Hyperdrive

Tesla Needs Musk to Convince Doubters It Has No Demand Issue

Months after the CEO insisted the carmaker’s problem is production, it reported disappointing deliveries.

Lights reflect off a Model 3 in a Tesla showroom in Shanghai.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Three months ago, Elon Musk sounded a bit exasperated again with the analyst he once cut off for asking what he dismissed as “boring, bonehead” questions.

“I mean, I think we've said this now for many years, and I know it has proven true: Tesla does not have a demand problem,” Musk told AllianceBernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi on the company’s last earnings call. “We have a production problem.”