This is like that long-running Twitter joke where Twitter kept adding things and everyone said, "Just get rid of the the Nazis." Except now it's "Just stop hanging out with Nazis all day, boss." But he won't. He can afford to do whatever he wants, and he wants to hang with the Nazis.
Seems pretty simple to me: They’re starting to saturate the market for $50k small SUVs. I have one and it’s great, but, y’know, not everyone can afford that. The only new model in the last 4 years is an even more expensive toy. Pissing away their huge lead.
You may be arguing that a feature is a bug. I wonder whether other folks at Tesla are glad when he's distracted, since it always seems that when the boss shows up it's all, "I SEE YOU STILL HAVE FEET I TOLD YOU TO KEEP SHOOTING."
If a publication is reporting this without listing the multiple times he has promised this BS with no intention of following through, then they are either lying or stupid.