Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| And I think when you look at what we’ve done with the full-size SUVs, the midsized trucks, full-size trucks, and now with the tracks, the Envista, and some of the crossover vehicles, not only are we improving them for customers, we’re also improving the profitability of them and driving, as we’ve said, up to 5 points of margin improvement in some of those new crossover launches, and we’re executing really well on that |
| We feel good about that demand path |
| So, they have got a much better platform and experience for selling financial products and deep customer links going forward |
| So I think it’s a great, great example for the team in terms of the types of things they’re done because being able to close that gap in just 6 weeks was a pretty impressive effort by the team |
| We feel good about the intellectual property |
| And we have significantly outperformed |
| So we feel good when you look at the LYRIQ, when you look at the Silverado, the Hummer and everything else that we have coming out |
| I think we’ve gotten pretty good at being nimble and responding to those things, and the team understands the importance of hitting the numbers |
| And as a result of that, the capabilities, the performance, the comfort, all, everything that you need in that vehicle, I think, is going to be superior to many of the non-Tesla EVs that have come to market where they were essentially rushed a little bit to try to jump into that |
| And I think bringing in the consumer-oriented coders and designers from great consumer platforms, I think, is a really, really good sign of not only their belief in our mission and what they can accomplish, but also the potential of what it means to get a fully software-defined vehicle |
| We found ways to actually increase the sharing between GM and Cruise, and Mike Abbott and his team have done a really good job of building those bridges, and Noah [ph] on the Cruise side has done a really good job of working with the company to figure out what those synergies are and to harness it, both for the benefit of GM and for Cruise, so more to come on that |
| So, I think it’s out of the gate a little bit slower, as I mentioned, but still something that we feel has got really, really good potential for billions of dollars of higher margin revenue coming in, in the future |
| So as we said last fall, we expect about 60 points of margin improvement this year and getting to mid-single-digit profitability by next year in the EV portfolio |
| And as you mentioned, we gave good guidance, too |
| One, I would say that our dealers are excited about the EVs that we are bringing to market |
| And when you look at the battery assembly, the vertical integration that we’ve done, the plant flexibility, I think we’re going to very, very good position to play that optionality over time |
| So bringing that platform vehicle that was purpose-built to be an EV, which is in our portfolio like we have seen with the Hummer, we have seen with Lyriq, we are seeing in the early stages of the Silverado, is something that we think can actually exceed customer expectations where we can help maybe rekindle some of that going forward |
| We’re probably best positioned more than anybody else to take advantage of the producer tax credits for sells |
| So we think we can win |
| So I kind of feel good about the way things are laying out right now |
| But as far as the portfolio goes, I think they feel good about that |
| So I think the team has done a really good job of embracing that discipline around capital and really looking at projects, projects that might have a good return but have risk attached to them or otherwise, have some fixed costs attached to them and saying, okay, there will be an opportunity to do that in the future |
| I’m really pleased that we’ve come in lower than what we’ve said at the last couple of Investor Days, mainly as we look at where the environment is |
| And the team is really focused on it, and they have done really tremendous works about improving our validation processes and testing procedures to make sure that when we ship a vehicle out its quality |
| But so far, like I said, 6 weeks into the year, feeling good about it |
| But you’ve got to go through that perception where most people think they are better than the average human driver |
| And I think we’ve gotten some momentum since the ASR, we hope to continue that and keep driving it |
| But customers love it, and we think it’s going to have a lot of momentum as we keep expanding its base |
| But we feel good at how that’s gone out |
| And what’s the game plan for Super Cruise? It seems like it’s very well reviewed and successful for you |
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| I think the more we focus on trying to use the regulatory environment to drive adoption, I think that can get a bit dangerous because that’s ultimately what leads to overproduction, having to incent to push those vehicles out and really hindering profitability |
| And we lost some momentum |
| I also think that – and again, set Tesla aside here, I think many of the vehicles that have come to market, because they were trying to rush into the market to play that volume game have underperformed what expectations are in terms of the capabilities and so on |
| I think we lost a little bit of momentum there with the chip shortage, some of the chips that are required for Super Cruise were some of the most heavily impacted during the chip crisis over the last kind of 1.5 years ago |
| We’ve argued in our research that – you could argue that in certain parts of the business, you’re still actually under-earning, whether it’s the EV losses or even some of the non-truck operations |
| In a market where everyone’s – it seems like they’ve turned more negative on EV |
| But when you’re constantly performing and that result comes in through the rearview mirror and up ahead, everybody’s projecting storms, it’s difficult to build the momentum behind the equity story |
| And like I said, we have had some quality hold challenges that we have got to be focused on resolving |
| I mean, we have been – we’ve been blessed with a portfolio that consumers have really rallied behind |
| But as you think about that margin improvement in EVs as we scale up, the earnings power of the company actually becomes pretty significantly magnified because we’ve got this outsized performance with the EVs underperforming |
| And as we face uncertainty of EV adoption, having a fresh ICE portfolio is probably the biggest asset that you can have when people are unsure what they are going to do as long as I can continue to flip into EVs and scale up |
| And so it’s really caused us to rethink how that public perception is |
| So I think the sentiment in the fall, I think, was pretty significantly overstated in terms of people don’t want EVs |
| So we’ve had a couple of unfortunate delays in the programs, and we’re making sure that we work out the final bugs because the most important thing, especially when you’re coming with a new platform like the EVs is you’ve got to deliver them with quality to the customers |
| And all that is going to do is lead to margin compression |
| I think for the consumer that needs to drive their vehicle every single day to and from work or they need a road trip and they only have one vehicle, there is a lot of uncertainty about what it means to have an EV |
| We had some holdups on quality holds on those launches |
| I think software has probably gotten out of the gate a little bit slower than we wanted, but we still see a ton of potential for that |
| We’ve been much slower to produce those volumes than we initially wanted to when we rolled it out |
| But I think as you’ve seen with other companies out on the road, with Waymo, etcetera, the public around autonomous right now and around tech is a little bit soured |
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