Tesla unveiled the Roadster again. Not the actual Roadster. The concept. The same concept Musk showed in 2017. Nine years is the new development cycle for a two-seat sports car that shares parts with SpaceX rockets.
SpaceX rockets work. They launch. They land. Sometimes they explode but at least they exist. The Roadster does not exist. It has never existed as a production vehicle. Musk keeps showing the same prototype like a kid presenting the same science fair volcano in different colored baking soda.
The SpaceX collaboration fuels merger speculation. Merge what exactly. A car company that cannot build the car with a rocket company that has to build the car's thrusters. Vertical integration taken so far vertical it left the atmosphere. This is what happens when one man runs too many companies. He starts bolting them together like Lego sets because actual product development requires timelines and follow-through.
Every targeted delivery date missed. All of them. 2020. 2021. 2022. The dates kept moving and the deposits kept sitting in Tesla's bank account earning interest. Free loans from customers who thought they were pre-ordering a vehicle. They were funding working capital for Cybertruck production delays.
Retail traders saw the merger speculation and bought calls. They always buy calls. Tesla announces vaporware and the stock moves and some guy in Ohio thinks he found the pattern. He did not find the pattern. The pattern found him. It took his rent money and bought Musk another unveiled concept to miss deadlines on.
The Roadster will arrive someday. Maybe 2028. Maybe never. Does not matter. By then Musk will have unveiled the Roadster 2 with submarine capabilities developed in partnership with Boring Company. The cycle continues. The deposits compound. Your $250,000 reservation made you a creditor, not a customer.
Photo by Brecht Corbeel on Unsplash
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