Tesla Is Dying
Cannibalised by an egomaniac and his cult, Tesla is turning into something strange.
The duality of Tesla is aggravating sometimes, to say the least. Musk is allowed to agree on a record-setting ‘trillion-dollar’ pay package despite historic model flops, crashing profitability, and sales plummeting off a cliff. Still, Tesla stock prices hit insane highs, despite constant evidence that the hype and speculation are as superficial as Musk’s hairline. It makes no sense. So, what on Earth is going on? Well, Tesla is dying, and Musk is the one who drove the knife through its heart. But this death is birthing something else, something stranger. It is a sacrifice to the cult of Musk. Let me explain.
The ‘Standard’ Problem
The budget ‘Standard’ Model 3 and Y, launched back in October, are a perfect example of this.
By cutting out luxury and slashing the price by $5,000, Tesla hoped to invigorate new customers or, at the very least, stem losses as EV tax credits were phased out. But that simply hasn’t happened. According to Cox Automotive and Reuters, fewer than 40,000 Teslas were sold in the US in November 2025, a massive 23% decline from November 2024. Keep in mind that people had already started boycotting Tesla for Musk’s political decisions by November 2024. So, in other words, these new models didn’t help at all. To make matters worse, Musk’s baby, the Cybertruck, sold just 1,200 units in November, marking yet another month of declining sales.
But the issues go deeper here. Some analysts have found that these budget Model 3s and Ys didn’t bring in any new customers but instead replaced sales for the more expensive and more profitable variants. So, they are literally cannibalising Tesla’s profit.
This wouldn’t have happened if Tesla had launched its promised cheaper and smaller ‘Model 2’, as it would not only have been more affordable but it would also exist in a different sector of the market, meaning it wouldn’t compete with the 3 and Y. This would have been a much smarter way to bring in new customers without destroying already-existing profitability.
The proof of this is over the pond in Europe. In October, Tesla’s sales there were down 48.5% compared to October 2024. Again, Tesla’s sales had already begun to slip by October 2024, so this is a gargantuan fall from an already low position. For years, the Model Y was by far the best-selling EV in Europe and the UK. But in October, the Renault 5 was the best-selling EV in the UK and the second-best-selling EV in Europe, lagging just behind the Skoda Enyaq. In fact, the Renault 5 has been incredibly dominant this year, as it was the best-selling EV in Europe for the first half of 2025. Meanwhile, the Model Y has slipped to the tenth-best-selling EV in Europe, and the Model 3 is so substandard it doesn’t even make the top 20.
Why does all of this matter? The Renault 5 offers the same price, performance and specifications that Tesla once promised for the Model 2 (read more here). The 5’s wild success in Europe shows that Tesla was on the right track to maintain its hold on the EV market and rapidly expand its customer base.
So, why isn’t it here? Well, Musk rebelled against his expert executives’ advice to abandon efforts to create self-driving “Robotaxis”, which would be unprofitable, and instead focus on developing cheaper EVs to strengthen Tesla’s market lead. In fact, Musk did the exact opposite and cancelled the Model 2 to divert funds to Tesla’s self-driving Robotaxis (read more here). He had to. Musk had been claiming Tesla would drive itself for over a decade at this point. It was his personal pitch, the reason people listened to him, and the reason Tesla was a highly valuable tech stock and not a run-of-the-mill automotive manufacturer stock. He couldn’t be seen to admit fault.
The success of the 5, the ignoring of expert advice, the cancellation of the Model 2, and Tesla’s pitiful cannibalistic sales show just how poor Musk’s leadership is. Had any other CEO made such a mistake, they would have been ousted without question or resigned in shame.
Musk, his sycophantic investors, and the Tesla board explicitly sacrificed the Model 2, Tesla’s sales, Tesla’s enviable market position, and Tesla’s profitability in order to save Musk’s cult of personality from reality.
The Robotaxi Problem
Speaking of Robotaxis, they also demonstrate this disconnect.
