Due to weakening demand in China, Tesla is slowing production and delaying hiring at its Shanghai plant. The company is also having difficulties at its new plant in Texas, which is not ramping up capacity as planned. Meanwhile, Tesla stock, which has lost more than $500 billion this year, has come under pressure again as Musk is considering using his stake as collateral for new loans to replace Twitter’s (NYSE:TWTR) debt, Bloomberg writes.

All of this can’t help but cause concern for shareholders, already worried about Musk’s priorities since he took the helm of the new company.

“Tesla’s board is inactive,” is what one of Tesla’s largest individual shareholders wrote on Wednesday, offering to buy back shares.

He and another Tesla investor called on the company’s board to add another director there to represent retail shareholders.

Problems at the company’s giant new plant in Texas have been linked to a slowdown in production expansion as a new form of lithium-ion battery cells is not yet ready for mass production. In Shanghai, Tesla has cut production shifts and postponed hiring dates for some new employees, following the announcement that the company plans to cut production on the Model Y and Model 3 lines in Shanghai by about 20%.

As for Musk himself, he’s had too much work lately, which he’s nonetheless coping with, sometimes even having to spend nights in the office (mostly now on Twitter), admitting that

“I continue to oversee both Tesla and SpaceX, but the teams there are so good that often little is required of me. The Tesla team has done incredibly well despite extremely difficult times.”

Tesla is facing global challenges such as the energy crisis in Europe, a downturn in the real estate market in China, and rising interest rates in the United States. But Tesla will still achieve record sales and maintain its reputation as the world’s largest electric car maker without being immune to a downturn in China’s auto market or a recession in Europe.

Meanwhile, the company has ambitious plans for 2023: it recently launched its long-awaited Semi truck a few years late and is about to start production of its first Cybertruck pickup truck.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***