Gordon Johnson blasts Tesla and its ‘false promises’

The U.S. NHTSA launched an investigation into Tesla Inc’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) autopilot system this week that disappointed investors, fuelling a close to 10% decline in the stock. But none of them is perhaps as disappointed as GLJ Research’s Gordon Johnson.

Ahead of Tesla’s A.I. Day scheduled for tonight, Johnson said in a research note that “the last five Tesla days were littered with false promises that never came true and in many cases outright lies and deception.”

Johnson’s remarks on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”

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Commenting further on his rather strong words against the world’s leading electric car manufacturer, Johnson said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”:

“At battery day, they introduced the 4680-cell structure, no battery introduced. They said they were going to have a 500-mile Model S Plaid this year, which they cancelled right before its launch. They talked a lot about Semi and the cyber truck, which they’ve recently delayed. So, a lot of promises made, nothing kept.”

The news comes more than a week after Jefferies’ Philippe Houchois said Tesla shares could climb by more than 20%.

What else did Tesla fail to deliver?

Johnson also called Tesla on its promise to put a million robo taxis on the road in 2020, after hitting level 5 autonomy – another promise that it failed to keep as not even a single robo taxi has been launched so far.

“Best of all, solar roof day where they had a fake solar panel on the set of desperate housewives, a fake house which they used to sell the solar city acquisition to tesla shareholders. In fact, it’s so fake there’s an ongoing lawsuit that alleges fraud,” he added.

Considering the track record of Tesla, Johnson asked, “why should we believe anything that’s going to be said at A.I. Day 2?”