Even Without Musk, Tesla Is Finished

The market is leapfrogging the deplorable duo.

Photo by Charlie Deets on Unsplash

Remember when we all thought Musk was the real-life Iron Man? A visionary inventor and engineer trailblazing humanity to a brighter future with his vast technological leaps. Well, that facade didn’t last long, did it? His now-open Nazi-adjacent techno-libertarianism ideology has shattered the illusion, and at this point we can all see he is more similar to Marvel’s Hydra than Captain America. But, for some bizarre reason, people still seem to think that Musk is some business and engineering genius, just one who has swung wildly to the right. Well, that isn’t true. Musk is Mysterio, a master illusionist — he’s able to make a pile of s**t seem appealing and nothing more. There is no greater evidence of this than Tesla. You see, Tesla needs Musk to hide that it is obsolete and on the verge of death.

Tesla is the most overvalued car company on the planet, even after its recent 50%+ share price drop. Why? Investors are heavily speculating that Tesla will lead the EV and autonomous driving revolution by a wide margin and, in doing so, dominate the industry. This is the line Musk has fed the market, and they have accepted it hook, line, and sinker. But, in reality, Tesla is falling behind rapidly.

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Say you want an affordable yet useable EV; in the past, the obvious choice was the standard Model 3, but that is no longer the case. The Kia EV3 undercuts the Model 3 by £4,000 ($5,180) while still offering a WLTP range of 376 miles, which is 32 more miles than the Model 3. While the Model 3 does charge slightly faster on paper, in the real world, it doesn’t (Tesla tends to exaggerate these numbers). Moreover, the interior quality and specs of the EV3 are far more luxurious than those of the Model 3, which has a cheap feeling of minimalism thanks to the single screen and bad materials. On top of that, the EV3 seems to hold its value far better and has a longer warranty.

Only a die-hard Musk fan would choose the Tesla over the Kia.

But what if you want to splash out and get a properly long-range EV?

Again, years ago, you’d get a long-range Model 3 or even a Model S if you wanted to really splash out. But that isn’t the case anymore.

Mercedes has just released its CLA 250+, a Model 3-sized EV capable of doing 492 miles per charge, and Mercedes has even stated that it can manage 431 miles per charge if driven exclusively at motorway speeds, due to it being so efficient. For comparison, a Tesla Model 3 LR RWD can only handle 325 miles at highway speeds at best. Tesla’s longest-range EV, the Model S, is only rated at 410 miles on the unrealistic EPA range estimate. Yet, the Mercedes is nearly half the price of the Model S! Meanwhile, the CLA 250+ is only £5,000 ($6,476) more expensive than the Model 3 LR RWD, yet has the design, features, quality, and brand image of a Mercedes, which is several leagues above Tesla.

Again, only a Musk fan would choose the Model 3 or S over the CLA+.

But I hear a few people in the background mumbling something about FSD. Yeah… no. Tesla is losing the autonomous driving race to Mercedes too.