Former Tesla President Jon McNeill addresses investor concerns on Elon Musk's management
TechCrunch
In a recent interview on CNBC, former Tesla President Jon McNeill addressed concerns raised by Tesla investors regarding CEO Elon Musk's management of the company. Investors had previously sent a letter to Tesla's Board of Directors expressing concerns about Musk's multiple commitments and the company's governance.
McNeill defended Musk (video below), stating, "I don't think he is too distracted. On the earnings call, he was answering questions on a deep level, like how neural nets work. He is involved, and he has always had a lot going on. He is incredible at managing his schedule and staying involved on key topics." He also pointed out that Tesla still delivers more cars than ever, with a 36% jump in the first quarter.
Tesla's solid margins and market leadership highlighted
The former Tesla President also emphasized the company's strong margins, explaining, "Even though they cut prices six times this year, they still delivered more margin in the first quarter than anybody in the industry." He acknowledged that Musk's tendency to deliver on promises, albeit not always on time, could be frustrating for customers. However, he believes that the company's ability to generate software revenue and other income streams in the future will make up for any current setbacks.
McNeill acknowledged the growing competition in the EV market and the autonomous vehicle sector, but he sees it as a driving force for innovation. "Competition is coming with autonomous vehicles, and there is a lot of capability to deliver margins off that platform and those cars. GM has a similar strategy, and others do too. It drives breakthroughs," he said.
Musk has Access to the Best Engineers in the World
He also highlighted the benefits of Musk's involvement in multiple companies, such as SpaceX, as it leads to cross-pollination of talent and innovation. "There are SpaceX materials engineers who really transform the way the Model Y gets produced. By moving that talent and content and switching them, you get the breakthroughs," McNeill explained.
While understanding the investors' concerns, McNeill shed light on the value that Musk's multiple commitments bring to Tesla, which is often overlooked in the narrative. In addition, his defense of Musk's management style serves as a counterpoint to the concerns raised by investors in their letter to Tesla's Board of Directors.
As the EV market continues to grow and competition intensifies, it remains to be seen how Tesla will adapt to the changing landscape and address investor concerns. With McNeill's insights, the debate around Musk's management style and impact on the company will likely continue among investors and industry observers.
In Tesla’s upcoming update, 2024.32.3, Tesla has added hands-free support for opening the vehicle’s frunk. This follows the Spring Update (2024.14), which added Hands-Free Trunk support for certain vehicles.
When hands-free trunk support was added earlier this year, it was supported on vehicles that include an ultra wideband chip, which includes the refresh Model S, new Model X, and the 2024 Model 3. Due to the hardware requirement, these will be the same vehicles that support the new Hands-Free Frunk feature. Legacy vehicles without UWB will unfortunately not support either feature due to the hardware requirement. UWB enables far more accurate tracking of the phone key, allowing Tesla to pinpoint its exact location relative to the vehicle.
The Cybertruck interestingly also includes an ultra wideband chip, however, it didn’t include the automatic opening of the gate earlier this year. However, we expect the Cybertruck to also receive the hands-free frunk opening in this 2024.32.3 update or relatively soon afterward.
Update: The Cybertruck is receiving hands-free frunk support in the 2024.32 update as well.
Hands-Free Frunk
The Hands-Free Frunk works similarly to the trunk feature – with an iPhone 11+ and a recent version of the app, you’ll be able to stand in front of your vehicle, and the Frunk will unlatch after sounding a chime. On some vehicles, the frunk will immediately open after being unlatched, however, you’ll need to manually close it.
This new feature isn’t enabled by default – you’ll need to go to Settings > Locks > Hands-Free Frunk to enable it.
At this time, Tesla doesn’t support UWB on Android devices, though both the Hands-Free Trunk and Hands-Free Frunk support will come to Android users in a future app update, according to Tesla.
Exclude Home
With the addition of the hands-free frunk opening, Tesla has also added a new option. You can now choose to disable the automatic opening when your vehicle is located at home to prevent you from accidentally opening. This will apply to the automatic frunk and trunk. In addition, in the Model X, you’ll also be able to disable the self-presenting doors at home. This is a great addition as many people have kept the hands-free feature disabled due to it awkwardly opening in the garage.
In the 2024.32.3 update, Tesla also mentions that they’ve improved the detection of the phone key, which should make the feature more reliable and faster when approaching the vehicle from the front or rear.
Following its recent launch in the United States and Canada, Tesla has launched their referral program in several European countries as well.
The program is available in Germany, Norway, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and possibly others. The program is almost the same as the one available today in North America, with rewards for each referral and a discount for those referred. The cap in Europe is also ten per year.
This program comes right on the heels of a 0% financing offer for the Model Y in Sweden and France. While referrals aren't currently available in Sweden, the 0% financing still is.
European Referrals
The European Referral program accounts for country and local currency, where applicable.
Country
Referral Discount
Referral Award
UK
£1,000
£500
Germany, France, Netherlands
€1,000
€500
Norway
kr11,500
kr5,750
The referral reward program is comparable to the one available in North America. After exchange rates, there is only an approximately 10% difference between the available rewards in the US and EU.
Other Countries
We expect this program to start rolling out to other European countries over the next few days or weeks, as Tesla continues to expand its referral program.
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