Judging by the current price action in Tesla shares, the company's much-hyped Investor Day 2023 has fallen flat against elevated expectations that the EV giant had implicitly encouraged in the runup to the event.
<TSLA>:🔻*TESLA SHARES FALL 5% IN US PREMARKET TRADING
— Cable FX Macro (@cablefxmacro) March 2, 2023
In early pre-market trading today, Tesla shares are down a little over 5 percent. Given that the stock is up a whopping 80 percent so far this year, with this rally largely a function of improved demand outlook following aggressive price cuts of as much as 20 percent as well as the recent hype around Investor Day 2023, it remains a stark possibility that yesterday's disappointment might unleash a correction in the company's current nosebleed valuation.
In the runup to its Investor Day 2023, Tesla released marketing material that contained the renders of a coupe EV, leading to a frenzy of speculation that the EV giant might finally announce the oft-talked about sub-$30,000 model. A brand-new vehicle platform, as well as additional information on robotaxis, formed the other legs of this speculative exercise.
Tesla Investor Day 2023
Summary for those who don't have 3 hours:
1. Transition to sustainable energy is entirely feasible
2. global mining will *reduce* in this transition
3. next-gen vehicles will be manufactured very differently
4. no more rare earths in the next powertrains https://t.co/DgQ85oPZjl…— Martin Viecha (@MartinViecha) March 2, 2023
As is evident from the tweet above, Tesla's event was largely iterative in nature. Readers can view the entire event live stream below.
At the event, Tesla announced that a new vehicle platform was in the works. This next-gen platform will allow the company to build multiple vehicle models and configurations in standardized factories. However, Musk eschewed additional details on this count, including any morsel on which models this platform might serve.
Tesla's CFO, Zach Kirkhorn, revealed that the company will invest up to six times its already-invested CapEx to prepare for the long-term target of producing 20 million electric vehicles annually by 2030. This means that the company's CapEx requirements over the next few years might total as much as $175 billion.
According to Musk, Tesla will retail around 10 models by 2030, with each model capturing sales of around 2 million units per annum.
Elon Musk briefly touched on the company's newest $5 billion production facility that is expected to become operational in Mexico. Terming it "probably the most significant announcement of the day," Musk said that the plant would supplement the output of all other Gigafactories.
In what might constitute the biggest indication for a sub-$30,000 model, Tesla's Chief Engineer, Lars Moravy, said that the company's next-gen models would bear a production cost that is around half of Model 3's and Model Y's. Moravy expanded on the "unboxed" production technique where sub-assemblies of future Tesla models would simply be snapped together to save time and money.
While touching on the 4680 battery cells that Tesla has been trying to perfect, the company's engineers noted that they were working on two different techniques to yield volume production by the end of 2023.
In a related development, Reuters reported on Wednesday that Tesla was working on a revamped version of Model Y under the codename Project Juniper. This revamped model might launch next year. Similarly, Tesla was also working on Project Highland, which centers on a Model 3 refresh and is expected to enter production by September 2023.
Additionally, Tesla also announced at its Investor Day 2023 event that the company's next-gen powertrains would not use rare earth metals. However, the company did not provide additional details as to how this feat would be achieved.
I liked it in general, though there were definitely things missing (HW4, next-gen vehicle design unveil, Highland, mining, 4680 rate, new megafactory location, & how exactly they'll get to their 20M scale, although maybe they don't want to share that). It is a little funny it's…
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) March 2, 2023
Overall, the event left investors and analysts a bit underwhelmed, with a feeling that the presentation was high on rhetoric but low on substance.
https://twitter.com/Fxhedgers/status/1631179723136180225
Perhaps, it is fitting that Musk has again lost the title of the world's richest person. Nonetheless, should Tesla even achieve half of what it promised during yesterday's event, it would render the company an unstoppable force.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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