After 4 Cybertruck recalls in 5 months, Elon Musk’s Tesla may soon lose more of its luster – Fortune
Tesla just cant shake those quality problems with its Cybertruck.
The first recall came at the end of January, thanks to a warning-light font size that was too small, which could have caused crashes, though Tesla said there was no record of any happening. This was easily fixed with an over-the-air software update, unlike the next recall in April, when Tesla had to physically fix the vehicle because its accelerator pedal couldand didget stuck, causing surprise acceleration.
But yesterday, Elon Musk truly spoiled his critics with not one but two Cybertruck recalls, both of the this-needs-to-come-in variety.
Tesla paused Cybertruck shipments a couple weeks back, with some reports saying there was a windshield wiper issue. Accordingly, one of the recalls is because excessive electrical current can cause the front windshield wiper motor controller to failincreasing the risk of a crash. The wiper motor needs to be replaced. Its not clear if there were any crashes because of this, but there were multiple reports of the wipers failing.
The other recall is because the Cybertrucks sail appliquethe long strip of plastic lining on top of the sides of the truck bedwas badly installed in some vehicles. The cosmetic piece fell off in at least two instances and had the potential to create a road hazard for people driving behind the truck.
Thats four recallsthree physicalin just five months. Its only been seven months since people first took delivery of the thing. Like the Cybertruck itself, its not a good look. (Your mileage may vary; nearly 12,000 Cybertrucks have been delivered, suggesting plenty of people do like its early-PlayStation-graphics design.)
Teslas investors, who recently decided that Musk deserves a $50-something-billion pay package, remain very patient people. There was barely a blip in the rise of the companys share price, which ended Tuesday up 2.6% and continued its ascent this morning (the stock is down over 30% this year.)
Whats likely to be of more interest to them is Teslas next overall shipment figures, which are expected to arrive early next week. Wall Street consensus has deliveries down to 440,000 from 466,000 last year, though some analysts say you could lop off another 20,000 or so.
On top of that, other carmakers will also soon report their Q2 shipments and, as Bloomberg reports, it is quite possible that Tesla will no longer be the electric car company that sells more in the U.S. than all its rivals combined. Its Q1 sales were already down 13%, while the likes of Ford and Hyundai soared.
That is not a favorable trajectory, but perhaps it is naturalin an expanding market, an early lead may not last forever.
More news below.
David Meyer
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After 4 Cybertruck recalls in 5 months, Elon Musk's Tesla may soon lose more of its luster - Fortune
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