Elon Musk is a bit like Zong Qinghou.

"Tesla has become an 'Android car'." After seeing the new Model Y, Xiaohongshu blogger "Geek Piggy" complained like this.

During the National Day holiday, Tesla launched two "new cars" in the United States - the Model Y and the standard - range Model 3. The former starts at $39,990, and the latter at $36,990, pulling down the starting prices of their respective model lines by $5,000 and $5,500 respectively.

The relatively high price has been regarded by many as Tesla's weakness, and the new cars are targeting "price - sensitive consumers". However, the outside world is not optimistic about these two budget models.

Take the standard - range Model Y as an example. This car has been comprehensively downgraded. It has removed the front - to - rear through - type headlights, interior ambient lights, electric steering wheel adjustment, rear - seat entertainment screen, panoramic sunroof, etc. The seat fabric has been changed to fabric, and even the already popular electric folding rear - view mirrors have been changed back to manual ones.

In addition, the standard - range Model Y has even cancelled Tesla's Autopilot advanced driver - assistance system. If car owners want to experience Tesla's intelligent driving features, they need to pay an additional $8,000 to opt for FSD.

After all these cuts, the starting price of the entry - level Model Y still approaches $40,000. In the US market, some users can still accept this move. But compared with the currently available models in China, the new car is still not very cost - effective; even if it is produced locally in the future, it is still far from the outside world's speculation of under $200,000.

Domestic consumers are not interested in the standard - range Model Y. On platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo, some netizens jokingly call this car the "ultra - basic version" and the "tin shed".

The mixed reviews of the new car have made Tesla investors' moods fluctuate.

At the beginning of this month, after it was reported that Tesla was about to launch a budget Model Y, its stock price rose by more than 5% in a single day. But on the day after the new car was launched, Tesla's stock price tumbled 4.45%, and its market value shrank by $65 billion, erasing the previous day's gains.

It is not difficult to see that the direct reason for the capital market's major turnaround in attitude within a few days is that the new car lacks highlights and is not cheap, making it difficult to attract consumers, especially Chinese consumers.

But compared with the short - term market value fluctuations, Tesla's deeper problem may be that its long - stagnant product innovation still shows no sign of recovery.

Over the past decade or so, from the earliest Roadster, Model S/X, to the later Model 3/Y, Tesla has continuously broken through the cognitive boundaries of the automotive industry through product innovation. In particular, the Model 3/Y has changed the product definition, technical choices, and manufacturing methods of pure - electric vehicles, becoming the world's best - selling new - energy vehicles and being studied and imitated by major automakers.

But to this day, Tesla's "newest" Model Y is already an old model from six years ago. In the past six years, Chinese manufacturers have made rapid progress, with various models emerging in an endless stream, while Tesla still only relies on one hit model to dominate the market.

Compared with the minor tweaks of launching the "ultra - basic version", Tesla, which always revolves around the Model Y, urgently needs a breakthrough product to cope with the long - term pursuit of Chinese brands. This not only requires Elon Musk to invest more energy in Tesla's automotive business but also needs Tesla to reshape its innovation mechanism and change the cultural gene of a "one - man company".

In terms of the "one - man company" issue, Elon Musk and Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha, have quite a lot in common.

On the one hand, both of them, with their previous equity holdings and accumulated great achievements, have absolute influence over every aspect of the company's affairs and are generally recognized by employees and shareholders.

On the other hand, both of them have launched hit products, laying the foundation for their companies, but neither has been able to take it a step further and launch new and more innovative products.

The near - "dictatorial" governance mechanism and corporate culture are the main reasons hindering a company's product innovation. Both of them are the pillars of their respective companies, but they have also invisibly set a ceiling.

Now, after Zong Qinghou's passing, Wahaha has been in turmoil over equity and management, and has no time to focus on real product innovation. In contrast, Musk and Tesla have clear equity and a highly professional corporate governance structure, making it much easier to make changes; the real challenge is whether Musk can put aside his ego, take a step back, and create more room for the company's employees to play.

1

How to play magic tricks within a limited space and create more new features for the Model Y has been the main challenge for Tesla's automotive business since this year.

Tesla's answer is to "lengthen" the car in the Chinese market and "cut the price" in the US market.

In late August, Tesla launched the Model Y L in China. Compared with the 2025 Model Y Rear - Wheel Drive version, its length increased by 179 mm, height by 44 mm, and wheelbase by 150 mm.

Nearly two months later, Tesla launched the standard - range Model Y. As mentioned before, this is an entry - level model with significant downgrades, clearly aiming to cut the price by all means, even at the expense of the user experience.

China and the United States are Tesla's top two markets, jointly contributing most of the sales. For these two markets, Tesla has made additions and subtractions to the Model Y respectively, trying to attract more users in niche markets.

However, limited by the Model Y's vehicle framework, there isn't much room for manoeuvre for these two "new cars".

The Model Y L features a large - space three - row, six - seat layout, competing with similar products from domestic manufacturers. But the Model Y itself is just a two - row, five - seat SUV with a sloping - back design that takes up interior space. After being changed to a three - row, six - seat layout, the third - row seats in the Model Y L have limited space. To ensure adequate headroom, the seating position is significantly lower, and long - distance travel is not very comfortable.

Compared with the Li L8 and Leapmotor L90 in the same price range, the Model Y L lags behind in terms of length, width, height, and wheelbase. As for the interior "decoration", it is far behind.

How large a car can be is determined at the very beginning of the project. The Model Y is positioned as a mid - size SUV, which means that even if it has a lengthened version, it is difficult to compare with competitors positioned as mid - large or large SUVs in terms of space.

As for the standard - range Model Y, Tesla's intention in the significant downgrade is to make it as cheap as possible. It has removed a large number of the original configurations of the Model Y, and even the Tesla logo on the front of the car has been omitted, finally squeezing out a discount space of $5,000.

But Chinese automakers have already explored a feasible path on how to launch budget models and open up the economy - class market - by launching dedicated brands or product lines. NIO Firefly, XPeng MONA, etc., mostly adopt this approach. This can reduce costs at the root and focus on the parts that consumers can perceive more strongly, such as the exterior and interior.

In contrast, Tesla's budget version based on the Model Y has removed many invisible configurations, but also a lot of visible and tangible ones. This is not the most ingenious product strategy.

Even so, the price of the standard - range Model Y still approaches $40,000. In the US market where a used car can be bought for a few thousand dollars, a new car for $40,000 is obviously not very cost - effective.

One of the reasons why the price is difficult to drop significantly is that the standard - range Model Y cannot be separated from the product technology framework and supply - chain system of the entire model line. To save costs, it can only reduce a little here and there in terms of configuration, rather than completely starting over and redesigning with a cheaper overall solution.

How attractive the minor upgrades of the Model Y are can be glimpsed from the sales volume.

In the third quarter of this year, stimulated by factors such as the end of the large - scale government car - purchase subsidy at the end of September in the United States, Tesla's global deliveries reached 497,000 units, a year - on - year increase of 7%, setting a new record. But in the Chinese market, the sales volume of less than 170,000 units showed a significant decline compared with nearly 176,000 units in the same period last year.

If Tesla only relies on the ever - changing Model Y family, it will become increasingly difficult to maintain growth, especially in the Chinese market.

2

One of the key reasons why Tesla has failed to launch a new hit product in the six years since the birth of the Model Y is that Elon Musk has been too indulgent in his own pursuits, and a large amount of his energy has been occupied by things outside of Tesla.

Since 2022, Musk has spent more and more time outside of Tesla: acquiring Twitter (now known as X), founding xAI, advancing SpaceX's Mars mission, and also working on humanoid robots.

Among these new projects, the most destructive one was when Musk led the establishment of DOGE and got deeply involved in US politics and even stirred up the European situation. This speculation ended in a fiasco, once causing Tesla's sales to plummet in multiple markets.

The bigger problem is that as Musk holds multiple positions, once he cannot spend most of his time on Tesla, the company's innovation ability will decline precipitously.

Musk can be said to be Tesla's most important product manager. Since 2008, he has worked with Franz von Holzhausen, the chief designer he personally recruited, to complete the design of the entire "S3XY" model line from the Model S to the Model Y.

Their cooperation is similar to that of Steve Jobs and Jony Ive at Apple. The difference is that Musk has stronger control, while von Holzhausen is responsible for turning his ideas into reality.

In an early 2024 report in The Wall Street Journal, von Holzhausen was called "the Tesla designer who turns Musk's dreams into reality". As the design director, he translates Musk's sometimes vague ideas into physical lines, surfaces, and vehicle outlines. "My job is to turn a few words into rich content," he said.

Under their management, Tesla's futuristic Model S swept across the global automotive circle and continued to influence the design elements and concepts of new - energy vehicles through subsequent models.

Also in this report, The Wall Street Journal revealed that for years, Musk would almost go to von Holzhausen's office every Friday to review the team's latest ideas. But later, as Musk had to take care of more companies and Tesla's headquarters was also relocated to Texas, his frequency of visits decreased.

The consequence of Musk's lack of close attention is that although the Tesla Model Y still sells well today, in terms of design, configuration, or technological content, it is far from as amazing as the Model S back then and does not have the absolute strength to lead the entire industry.

In the past few years, Tesla has also launched some new cars. As his executor, von Holzhausen has not launched a new hit product when Musk is distracted.

The electric pickup truck Cybertruck, which was unveiled at the end of 2019, had a very impressive debut, receiving 250,000 orders in the first week and accumulating over 1 million orders. However, affected by factors such as high price and reduced configuration, the actual sales volume of the Cybertruck is far lower than expected. According to the technology media The Verge, the annual sales volume of the Cybertruck may be in the range of 35,000 - 50,000 units.

Similarly, the electric semi - truck Semi also ended up being a damp squib. This vehicle was launched in 2017 and was originally planned to go into production in 2019 but was postponed multiple times. The "mass - production version" was launched in 2022, and currently only dozens of units have been delivered in the United States.

The long - awaited budget model, the Model 2, has been difficult to debut. In June this year, Reuters quoted several people familiar with the matter as saying that Musk personally decided to terminate the Model 2 project at the beginning of this year. Musk later publicly denied this.

As for the Cybercab, which Tesla has focused on this year, it has no steering wheel or pedals and has a very radical design. It is expected to go into mass production in 2026 with an annual production capacity of up to 2 million units. But it is not sold to ordinary consumers.

It is difficult for the outside world to judge how much time and energy Musk has actually invested in these products. But in the few years when Musk has been preoccupied, none of Tesla's new products has been able to replicate the past glory.

On the other hand, the continuous popularity of the Model Y has made Tesla lack the motivation and determination to break through itself.

In the past few years, the Model Y has gone through several iterations and has also had sub - models like the L and Standard, but they all stay within the old framework of the Model Y. At the same time, through local production, the cost of this car has been continuously reduced, contributing huge profits.

In this situation, Tesla is more inclined to make minor adjustments and squeeze out as much sales and profit as possible, rather than starting from scratch to create a new hit. The setbacks of new products such as the Cybertruck have also further strengthened this strategy. Tesla used to be the object of imitation for global new - energy automakers, but now it no longer has the magic to define the industry's direction.

3

Today's Musk and Tesla are quite similar to Zong Qinghou and Wahaha a few years ago.

Although they are in different industries, both of them are in charge of leading companies in their respective fields. They have also firmly grasped their companies with their achievements and tactics during the startup period, and to some extent, turned them into "one - man companies".

The Model Y became the world's best - selling single model in 2023 and 2024, surpassing the former champion, the Corolla. At the same time, its global average selling price is about twice that of the Corolla. This best - selling model that has swept the global market has created extraordinary returns for Tesla inside and outside the company and for investors.

It can be said that as long as the Model Y remains invincible, Musk's position cannot be challenged or shaken.