Prominent long-term Tesla investors halve their positions: the market is less interested in Tesla cars or robots

Long-term Tesla investor Ross Gerber said he sold about half of his Tesla holdings because he felt the market was no longer interested in Tesla's cars or robots.

Since Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, Gerber has been openly critical of Musk. In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, he revealed that he had sold about $60 million worth of Tesla stock, but his investment fund still holds $50 million worth of Tesla shares.

Gerber stated that over time, he has gradually reduced his investment in Tesla because he no longer believes Tesla can achieve the goals set a few years ago or even recently, especially in terms of selling cars. The optimistic promotion of Tesla in robots and fully autonomous driving technology is actually a distraction, masking the reality that they urgently need to sell more cars. He emphasized that Tesla needs to sell more cars this year, next year, and the year after, as these new technologies will not have any practical impact in the short term.

Gerber pointed out, "There are also many used Tesla cars in the second-hand car market, and selling cars can only rely on discounts. He himself cannot sell his Tesla car at a reasonable price. Tesla is now in a predicament. Although the company has the best products in the industry, CEO Musk does not seem to focus on the core business of the company or make efforts to promote these cars. Tesla's sales are declining, and if anyone expects Tesla's performance in the next quarter to be good, they are wrong. Now, Tesla can basically only sell cars by constantly offering discounts, and sales are clearly declining."

Not only Gerber, in recent years, Musk's leadership position at Tesla has attracted increasing attention from investors and legislators. Recently, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Tesla's board of directors, urging executives to ensure that Musk is financially accountable to Tesla's shareholders.

While some analysts believe that Tesla is undervalued as an AI company, Gerber believes that AI is unlikely to save Tesla. He speculates that due to people's doubts about Musk's chaotic management on Twitter (now renamed X), people do not have high trust in Musk, so there may not be a great market demand for Tesla's humanoid robots.

Gerber used a simple example to illustrate this issue: "You can ask your neighbors how many of them would like to buy a humanoid robot made by Musk? The answer is zero. No one wants a robot made by Musk. Why? Because who would trust it?"

He also added, "The last thing I need is a robot made by Musk in my house, so I don't know if they have considered how to effectively market this product."

In addition to Gerber, other Tesla investors have also begun to doubt the company's development direction. These doubts are reflected in the stock price, as Tesla's stock price has fallen by more than 15.8% this year as of Monday's close due to declining sales, increasing market competition, and negative impacts from Musk's legal disputes