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Hey everybody. 
Welcome back to the Elon Musk 

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Podcast. 
This is a show where we discuss 

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the critical crossroads that 
shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The 

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Boring Company, and Neurolink. 
I'm your host, Will Walden. 

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General Motors is taking a $1.6 
billion charge tied to its 

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electric vehicle business, 
cutting its near term 

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expectations and slowing 
production as EV demand 

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continues to fall short of 
earlier projections. 

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Now, GM revealed the impairment 
in a regulatory filing, stating 

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that it no longer expects to 
meet its previous EV volume 

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targets and is adjusting its 
investment pace accordingly. 

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Now, the charges linked to 
slower product development and 

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reduce capital spending in areas
like battery production and 

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vehicle assembly as the company 
assesses how aggressively to 

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pursue its EV roll out. 
Now the cutback directly effects

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Altium sells G Miss battery 
manufacturing joint venture with

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LG Energy Solution. 
The filing says GM now plans to 

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reduce the scale and speed of 
planned battery plan expansions,

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which were expected to support a
fleet of future EVs with battery

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output tied closely to overall 
EV capacity. 

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This decision forces GM to 
accept lower near term volumes 

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across several models. 
Now. 

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These changes follow a series of
delays and scaled back launches 

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over the past year. 
The Chevy Silverado EV and 

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Equinox EV were both pushed back
from earlier production dates, 

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with updated schedules 
stretching well into 2025. 

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And in parallel, GM has shifted 
some of its plant retooling 

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investments away from EVs and 
toward hybrid vehicles, which 

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have seen stronger demand in 
both US and overseas markets. 

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Now, the $1.6 billion write down
suggests GM no longer sees this 

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EV strategy as immediately 
profitable or scalable without 

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deeper restructuring that resets
expectations for a company that 

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once promised to sell only 0 
emission light duty vehicles by 

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2035. 
It also follows A broader market

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trend where several automakers 
have admitted that the total 

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cost of EV ownership, including 
higher interest rates in a 

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weakening resale market, is 
affecting consumer adoption. 

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Now, this shift is not a final 
decision. 

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It directly effects how GM 
manages its supply chain, 

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though. 
Contracts with battery material 

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suppliers, charging 
infrastructure providers, and EV

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specific parts manufacturers are
now under review. 

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GM is actively renegotiating 
some of these deals, especially 

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those tied to the postponed 
battery plant build outs. 

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And that's likely to ripple 
across multiple industries that 

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had remapped up to support GM's 
earlier EV timelines. 

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Now GM also cited ongoing 
challenges and software dev, 

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particularly with its in house 
Altify platform, which underpins

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many of the features in its 
newer EVs. 

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Software bugs and integration 
issues have already caused 

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delivery delays and added costs.
GM had hoped Altify would offer 

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a path to new revenue through 
subscriptions and vehicle based 

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services, but those plans now 
look a little bit more distant 

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than before. 
But on the retail side, GM is 

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facing increased pressure from 
Tesla new entrants, especially 

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in the 40 to $60,000 price band 
where competition is 

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intensifying. 
With lower production volumes, 

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GM dealers are expected to carry
fewer EV units in 2025 and 2026.

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That could reduce consumer 
visibility, slower adoption even

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further, creating a feedback 
loop that weakens demand just as

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GM tries to contain its own 
costs. 

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Now, if you're 1 of the 74% of 
the listeners of this podcast 

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who have not subscribed but also
listen to the show every day, I 

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got a question for you. 
Actually, I have an ask for you.

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Could you just take a second, 
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Literally takes a second. 
And I need to ask you a huge 

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favor though, if you're on a 
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please give this show a five 
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We need all the help we can get.
We're pushing the boundaries 

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here of what's possible with 
news podcasts that pertain to 

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Elon Musk and all of his 
companies. 

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So we need all the help we can 
get to boost this signal. 

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And it's up to you, the 
community of this show, to show 

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your support for the show. 
And we're going to talk more, a 

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little bit more about GM. 
But I also want to talk about 

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the Flight 11 Starship real 
quick because Flight 11 went off

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without a hitch. 
It was a great flight and I'm 

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very excited about it because 
this leads us into Flight 12 

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now. 
The successful completion of 

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Flight 11 mark the end of the 
Block 2 era for SpaceX Starship,

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and now SpaceX turns its focus 
to the revolutionary Block 3 

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architecture that will debut 
with Flight 12. 

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This upcoming mission represents
far more than another test 

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flight, though. 
It's the beginning of Starship's

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transformation from experimental
prototype to completely 

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operational spacecraft capable 
of lunar missions. 

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Mars exploration in 
unprecedented orbital operations

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with massive payloads of Flight 
12 will launch the first Block 3

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Starship and Super Heavy Booster
featuring Ship 39 and Booster 

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18. 
If all goes well now, this 

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mission marks a huge shift in 
Starship's development 

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philosophy, transitioning from 
iterative testing to operational

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capability demonstration. 
The Block 3 architecture 

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incorporates years of lessons 
learned from previous flights 

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while introducing revolutionary 
technologies that will enable 

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Spacex's long term vision of 
making life multi planetary and 

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sending people to Mars to live. 
The timeline for Flight 12 

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remains fluid, but it's probably
going to be around early 2026 

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ish, maybe spring, following a 
longer development gap that 

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previous missions due to the 
extensive changes required for 

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Block 3 systems. 
Now, SpaceX has indicated this 

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extended timeline reflects the 
need for more rigorous testing 

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and validation of this new 
architecture before flight. 

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This is a huge leap forward for 
Starship and this could be 

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literally the vehicle that sends
us to Mars, not Flight 12, but 

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the vehicle architecture that 
sends us to Mars. 

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That is a wild thing to think 
about. 

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Now back here on Earth, GM 
insists it remains committed to 

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an all electric future and the 
current financial disclosure 

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show a pivot to a more kind of 
cautious execution. 

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Though hybrids, which were once 
viewed as a temporary bridge 

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tech are now becoming a core 
part of G miss medium term 

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strategy company is preparing to
launch new plug in hybrid 

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variants across multiple brands 
including Cadillac and GMC. 

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Now I want to know what your 
thoughts are on hybrid vehicles.

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If you are full electric and you
never want to see another ICE 

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engine ever again in your life, 
leave it in the comments. 

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I want to know what you think if
you are like me and you see the 

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value in hybrids, I believe it's
a really great in between 

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structure and foundational 
technology that will eventually 

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shape the EV future into full 
electric of course. 

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And people are scared of moving 
over to EV. 

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They have range anxiety. 
But if you could use a hybrid to

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get around town, you know, you 
charge it up at night and then 

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you go to work in the morning 
with a full charge. 

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You come back at night with, you
know, a little bit less charge, 

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then you get charged up again, 
full charge. 

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You don't use your ICE engine 
until you absolutely need it, 

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maybe for a longer trip or you 
know what have you. 

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If you're going to be on the 
road for a long time, use your 

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ICE engine. 
So that would be a great use of 

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a hybrid technology. 
And I think that's where a lot 

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of people are going to land. 
It's a jump from an ICE engine 

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to an EV. 
Everyone, even though Tesla has 

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been working on this for a very 
long time, you would still be 

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considered an early adopter of 
an EV at this point because even

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though you do see them on the 
road a lot, the majority of 

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vehicles are still ICE engines 
or hybrids. 

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So you're one of the early 
adopters. 

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You're one of those people that 
really believes in this 

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technology. 
So with that being said, let me 

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know what you think. 
Is it E, is it time for GM to go

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full EV? 
It's time for you to go full EV.

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Or is it the hybrid strategy to 
the future? 

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Hey, thank you so much for 
listening today. 

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I really do appreciate your 
support. 

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If you could take a second and 
hit the subscribe or the follow 

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button on whatever podcast 
platform that you're listening 

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on right now, I greatly 
appreciate it. 

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It helps out the show 
tremendously and you'll never 

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miss an episode. 
And each episode is about 10 

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minutes or less to get you 
caught up quickly. 

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And please, if you want to 
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to patreon.com/stagezero and 
please take care of yourselves 

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and each other and I'll see you 
tomorrow.