Elon Musk, head of the electric car manufacturer Tesla, had announced an “epic end of the year”.
Nothing has come of it, at least with a view to the Tesla share: the share lost a whopping 65 percent in value in 2022, and the start of 2023 also went wrong.
In the first week of January, the price fell again by more than ten percent, which is a special sign of distrust in an otherwise rather positive market environment.
What's going on there?
A lot can now be read about the fact that the bustling Tesla boss Musk himself is responsible for the stock market losses.
There is certainly something to it, since Musk has taken on an additional task with the purchase of the short message service Twitter, which is clearly overtaxing his strength.
But it would be too easy to explain the misery solely with the failed Twitter purchase or the difficult stock market environment.
Because there are reasons for Tesla's price losses that have to do with the company itself: The electric car manufacturer is losing more and more of the advantages that its pioneering role brought with it.
For a long time there was only Tesla and nothing else, but now customers can just as easily opt for electric vehicles from Mercedes, Porsche, Volkswagen or Ford, to name just a few examples.
The classic car industry is becoming serious competition for Tesla.
Tesla is still by far the most valuable automaker on the stock exchange.
But that doesn't have to stay that way forever.
The company itself is helping to diminish its former reputation.
Recent discount campaigns reinforce the impression that customers are less enthusiastic about Tesla.
Another problem is the US government's subsidy program for electric cars.
It's still not certain whether Tesla vehicles will benefit or not.
So further disappointments are foreseeable.
Buying Tesla stock under these conditions isn't a good idea.