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Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

ir.tesla.com

21–30 of 99 posts

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#21

I think Tesla may start to face issues when the other automakers start coming out with electric cars within the next few years. I sold off all my stock in Tesla, although I think they may still be a good short term bet. The supercharger network and cool factor is their big advantage at the moment, but I think in the future they won't do as well when there's more competition.

I think Tesla may start to face issues when the other automakers start coming out with electric cars within the next few years.

Perhaps, but people have been saying exactly this about Tesla for the last ten years now. Hasn’t been an issue for them yet, despite much improvement in the EV offerings from other manufacturers.

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#22

Pre: - Will they give guidance on Model 3, Geographic breakdown(most other peers do)? - how many sales are high end cars vs low end? - TSLA down 11% on year vs market up 5ish - convertable debt issue, we're now in the 20 day average window, option implied vols show market doesn't think they'll make it - Elon commented that they could pay bond w cash and didn't seem concerned, cash balance is up, though so are short t…

For me the next couple of years are going to make or break Tesla. You have pretty much every car manufacturer releasing flagship electric cars in 2019/2020. And most of them are either cheaper than Tesla or offer far more value i.e. premium branding and better interiors. And whilst they have their Supercharger network I suspect that pretty soon we will governments intervening to regulate standards and build out infra…

Electrify America has an order of magnitude more money to spend on charging than Tesla used to build their supercharger network. That said, they seem to be using it to buy charging networks but so far the experience isn't improving. Conventional EV roadtrip charging is years behind Tesla.

I'm not sure "premium branding" for the competition matters vs Tesla, as I don't think the latter has a downmarket reputation. Interior/existing brand relationships I can see helping the conventional players. Range doesn't seem to be there even on the models supposedly coming out this year. It seems like we keep hearing the Tesla killer is coming Real Soon Like Now.

Still, I ultimately agree they need to sustain through the onslaught, it just seems like it's taking longer than expected.

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#23

I think Tesla may start to face issues when the other automakers start coming out with electric cars within the next few years. I sold off all my stock in Tesla, although I think they may still be a good short term bet. The supercharger network and cool factor is their big advantage at the moment, but I think in the future they won't do as well when there's more competition.

I am not so sure. Its really not just about their cars being electric. Its the whole technological package that's miles and miles ahead of the competition. I just bought a new Honda with Lane Keep Assist and Adaptive Cruise Control and a whole host of other features. Compared to my boss's tesla the "self-driving" features of the Honda are nothing. My honda doesnt even really have a way to get OTA updates to any software even though this car is a 2019 model with a persistent GSM internet connection.

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#24
post #21

I think Tesla may start to face issues when the other automakers start coming out with electric cars within the next few years. I sold off all my stock in Tesla, although I think they may still be a good short term bet. The supercharger network and cool factor is their big advantage at the moment, but I think in the future they won't do as well when there's more competition.

I think Tesla may start to face issues when the other automakers start coming out with electric cars within the next few years. Perhaps, but people have been saying exactly this about Tesla for the last ten years now. Hasn’t been an issue for them yet, despite much improvement in the EV offerings from other manufacturers.

Not only has it not been an issue...Tesla's share of plug-in sales has been increasing dramatically year over year.

Cadillac ELR, BMW i3, Chevy Volt, Chevy Bolt were all billed and hyped as "Tesla Killers" upon launch.

https://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/

To date, no other manufacture has announced any plans to procure enough battery supply to produce cars in comparable volume to Tesla.

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#25

Pre: - Will they give guidance on Model 3, Geographic breakdown(most other peers do)? - how many sales are high end cars vs low end? - TSLA down 11% on year vs market up 5ish - convertable debt issue, we're now in the 20 day average window, option implied vols show market doesn't think they'll make it - Elon commented that they could pay bond w cash and didn't seem concerned, cash balance is up, though so are short t…

For me the next couple of years are going to make or break Tesla. You have pretty much every car manufacturer releasing flagship electric cars in 2019/2020. And most of them are either cheaper than Tesla or offer far more value i.e. premium branding and better interiors. And whilst they have their Supercharger network I suspect that pretty soon we will governments intervening to regulate standards and build out infra…

I have a feeling Tesla didn’t capitalize enough on their first mover advantage and now it’s going to be tough as proper competitors move into the market.

Audi is matching the Model X with the E-Tron, but without Tesla build quality: https://www.audiusa.com/models/audi-e-tron

Volvo Drive-E, Jaguar I-Pace, new Nissan Leaf; similar stories.

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#26
post #21

I think Tesla may start to face issues when the other automakers start coming out with electric cars within the next few years. I sold off all my stock in Tesla, although I think they may still be a good short term bet. The supercharger network and cool factor is their big advantage at the moment, but I think in the future they won't do as well when there's more competition.

I think Tesla may start to face issues when the other automakers start coming out with electric cars within the next few years. Perhaps, but people have been saying exactly this about Tesla for the last ten years now. Hasn’t been an issue for them yet, despite much improvement in the EV offerings from other manufacturers.

True. lol People have been saying just wait for electric Toyota or BMW and it still hasn't happened yet.

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#27
post #24
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Tesla may start to face issues when the other automakers start coming out with electric cars within the next few years. Perhaps, but people have been saying exactly this about Tesla for the last ten years now. Hasn’t been an issue for them yet, despite much improvement in the EV offerings from other manufacturers.

Not only has it not been an issue...Tesla's share of plug-in sales has been increasing dramatically year over year. Cadillac ELR, BMW i3, Chevy Volt, Chevy Bolt were all billed and hyped as "Tesla Killers" upon launch. https://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/ To date, no other manufacture has announced any plans to procure enough battery supply to produce cars in comparable volume to Tesla.

To date. But more and more manufacturers are biting at their heels for the chance. With better and better cars.

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#28
These numbers are unreal. From 100 cars in 2011 to 140,000 Model 3s (+100K Model X and S) in 2019. And all electric. I personally am not interested in minor changes in financials, and want to just sit back and marvel the machine that Tesla and Elon Musk has created. Kudos to everyone at Tesla.

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#29

Looks like everyone is worried about a few percentage points up and down in financial numbers. There are three keys points I took away: 1) We expect the capital spend per unit of capacity for this factory to be less than half of that of our Model 3 line in Fremont. 2) Since Model Y will be built on the Model 3 platform and is designed to share about 75% of its components with Model 3, the cost of the Model Y producti…

> Tesla is significantly ahead of the pack so far Not really. Audi e-tron, Jaguar iPace and BMW i3 are all well reviewed. And 2019/2020 will see a wave of car companies e.g. Hyundai, Mercedes entering the market including plenty of interesting startups coming out of China. So Tesla is going to need far more to differentiate themselves than just range.

Anecdotal, but a friend of a friend bought the jag. He is having a very poor experience with the car.

Re: Tesla Q4 2018 Earnings Letter

#30

I think Tesla may start to face issues when the other automakers start coming out with electric cars within the next few years. I sold off all my stock in Tesla, although I think they may still be a good short term bet. The supercharger network and cool factor is their big advantage at the moment, but I think in the future they won't do as well when there's more competition.

This has been said about Tesla since it's inception, and has still yet to be an issue for them. Their supercharging infrastructure is so vast now that, if other automakers want to compete with charging options, they're better off licensing the infra from Tesla.

The comparison of Tesla to other EV options just isn't fair. Tesla models were designed from the ground up as being electric from the start, but other options have been ICE cars transitioned to EV, which makes them less-than-ideal and they lack the low center of gravity and storage capacity a tesla has.

I really do struggle to see how other manufacturers will compete with Tesla. Tesla just does so many things right...

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