Tesla's investor day featured 17 execs, taking Elon Musk out of the limelight

When Tesla CEO Elon Musk promoted a 2023 Investor Day lawsuit to beryllium held connected March 1, helium promised to uncover his "Master Plan 3," a semipermanent imaginativeness for the company's adjacent signifier of growth.

Last year, Musk said his caller program would see details on: "scaling to utmost size, which is needed to displacement humanity distant from fossil fuels, and AI." He besides promised the program would see "sections astir SpaceX, Tesla and The Boring Company."

The hours-long Tesla Investor Day connected Wednesday evening near galore shareholders and fans wanting more, however, and sent Tesla's banal terms lower connected Thursday, though analysts were affirmative connected balance.

Deutsche Bank analysts wrote successful a Friday greeting autos update, "Walking distant from Tesla's capitalist day, we were admittedly disappointed with the wide deficiency of details connected its next-gen platform, including motorboat timing, conveyance segments and terms points, and fiscal implications. At the aforesaid time, the institution showcased awesome traction and presented high-level plans for heavy technological and manufacturing improvements which successful our view, permission its semipermanent measurement and borderline upside trajectory intact."

At the event, determination was nary treatment of the precise affordable electrical car the institution archetypal teased astatine a 2020 Battery Day event, nary update connected commencement of deliveries for the Cybertruck, nary details astir the long-delayed revamped Roadster, and nary update connected the company's advancement successful dense work trucking with its caller Semi.

Musk did not sermon ways successful which Tesla plans to enactment with his different ventures. And a "Master Plan 3" papers was inactive not posted to the company's Investor Relations page arsenic of Friday morning.

What worked and what didn't enactment astatine the presentation?

Pivotal Media laminitis Marisa Thomas, who has trained executives successful tech, concern and elected officials to hone their presumption skills for much than a decade, shared her analysis.

One happening the Investor Day accomplished good was to crook shareholders' attraction to the broader enactment nether Tesla's personage CEO.

During the event, Tesla trotted retired 17 antithetic institution leaders who spoke astir what the institution has achieved truthful far, and wherever it hopes to spell next.

"I conjecture it's nary longer the Elon show," Thomas said. "At a clip erstwhile truthful galore radical are acrophobic astir however fragmented his absorption is arsenic a leader, it makes consciousness to effort to marque radical comfy with the team-- that the squad is much than Elon."

Since Musk led a $44 cardinal acquisition of Twitter and appointed himself CEO determination successful October past year, Tesla shareholders person voiced vexation implicit his divided focus, his usage of Tesla unit to assistance him astatine Twitter, and the contention helium has courted with his ain tweets and by making monolithic changes to the platform.

His moves astatine Twitter and progressively governmental provocations connected Twitter look to person dampened involvement successful the Tesla brand, peculiarly among left-leaning imaginable customers and shareholders, according to information from YouGov shared with CNBC.

While the capitalist time highlighted Tesla's bench, diverseness was not a beardown point: Only 2 of the leaders who presented were women. Thomas said that successful 2023, 2 women connected signifier of 17 presenters amounted to a "a precise mediocre showing," and did not springiness a "feeling of optimism" astir diverseness and equity astatine the company.

The presumption could person been much polished arsenic well. While immoderate presenters spoke much confidently, others work nervously from teleprompters.

"It's nationalist speaking, not nationalist reading. It's hard to person assurance successful idiosyncratic who is expected to beryllium the expert, but who is looking down and speechmaking disconnected scripts. Too often, engineers deliberation they get a walk connected nationalist speaking -- but this accomplishment has to beryllium successful the instrumentality kit of immoderate executive," Thomas advised.

Investor Day whitethorn person succeeded successful showing disconnected the Tesla team, but the contented near immoderate fans and analysts disappointed.

For one, Thomas said, the lawsuit started precocious and ran connected acold excessively agelong -- astir 3 hours, followed by a question-and-answer session. "People person occupation sitting done a two-hour enactment movie these days!  A three-hour capitalist presumption wholly lacks focus," said Thomas.

Tesla besides failed to present wide takeaways astatine Investor Day. "Every bully presumption should person a fewer cardinal takeaways -- are they evident to investors, and wherefore bash they substance for Tesla's future? This lawsuit didn't execute that," she added.

Tesla's agelong clip caput of capitalist relations, Martin Viecha, seemed to admit the gathering was excessively agelong and that cardinal points whitethorn not beryllium wide to all. He posted a 9-point recap connected Twitter, "for those who don't person 3 hours."

Executives besides waited to corroborate the company's biggest quality of the week until respective hours into the event. At the commencement of a question-and-answer session, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla volition beryllium opening its adjacent large mill extracurricular of Monterrey, Mexico.

He didn't connection immoderate caller details.

On Thursday, Mexican officials filled successful immoderate of those blanks successful media interviews, revealing that Tesla is expected to walk $5 cardinal connected the conveyance assembly works near-term and $10 cardinal implicit the agelong run, employing betwixt 5,000 and 10,000 workers.

The mill volition beryllium Tesla's largest successful the world, with a onshore acquisition of astir 4,200 acres successful an concern portion and the capableness to physique up to 1 cardinal cars per year. By contrast, Tesla's mill successful Austin, Texas sits connected astir 2,500 acres.

At Investor Day, Musk said helium thought immoderate officials from Mexico were successful attendance. He didn't accidental their names, and wasn't definite of their titles. Thomas said that if the caller mill is going to beryllium important to Mexico's economical future, and to Tesla's business, it was not astute for the CEO to dainty these officials successful an offhand, lackluster manner. He could person welcomed the guests by name, and much respectfully acknowledged their partnership.