Nikola Motor held its Q4 2020 Earnings Report on Thursday, where it openly admitted that Founder and former CEO Trevor Milton lied on nine separate occasions. The company admitted this in a 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC.

In September 2020, Hindenburg Research released a report that labeled Nikola “an intricate fraud,” claiming that many of the company’s products or the claims of its CEO Trevor Milton were made without any evidence to support their legitimacy. Hindenburg claimed that Nikola’s level of deception from a company of its stature had never been seen before by the firm, making big waves in the electric and sustainable vehicle community.

Nikola followed up with a rebuttal that was only answered with more evidence of its illegitimacy in a follow up response from Hindenburg. Ultimately, the entire report led to the revision of a deal with GM and the sacking of Trevor Milton, the company’s front man.

Nikola then admitted during its Q4 2020 Earnings 10-K filing that several statements made by Milton were “inaccurate in whole or in part, when made.” The automaker listed nine separate occasions of when Milton openly misled investors, an action that ultimately led to the removal of his post and his relative silence in the community since.

Among the lies include a claim from 2016 when Milton said the Nikola One, a Semi truck, was a fully functioning vehicle, and a 2020 fabrication that stated five vehicles were rolling off production lines at a facility in Ulm, Germany. Seven other statements were identified by Nikola as fabrications in the filing.

Nikola admitted just weeks after the initial report that it had lied about the capabilities of a Nikola One prototype that was shown to investors. Shortly thereafter, Milton was relieved from his duties as the company’s CEO.

As previously mentioned, the report had major consequences in a deal with GM, which Nikola was set to partner with for major EV projects. However, the news of the fraud had catalyzed GM’s concerns. These eventually led to the legacy automaker cutting the stakes of its deal with Nikola, which led to the electric automaker’s shares cutting 24%.

Nikola is attempting to put the Milton saga behind it and develop products under new CEO Mark Russell.

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Tesla’s Autopilot may be one of the most robust driver-assist systems on the market today, but the software is, at its core, a safety feature. This is something that CEO Elon Musk has highlighted in the past, and this is also something that was recently proven by a Model 3 driver who encountered a rather aggressive BMW SUV on the highway. 

Tesla owner @jrange33 had Autopilot engaged in his Model 3 when he encountered what appears to be a 2012 BMW X5 that was driving extremely fast. While the Model 3 was already traveling at high speed and overtaking other vehicles in the middle lane, the BMW SUV traveled much faster–and then, something extremely dangerous happened. 

My buddy’s @Tesla #Model3 kept him safe from this road rage incident while on #autopilot. Tesla saves lives @elonmusk https://t.co/18fvsq0GlF

— Sofiaan Fraval (@Sofiaan) February 27, 2021

The BMW SUV driver performed what appeared to be a pit maneuver attempt, which would have ran the Model 3 right into the concrete median barrier. Fortunately, Autopilot reacted just in time, avoiding the BMW and the median barrier at the same time. Thanks to Autopilot, the Model 3 was back in its lane practically at the same time as the BMW. 

While some Tesla critics may attempt to justify the SUV driver’s aggressive behavior by arguing that the electric sedan was driving too slow in the fast lane, it should be noted that the Model 3 was already traveling fast enough to overtake other vehicles. It should also be noted that aggressive behaviors against other cars, particularly those that seem intent to cause a crash, are never justifiable. 

During Elon Musk’s interview with automotive teardown expert Sandy Munro, he noted that Autopilot must be so safe in the future that even those who deliberately attempt to crash a Tesla would be unsuccessful. So far, Autopilot is already protecting drivers on the road, even if its features are still actively in development. With more improvements coming in the way of the Full Self-Driving beta and the deployment of the Dojo computer, Tesla’s Autopilot may very well become one of the best safety features on the road, bar none. 

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Source: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-autopilot-model-3-vs-bmw-pit-maneuver-video/

And we have a clear winner. Source: https://www.motor1.com/news/491020/best-all-season-tire-snow/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-category-technology

Tesla’s biggest competition is remarkably similar to the biggest competitors in our day-to-day lives: ourselves. In a way, this seems strange considering we wake up every morning and battle things like motivation, drive, determination, and ailments that can derail us from our goals. A car company has to battle things like product development, economic turmoil, parts shortages (like we saw this week in Fremont), and demand, among several other things. But ultimately, Tesla’s biggest competition in the future is itself because the company’s ability to expand the idea of the EV market is something that will be tough to keep up with, especially when frontman Elon Musk calls it quits.

Yet, headlines of mainstream media and others still suggest Tesla’s biggest competition lies within the hands of another automaker. For the last few years, we’ve all heard it: “This is a Tesla killer,” or “Tesla is doomed.” Here we are, in 2021, still with Tesla sitting atop the EV leaderboard with a considerable distance between gold and silver. In reality, Tesla really has to battle itself to keep growing, and here’s why.

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Tesla has no shortage of innovation. Let’s think about it for a second: a car company with almost no money 13 years ago still ended up creating one car, then another off of the profits of that, and now it is the most valuable car company in the world. It managed to turn the automotive industry’s focus to EVs instead of how the sector could make gas cars better. It turned the widely-successful automakers of the past century into the lost and unguided entities who are struggling to keep up. Lastly, it showed that, while business is serious, it’s not necessarily life or death. Make a good product that people believe in, and people will follow.

Every day when I wake up, one of the first things I do in the morning is go to Google and see what headlines are trending for Tesla. Every morning, at least one suggests that Tesla has met its match, and it is never a surprise to see that it is some legacy automaker who has claimed to have figured out all of the issues that have plagued them for years in terms of their EV development. For Volkswagen, it’s software. For Ford, it is product availability and a plan, and for GM, it’s just getting the ball rolling and expanding past the Chevy Bolt.

Even when those companies say they’ve figured it out, it is funny how in a span of days or weeks, there ends up being some unexpected bottleneck that ruins their chances of “catching up” to Tesla. It’s not going to happen, at least not anytime soon. These car companies have proven for months and years on end that they are all talk and little to no action. The EV industry ultimately lies within the hands of Tesla and other all-electric automakers once they begin production. Rivian and Lucid are sure to make some noise once their vehicles come out, which have already attracted a pretty loyal following. Tesla fans may not want to hear it, and I get it, but the EV movement isn’t going to be sprung forward by brands like VW and Ford, at least not anytime in the near future.

Tesla’s biggest challenger in the coming years will be itself. It will need to keep developing new and exciting products, like the $25,000 EV that will come in a few years. It will need to develop products that it has announced but haven’t been released yet, like the Cybertruck and the Roadster, and it will need to continue improving upon the already unbelievable foundation that it has built by improving its cars even further through OTA updates. Things like range and performance will get better with time, but it’s not to say that Tesla hasn’t already proven itself a worthy competitor in both of those categories. It is obviously the leader in them. However, technology will continue to develop, especially at the pace Tesla is moving, meaning things are only going to get better down the road.

There isn’t any reason to believe that Tesla will be dethroned by any company within the next 5-10 years. Why? Because nobody has proven that they have the capability to do so, at least in my opinion. While I am supportive of other car companies, there is no denying that Tesla is in first place and it doesn’t seem like any company is going to take that from them at any point within the near future. Until companies like VW and Ford put a sole focus on EVs, they will not make up any ground on Tesla. And until companies like Rivian and Lucid come out and produce cars that prove to be wanted by car buyers, then things will lie in Tesla’s hands for the foreseeable future.

We have learned that it isn’t always about making some fancy new car with a million bells and whistles. Make a product people believe in, make it fun, and make the company about a mission people want to believe in, and the rest will take care of itself.

I use this newsletter to share my thoughts on what is going on in the Tesla world. If you want to talk to me directly, you can email me or reach me on Twitter. I don’t bite, be sure to reach out!

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Source: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-biggest-competition-lies-within-itself/