Elon Musk told investors that Tesla has "a good shot" at delivering 5 million vehicles a year by approximately 2030.
He made the remark on the company's earnings call. "We were aiming for 5 million vehicles a year by approximately 2030," he said, "and I think we've got a good shot of achieving that goal." The line arrived amid a run of larger claims. Musk said the company's Terafab chip factory "will be the most valuable building in the world," with "an economic value that's going to be placed in the top 20 countries." He also made a sweeping prediction about Tesla's share of passenger miles.
The delivery target is easy to miss in that company, and it is worth reading closely. The sentence carries three hedges: "were aiming," "approximately" and "good shot." It is a goal, a rough date and a probability short of certainty.
The Terafab claims have no such padding. They use "will be," and no quarterly report can check them. The delivery figure is the opposite: a public number that arrives every quarter, and the one claim on the call Tesla cannot reshape after the fact.