I was immediately in the hole for 1 week of vacation time. It was such bullshit.
It could be worse, it could be the opposite. My brothers company does plant shutdowns in December and January, partly because too many people want off to keep the lines moving. However that’s also when they do maintenance, when they update the lines for new products, which my brothers company does does.
So, is it better to have forced vacation in December and January so the plant can shut down, or mandatory work Christmas week and Fourth of July week because you’re the guy updating the lines?
The article says it is paid…
Well, yes and no. I mean, they get a paycheck if they use paid time off, but they’d need to use some of their supply of that, which is going to compete with things like time off for being sick, going on vacation, etc.
Imagine having a set number of days for being sick…
Better not get sick more than usual or you fucked, what a country, the american dream
I’m predicting the breaking news story for June 2nd is they find out they’re fired.
Happened to me there, though not as long. Friday, they told everyone on the line I worked on (S) most of us were being let go, but a few of us (myself included) were told we were staying. Fast-forward to Monday, they called me while half-way to work (this was in Fremont and I live in the central valley, so it was a 2 hour drive without traffic; which is never going to happen on the Altamonte) to say they actually let everyone go.
I am a cynical bastard, and I wonder if they told everyone that they were one of the people not being let go, then contacted them later to tell them everyone was being laid off.
It gives the workers a -temporary- feeling of relief. Which could stop a riot etc etc.
And it’s so very dishonestly devious that it’s deffo something that Felon Mucks would do, just because he can.Nah; like the first part where they said who was leaving and who was staying on was in person at the factory. Like a “stand over here if your name is called” thing.
That really sucks. I’m not sorry for Tesla, but I’m sorry for the workers caught up in the shit show.
a real George Bluth Sr. move
Fire Tom, and get your jackass brother out of here.
So an indefinite furlough… got it.
This is just how Musk makes an organization “efficient”.
Cut to tomorrow’s video of him carrying out their staff lockers to sell on Facebook Marketplace for $45
Well yeah, I mean without the whole embezzlement of personal data from various departments thing. Hes already got that.
The workers, who are paid hourly, were told they could either take paid time off or come in for cleaning and training but would not be working on the production line.
I mean, you’d be stupid to not come in, right? Who wants an involuntary unpaid vacation?
I’ve done it before. When we were working 64 hour weeks? Fuck yeah I’m taking that time off. It also said they could use PTO. The thing is, everywhere I’ve ever worked, there was never just “one week” of it off. It’s like one week every 4-6 weeks as it’s slowing down. Hell, I’m on one now. It’s basically to avoid layoffs and losing experienced workers.
Also, when you get a week off like that, it’s considered a layoff. So you can apply for unemployment for that time. If you keep calling in and reporting your working hours during the time that you’re back, you don’t have to refile for the next time it happens. Which will happen again in a couple weeks/months. The weird thing to me is that this is being reported on. It happens all the time, it could be for inventory adjustment, or because they’re having problems procuring parts due to tariffs. Or retooling/maintenance.
My point is, this doesn’t mean a whole lot as of yet. If it happens several more times over the coming months, then that means something. Especially since the stock isn’t going down like it was.
Tesla told Austin workers on its Model Y and Cybertruck lines to stay home for the week of Memorial Day, three workers told Business Insider.
Setting aside the Musk/Trump shennanigans and their impact on the Tesla brand as a whole, though…they’re also talking about the Cybertruck.
I can believe that maybe they keep demand for the Model Y at a sustained long-term level, but I have a hard time believing that the Cybertruck is going to take off. I mean, if there’s enough commonality across lines, then maybe they can use the Cybertruck workers elsewhere, but I just don’t think that the Cybertruck is going to become a big success.
Like, at some point, they gotta cut their losses on that thing.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/tesla-cybertruck-sales-musk-b2746688.html
Tesla Cybertruck sales underperformed in Q1, dropping more than 50 percent compared to sales in Q4 of 2024, reflecting a larger theme for the electric vehicle maker, which has faced market volatility and decreasing sales as its CEO has taken a role in the Trump administration.
In the last quarter, Tesla sold roughly 6,400 Cybertrucks – more than double the number from the same time last year but significantly fewer than the 12,900 sold in the final quarter of 2024, according to research firm Cox Automotive.
It’s the second consecutive quarter Tesla has seen a dip in Cybertruck sales. Sales peaked during Q3 of 2024 with roughly 16,600 sold.
The Cybertruck was introduced to the electric vehicle market in 2023, and at the time, Musk touted that more than one million people had paid a $100 refundable deposit to reserve one.
It also dropped production targets for several Cybertruck lines over the last few months, workers familiar with the matter told Business Insider. Production lines have reportedly also been thinned out; now, some are said to be working at a fraction of their previous capacity.
None of that surprises me. The cyber truck is a flop so it makes sense to “inventory adjust” a week for them. And you can likely expect that trend to continue. Nice of them to give time off for their workers to enjoy the spring weather, right? 😉
The model Y just got a facelift, though. And whenever that happens, there are hiccups. That being said, you would think production would be going full bore for it from generated excitement from the refresh.They could have found a flaw that stopped production while they fix the issue, or it could be that the excitement that they expected isn’t there. Knowing Tesla, it’s likely both.
And oh yeah, we’re not using dollars any more, you get paid in CT’s now
What you quoted says “paid time off”
Edit: TIL that PTO means different in the US. Thanks for the explanations and downvotes 👍
Paid time off (PTO) is what American companies call paid vacation because they don’t offer paid sick leave. You have to use vacation time if you want to get paid for a sick Day
so it is better to come in sick to spread germs?
Yes, which likely comes from their annual leave. Otherwise, why offer an alternative?
A sign of strong and healthy demand
Didn’t Trump’s tariffs remove the unfair advantage of foreign cars so now superior US-made cars dominate the free market because they’re the best?
And Tesla’s cars, with their Full Self Driving™ technology are literally 20 years ahead of the competition, so why aren’t people buying them??
I don’t understand!I buy car for the pleasure of driving them, if I don’t want to drive i take the bus, train, plane or cab.
Didn’t Trump’s tariffs remove the unfair advantage of foreign cars
These tariffs don’t just affect us. China used to be a huge market top for Tesla. They could never compete with low priced local manufacturers but now they e alienated potential customers willing to pay a premium
I think the answer is over there somewhere.
Now THAT is how much power musk has! Destroying a huge ev brand with only one arm gesture! /s
He did do it twice, to really set it in.
Photo edited? What’s the icon on the bottom left?
You know he actually did a Nazi salute right?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk_salute_controversy?wprov=sfla1
It’s the Google Images Search button, since that was a quick screenshot from my phone.
Yeah, this must be faked lol
Don’t forget the robust repair network Tesla provides.
And their amazing price to value!
Tesla is competing with itself. 😄
only tesla is not tariffed.
