Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) investor Gary Black said the company risks repeating a costly EV-era mistake by relying on technology to sell itself, warning the same approach could squander Tesla’s first-mover advantage in unsupervised autonomy and Cybercab.
Tesla Risks Repeating Its EV Marketing Mistake
"$TSLA has no one but itself to blame for squandering first movers’ advantage in EVs from 2020-2023," The Future Fund managing partner wrote Sunday on X. He said Tesla could "squander their first movers’ advantage in unsupervised autonomy in 2026-2027 as well" if it follows the same playbook.
Black urged Tesla to spend roughly $100 million advertising Cybercab and unsupervised autonomy to consumers who do not already follow the brand. He said marketing should highlight "time saved, drives while you’re tired, safer than human driving, aesthetics," arguing that a limited campaign could cement Tesla’s autonomous lead before rivals copy the technology.
"TSLA allowing its technology to speak for itself is a short-term engineering mindset," Black said. "The goal of advertising is to convey the benefits of an innovation to new consumers who wouldn’t ordinarily consider Tesla."
Black Says Advertising Must Reach New Buyers
That criticism echoes earlier warnings. In May 2025, Black said Tesla should educate non-EV owners about convenience, lower costs, performance and technology, calling marketing its "Achilles heel." In March, amid surging oil prices, he again complained, "Unfortunately, there is no advertising from TSLA educating potential consumers on the benefits of EVs."
He added that outside Tesla’s devoted X audience, "nobody has a clue how great this technology is." Black made that argument as higher fuel costs created what he viewed as an opportunity for Tesla.
Tesla has since pushed deeper into autonomy. The company said in July that Cybercab production had started and unsupervised rides had expanded in Austin, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. Reuters reported this month that Tesla had 420 autonomous vehicles registered in Texas, including 45 Cybercabs. Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Waymo and Amazon.com’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Zoox, meanwhile, continue expanding robotaxi operations across more U.S. cities.
Black has also argued that Tesla’s discount-heavy communications miss the bigger opportunity of explaining why consumers should choose its products.
Valuation Pressure Raises Stakes For Autonomy
He tied the marketing problem to valuation. "The market’s not stupid," Black wrote, arguing Tesla’s roughly 200-times forward P/E requires "better than 35%-40% long-term EPS growth" to justify the multiple.
"Absent this level of growth," he warned, "TSLA stock is likely to continue to underperform."
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that Tesla stock offers a negative price trend in the Short, Medium and Long term.
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