Tesla To Eliminate Model S & Model X To Make Robots

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Remember when Tesla was all about S3XY? My, how things have changed in a few short years. Soon the company will be all about 3Y + Cybercab. Since it is unclear who will buy the totally ridiculous taxi, the company has essentially said it will continue to build the Model 3 and Model Y ad infinitum with few if any changes.

During the Tesla earnings call this week, Elon Musk said, “It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end. We expect to wind down S and X production next quarter.” Sales continued to decline last year, but the company sloughed that off by saying it is pursuing a “transition from a hardware-centric business to a physical AI company.”

The production lines for those two cars will be converted to manufacturing Optimus robots instead. Investors, of course, ignored the dismal economic news and immediately sent the stock higher, anticipating the flood of new revenue those robots will bring once they get into production. Editor’s note: Steve must have checked the stock price yesterday evening, as it is now down compared to yesterday and down 6% across the past 5 days, to about $420.

Unproven & Unavailable

The Guardian reports that Musk’s claims about the Optimus robots and robotaxis “remain unproven and not widely available to the public, let alone profitable, but they have allowed Musk to claim the company will see unparalleled future growth without much to show for it today.”

Musk has stated that Optimus will be the “biggest product of all time” and that the robots, along with autonomous vehicles, will usher in “a world where there is no poverty.” Tesla plans to start production of the robots before the end of this year, according to the earnings report, and begin selling them to the public beginning in 2027.

In an email to CleanTechnica, Guy Hoffman, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University who studies computational, design, and social aspects of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), said: “Tesla’s shift is either bold or risky, depending on how optimistic you are about unproven technologies.

“While future breakthroughs are always hard to predict, let’s keep in mind that humanoid robots — despite their current buzz — remain highly experimental. I would argue that the popularity of humanoids is driven more by sci‑fi appeal than engineering rationale, as bipedal robots are dynamically unstable and such a one-size-fits-all design is rarely the most efficient solution for real tasks, from homes to hospitals or factories.

“Most humanoid demonstrations today are tightly controlled, often tele‑operated, and not indicative of autonomous, market‑ready systems. We are still waiting for major advances in robot learning, and even when they do, commercialization can take decades. Autonomous vehicles, for example, required roughly twenty years to move from early breakthroughs to limited real‑world deployment. Therefore, distinguishing hype from capability remains essential.”

Looking back on the trajectory of Tesla to date, some may recall the words of J. Wellington Wimpie, a character in Popeye comic strips who liked to say, “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger today.” Musk is a master at spinning dreams, but not so great at meeting his actual forecasts, or coming close to them.

Emissions Credits

It seems ironic that the decision to stop selling the Model S and Model X comes at the same time as the end of the federal exhaust emissions credits in the US, which netted Tesla billions of dollars over the years and heavily supported or subsidized the development of those models, as well as Tesla’s eventual mass-market models.

The Model 3 and Model Y will be allowed to limp along with occasional tweaks and upgrades so long as there is a market for them. However, it also seems clear that Tesla has no plans to introduce any new electric car models. No vans or pickup trucks based on the Model Y chassis. No $20,000 commuter car. Instead, the company announced during the earnings call this week that it would invest $2 billion in another of Musk’s magic money machines — xAI.

As executive editor Zachary Shahan reported yesterday, Tesla shareholders specifically voted against Tesla investing in xAI last year, but Musk answers to no one and is guided solely by his own warped conscience.

xAI And Colossus

In case you haven’t been following along, xAI is the company Musk started after he and Sam Altman got a messy divorce. It is centered primarily at the Colossus data center in Memphis, Tennessee, where Musk pulled one of his famous “I don’t have to obey any rules and regulations I don’t want to” routines.

When the local utility could not supply the megawatts of electricity he needed right away, he hustled in a dozen or more portable methane-powered generators that spew copious amounts of pollution into the air. Musk claimed those generators did not need air quality permits because of a local ordinance. Recently, the EPA disagreed. Funny how those MAGA types pick and choose whether they want to follow local laws or federal regulations depending on what is in their best interests.

According to The Guardian, “Tesla’s chief financial officer, Vaibhav Taneja, stated on the earnings call that the company’s capital expenditure would be $20 billion, an immense amount that is vastly more than what many analysts estimated.”

xAI is the parent of Grok — the chatbot that likes to create images of nearly naked people, mostly women. It has been integrated into Tesla automobiles, which led to an unfortunate incident when Grok asked a young boy riding in the car with his mother to send nude pictures of himself. Grokipedia has a reputation for pushing Nazi-themed and anti-science messages to its users. This is what Tesla shareholders are excited about?

In Summary

CleanTechnica is privileged to have a solid base of intelligent readers who are not easily conned. I found this comment to Zachary’s story from eveee to be an excellent summary:

“This story has legs. What is shown on the outside is one thing. What is going on underneath is another. Seen with clear eyes, it is a simple story. It is one that has been denied for a long, long time. All the denial is the only thing holding back the dam, and after awhile people get used to it. When it is time to pay the piper, there is shock.

“Sales and revenue are down, new products like Cybertruck have failed, and the founder is acting like giving up. This is bad news for investors in so many ways. What investor wants money funneled out of a business they invested in to another business? Worse, at the same time, the main business is faltering badly.

“Does anyone remember the huge, expensive, Dojo computer? That got ditched a while ago. SuperCharger network? Cut back. These are all moves that look like an austerity purge. Businesses that are doing well don’t trim, they cruise along and maintain continuity of operations. All the talk about Tesla being more than a car business is going to melt away if Tesla stops being a car business. And what other business is Tesla? A self driving business? A taxi business. A hyper loop business? A tunnel business?

“We have seen this before. Big announcements, and then…..silence. Solar roofs? A roadster? Where is the semi? A real company has to have real products, not a succession of promised products that never materialize.

“Another thing — companies develop expertise in one area. When they try to do a totally different field, they fail. It’s like Ford deciding to build submarines. Car companies are not a natural fit for a robot maker — not even close. Founders can start a company and then abandon it for a newer, shinier tech; but investors don’t have that luxury. The outside perspective on this quarterly report is pretty bad.”

With the exception of the Supercharger network, which is still growing and being upgraded, this comment is spot on. Musk is running amok. And don’t forget that he is also the curator of X, the most bigoted, anti-science, and fascist forum on the internet. This is the person investors are looking to for the key to the future? As PT Barnum reportedly said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” That could be a fitting epitaph for the Elon Musk story.