Tesla's latest 'Master Plan' isn't a mission statement, it's a discursive mess

Tesla has released part four of its so-called "Master Plan" in a post on X. Unlike the more focused "Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan," which outlined concrete plans for future products, this "Master Plan Part IV" reads more like a rambling utopic fever dream that was partly written by Grok, while touching on Tesla's AI-powered products.

Tesla says it intends to "deliver unconstrained sustainability without compromise," and that the company is "unifying our hardware and software at scale" in order to create a "safer, cleaner and more enjoyable world" through "sustainable abundance." Specifics on what any of that actually means were largely absent throughout the manifesto.

Over the post's 1000 words, Tesla waxes poetic about how semiconductors and the internet changed the world, employs self-aggrandizing language about pushing forward the electric vehicle market and shares extremely vague depictions of a future molded by the company's products.

"How we develop and use autonomy — and the new capabilities it makes available to us — should be informed by its ability to enhance the human condition," the company writes in one particularly vague passage. "Making daily life better — and safer — for all people through our autonomous technology has always been, and continues to be, our focus."

Another passage reads, "We must make one thing clear: this challenge will be extremely difficult to overcome. The elimination of scarcity will require tireless and exquisite execution. Some will perceive it as impossible. And plenty of others will laud every obstacle and setback we inevitably encounter along the way. But once we overcome this challenge, our critics will come to see that what they once thought was impossible is indeed possible. And that will be fine with us, because what matters most is that, together, we create a sustainable and truly abundant future for generations to come."

The Tesla Master Plans have been treated with almost religious reverence in tech circles over the years as fans of the electric car company and its polarizing CEO point to them as evidence of Musk's visionary thinking.

The first Master Plan, authored by Musk in 2006, espoused lofty but specific goals, many of which ultimately came to pass. In it, Musk laid out how "The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market … and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model."

This is exactly what the company did, leveraging earnings from the 2008 Roadster to build the Model S in 2012 and Model X in 2015, then using those profits to create the Model 3 in 2017 and Model Y in 2020, the latter of which went on to become the best-selling car in the world in both 2023 and 2024.

The second Master Plan, published in 2016, was the last one with Musk's name attributed to it and laid out a vision for Solar Roof and Powerwall, the need to create an electric pickup truck and semi, the future of autonomous driving and a plan for a fleet of robotaxis. Tesla's energy generation and storage business now accounts for 10 percent of company revenues. The Cybertruck and Semi both launched years later though have not yet proven successful, and Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" has been in beta for years. Meanwhile, robotaxis saw a limited launch with in-vehicle supervisors earlier this summer.

Master Plan Part 3 was a stark departure from the more focused initial duo. It's basically a 40-page white paper with fanciful ambitions for a decarbonized future. It was heavy on data but short on product roadmaps.

Part IV really jumped the shark, and while it tells us that "we are on the cusp of a revolutionary period primed for unprecedented growth" and that "this time it will not be a single step but a leap forward for Tesla and humanity as a whole," it offers little by way of how the company plans to accomplish that leap.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/teslas-latest-master-plan-isnt-a-mission-statement-its-a-discursive-mess-162301466.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/teslas-latest-master-plan-isnt-a-mission-statement-its-a-discursive-mess-162301466.html?src=rss