You see many news items. Many times media only regurgitates what it is given by publicists. Or, they like the extravagant quote.
Om Malik recently wrote Our Crazy Unhinged Now about a news item from Elon Musk. This is a great lesson on reading through press releases.
The past decade has taught us this about Musk. The man loves his hyperboles. A million robotaxis by the end of 2026. A billion humanoid robots. Just last week, on Tesla’s earnings call, he announced the end of the Model S and Model X production lines, giving them an “honorable discharge.” The Fremont factory will be retooled to build Optimus robots instead. A million units a year, he says, on the same floor space that used to produce 100,000 cars. What that announcement really masks is simpler. Tesla’s EV sales fell 9% in 2025. The Model S and X accounted for just 3% of deliveries. The EV game, as a game of excitement and disruption, is pretty much over. It is now a boring business where Chinese manufacturers are going to dominate and push Tesla into increasingly marginal territory. The honorable discharge is really a quiet retreat dressed up in the language of the future. But hey, we are all living in the new Announcement Economy.
Consider this as you consume news (or what passes today for news).
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