The original Beetle was a very cheap car being sold at a time when no one else was making such vehicles. Sales tanked once competition showed up. The problem is that Tesla is seeing competition now.

Also, Teslas aren't cheap. So the market for them is much smaller.

Yeah, pretty much every complaint about the current state of Tesla’s FSD boils down to one acronym: “LiDAR”.

For the unaware, Elon has convinced himself that cars should be able to drive better than humans, while receiving less visual information via LiDAR. All of the early “wow factor” stuff from Tesla’s self-driving, (like the car automatically braking because it sensed an accident four cars ahead,) was due to radar. But Elon demanded that they get rid of the radar sensors, and move entirely to LiDAR. Because it has lasers.

But the problem with LiDAR is that it can’t see around obstacles. It works via light, just like our eyes, and that means it can’t detect anything beyond the car in front of it. With radar, it could see two or three cars ahead. It could see through/around them to detect obstacles, pedestrians, etc… But now it can’t do any of that, so they’re much more prone to accidents.

They were literally keeping Hyundai and/or Kia (can't remember which or both) cars on lots in Canada and not delivering then because the top level coprorate level didn't want to exceed their goals. They wouldn't release the cars to the dealers.

People were waiting months for cars because of that bullshit.