- Carlos Tavares believes Musk could shift Tesla toward humanoid robots.
- Tesla sales have fallen for two years and may not recover anytime soon.
- The former Stellantis boss warned Tesla will lose to BYD’s efficiency.
Over the past twenty years, Tesla has transformed from a niche startup into one of the world’s largest carmakers, effectively defining what the modern electric vehicle looks like.
Yet as new rivals from China, such as BYD, close in, and Elon Musk divides his time between rockets, robots, and artificial intelligence, a former Stellantis chief has suggested that Tesla could eventually abandon the car business altogether.
Read: The Guy Who Broke Stellantis Now Thinks It Might Break Up
It’s no secret that the ongoing growth in Tesla sales long promised by Elon Musk hasn’t been going to plan recently. At one stage, Musk said that Tesla could grow so rapidly that it would be selling as many as 20 million vehicles per year.
However, its sales topped out at 1.808 million in 2023 before falling to 1.789 million in 2024. This year, its sales are predicted to fall to roughly 1.6 million.
Could Tesla Walk Away From Cars?
Then again, it’s Musk we’re talking about, so no one’s exactly shocked that the numbers haven’t lined up with his boundless optimism. According to former Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares, Tesla’s future could be even more precarious than it looks.
“We can’t rule out that at some point, he’ll decide to leave the automotive industry to refocus on humanoid robots, SpaceX or artificial intelligence,” Tavares said in a recent interview with Les Echos, to promote his new memoir. “Elon Musk will have left the automotive industry.”
The Trillon-Dollar Question
These comments from Tavares come just as members of Tesla’s board of directors have begun feverishly campaigning shareholders to get behind Elon Musk’s record $1 trillion pay package ahead of a vote on November 6.
To walk away $1 trillion richer, Musk will have to oversee Tesla achieving some massive financial milestones, and Tavares doesn’t think they’ll be reached.
“Tesla’s stock market value loss will be colossal because this valuation is simply stratospheric,” he said. “I’m not sure that Tesla will still exist in 10 years. It’s an innovative group, but they’ll be beaten by BYD’s efficiency.”
The notion of Tesla pivoting away from carmaking toward humanoid robotics or other ventures isn’t entirely implausible, though Tavares’s track record doesn’t make him the most convincing prophet. His own tenure at Stellantis ended abruptly last year after mounting internal friction.
More recently, he suggested that Stellantis itself might splinter under the strain of cultural and strategic differences between its Italian, French, and American divisions, a prediction that, if nothing else, shows Tavares is consistent in forecasting upheaval.
Source: Les Echos, Bloomberg
