Image: Bin im Garten, CC BY-SA 3.0

When Tesla launched their $100,000 Roadster in 2008, they laid out their plan: This expensive, high-perfomance EV sports car would eventually fund more affordable models.

Eighteen years later, that's more or less come to pass. On their recent earnings call, Tesla announced they're canceling their $80,000 Model S and $85,000 Model X, and henceforth will only produce the $38,000 Model 3, the $45,000 Model Y and the (allegedly) sub-$30,000 Cybercab set to launch in April.

Image: Peteratkins, CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Vauxford, CC BY-SA 4.0

The move isn't altruistic; the company's annual profits recently dropped by $3.3 billion, about 47%. The pricey S and X aren't selling well, and the Model 3 and Y made up 97% of Tesla's vehicle deliveries last year.

With the S and X out, Elon Musk announced he's converting their Fremont factory—which used to make the S and X—to crank out Optimus humanoid robots. His lofty target: One million 'bots a year, with a price point of $30,000 each. He believes this will not only be the main value driver of the company—but will have an outsized impact on the country as a whole:

"I think long-term, Optimus will have a very significant impact on the U.S. GDP," Musk said. "Like, it will actually move the needle on U.S. GDP significantly."

Is any of that true? No one knows, of course, and Musk has made wilder claims. What isn't it doubt is that Musk believes that robots are the company's future. This time, it will probably be a lot less than eighteen years before we'll see if it shook out or not.