On the eve of tesla's Robotaxi event on the 10th, $Tesla (TSLA.US)$ the Chief Information Officer (CIO) announced his resignation.

According to sources cited by Bloomberg, Tesla CIO Nagesh Saldi is set to resign. Saldi joined Tesla from hp inc in 2012 and gradually rose to become Chief Information Officer in 2018. During his tenure, he was involved in the construction of new datacenters in Texas and New York states.

With less than a week to go before the official launch of Tesla's Robotaxi 'Cybercab,' for the company's stock price, the performance on the day of the event may be more important than the departure of key executives.

Success or failure hinges on this one move.

Tesla's stock price has fluctuated significantly this year, with a cumulative increase of 0.67% by the end of this Friday.

However, since Musk announced Robotaxi Day on April 5th, Tesla's stock price has risen by nearly 50%, recovering from a steep drop of about 35% earlier this year, underscoring the market's anticipation for this event.

Historically, important new product events by Tesla have always brought about significant stock price fluctuations. In the days following the debut of the Model 3 in March 2016, Tesla's stock price rose by 12%; after the humanoid robot Optimus was officially unveiled at AI Day in 2022, Tesla's stock price fell by 16% in the following days.

It can be said that whether Tesla's stock price will reclaim previous highs or fall to lows will depend on Musk's performance on Robotaxi Day on October 10.

To meet market expectations, Tesla needs to ensure that physical Robotaxis are deployed, and plans to introduce unsupervised services by at least 2026, explaining to investors how Tesla will achieve the commercialization of autonomous driving rental cars.

Analyst Emmanuel Rosner from Wolfe Research stated:

"Rarely does an industry event generate as much anticipation as Tesla's Robotaxi Day, the opportunity is enormous, but they still have a lot to prove."

Investor Focus: Can Tesla maintain its positioning as an "AI company"?

Some analysts point out that while Robotaxi Day may seem like a launch event for autonomous driving technology, in reality Musk needs to convince investors during this event that Tesla is a "technology company" rather than an "auto manufacturer".

Wall Street generally believes that Tesla's future growth will mainly come from the execution of AI projects, especially Robotaxi and humanoid robot Optimus, which is also the reason why Tesla's stock price is supported amid the weak trend in electric car sales.

Currently, tesla's valuation remains high, with a forward pe ratio of up to 90 times in the next 12 months, surpassing the other 6 companies in the technology stocks 'FamGA' group, ranking among fast-growing technology companies such as palantir and snowflake.

Some believe that the success of Robotaxi Day event largely depends on Musk.

Tesla bears believe Musk is shifting investors' focus, diverting attention from larger issues such as declining sales, increased competition, and decreased profitability of electric autos.

On the other hand, bulls believe Musk has signaled progress in AI-driven autonomous driving technology, further indicating that tesla is not just an auto manufacturer - and Musk is also responsible for oversight.

Model 2 is also highly anticipated.

In addition to Robotaxi itself, investors are also focusing on whether tesla will introduce a more affordable new Model 2 in this event.

The affordable version of Model 2 (starting at less than 0.03 million dollars) is expected to expand tesla's potential market, while tesla's sales have already shown a softening trend.

According to Wards Automotive data, as of August, Tesla's sales in the USA decreased by nearly 10% year-on-year, while the overall sales of electric vehicles in the market only grew by 7%, and at the same time, the sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the USA also increased by 18% year-on-year.

Currently, Wall Street generally expects Tesla's delivery volume in 2024 to be around 1.8 million vehicles, which is roughly the same as 2023, lower than the 2.3 million vehicles predicted by analysts a year ago.

Editor / jayden