[rainsford]

The thing is Tesla probably has a solid enough foundation of smart people and technology to out compete other EV manufacturers, but they're not going to because they're saddled with today's version of Elon Musk instead of the Elon Musk of 15 years ago. His politics have made the brand radioactive to a lot of potential buyers and even for customers for whom that's not a deal breaker, his idea of innovation at Tesla now is stuff like the Cybertruck.

That said, Tesla is still selling plenty of vehicles and anecdotally I see plenty of new ones driving around my American city, although more than a few have anti-Elon bumper stickers which is usually not a great sign for a brand. But I suspect a lot of that is momentum and the Elon problem is going to get worse and worse for the company as time goes on. His brain seems unlikely to get less melted over time and his politics and company direction seem unlikely to improve Tesla's prospects.