Listen to “AAH #740 – Is Automation the Answer for US Auto Manufacturing?” on Spreaker.
– Reshoring and robots
– Is Tesla Running Out of Juice?
– What Happens If 2 Million Vehicles Aren’t Built?
PANEL:
Mike Cicco, Fanuc Robotics
Steve Plumb, Manufacturing Engineering
Brett Smith, Auto Industry Expert
Gary Vasilash, shinymetalboxes.net
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AAH
Great guests, awesome show, Gary, despite not having your ‘wingman’!
Love the automation and humanoid robot field! (unfortunately, to the detriment of the UAW workers, but it can’t be stopped).
I responded to an article on LinkedIn about Tesla, where I asked the author if Musk could sell it because it’s turning into a difficult slog of the lower profit margin legacy car business to focus on the more profitable, and easier (!), ‘space’ business. Now, after listening to all the comments on this episode, I believe it’s only a matter of time.
The only question is if he will sell it with Optimus (seems highly likely the coming robotaxi business will be included).
Think of it not from the perspective of ‘Musk selling Tesla’, but rather from who would buy it – I suspect there would be a long line of potential buyers looking to get instant scale and a market leader. Loosing the notoriety that Musk has brought to the brand of the last half year would bring back buyers in droves.
Musk is a very ‘long term’ thinker, the Tesla play is probably done for him and he has sold businesses before – big question is, can he ‘bondo’ the dented image of Tesla for a good sale price? Or, does he even need to? Maybe just hint at a sale…
The segment on automation was excellent and what I’ve come to expect from AAH: knowledgeable professional experts in their field describing emerging business and technology trends in the auto industry. Unfortunately, the second half of the show has become an all-to-familiar emotional rant about Elon Musk and Tesla, primarily by the co-host. This led to the panel concluding that Tesla is “just another car company.” Without the panel providing supporting insight or data, what does that mean?