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Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

nytimes.com

101–110 of 778 posts

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#101
How much would their cars cost if they actually made a profit?

And if they were sold at those prices would anyone but them?

My point: their customer service, tech and everything else people love about them is being subsidized by debt. They're not the U.S. government, they can't print money forever...

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#102
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're saying that NOW. What will they be saying in a year or three?

Model 3 owner here: Tesla already feels at least three years ahead of other manufacturers, and the cars other manufacturers are promising in the next few years are aiming to possibly compete with what Tesla's been selling for at least a year. The Model S is being sold today with 370 miles of range, Autopilot, and the Supercharger network. Where will Tesla be in a few years if/when other manufacturers catch up with th…

>370 miles of range, Autopilot, and the Supercharger network

>Where will Tesla be in a few years if/when other manufacturers catch up with that?

wouldnt that be highly dependent on teslas cash burn and desperate cash grabs to survive the next quarter?

in a few years you should hope to still retain some form of autopilot, maybe the supercharger network is shared/sold off,

370 miles of range? battery tech isnt improving so much but usually battery life drops

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#103
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s news. Smoking weed as a guest on a talk show / podcast is something no CEO of a noteworthy company has done before. I don’t care per se but come on, it’s obviously an attention grabbing thing to do.

It’s attention grabbing because people are prudes. One of the many things wrong with this country

Nonsense. Plenty of CEOs drink excessively, pay for sex and do cocaine. They don't do it on video with Joe Rogan, though. That shows such a complete lack of discretion.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#105
post #31

I see this trend continuing for Tesla. Aside from Musk's leadership, which is very polarizing, I don't see their cars as being very compelling compared to the upcoming offerings of Audi and Porsche. Tesla isn't really competing against Ford/Chevy/Honda/Toyota. Instead they are competing against BMW/Mercedes/Porsche/Audi. By comparison Teslas seems like a toy compared to those other brands so I will gladly wait and gi…

I think pretty much every single person who owns a Model S/X would tell you that they're never going back to the old German crew. Tesla enjoys the strongest brand loyalty of any car manufacturer. Apple-like loyalty. Tesla doesn't feel like a toy, it feels like the future. They're years ahead of everybody else in terms of tech that is usable today.

Have you seen this thread [0] that's supposedly about their backend? Doesn't sound like years ahead, it sounds like an overstretched software startup chasing the latest silicon valley trends. How well will their cars work in 20 years? Will they have sorted out the service issues in five years?

Besides, when the other car manufacturers starts putting out electric cars with interiors that consists of more than a cost saving touch screen, their manufacturing and service experience will be a great benefit. Granted Tesla is pretty much the only option in their segment at the time, and have been for years. So why are they making such a big loss now, before the competition has really started?

I think Tesla was great for the car industry, and they do some things really well, but they've also made some questionable decisions. I still think betting on autonomous driving is a strange decision for a small company that have plenty of other stuff to focus on. The cars would still sell without it, let subcontractors worry about stuff like that.

[0] https://boingboing.net/2018/08/24/oh-boy-tesla-gossip.html

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that Tesla was supposed to bankroll SpaceX, but SpaceX is killing it on profits and Tesla is floundering. If anything it looks like SpaceX will end up bankrolling Tesla. Musk should forget about trying to save this planet and focus on getting to the red one.

> SpaceX is killing it on profits SpaceX isn't open about their financials, but all indications are that they are losing money.

What indications?

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that Tesla was supposed to bankroll SpaceX, but SpaceX is killing it on profits and Tesla is floundering. If anything it looks like SpaceX will end up bankrolling Tesla. Musk should forget about trying to save this planet and focus on getting to the red one.

It’s a shame people condemn Tesla’s for its troubles when internal combustion gets a ridiculous amount of subsided despite it causing irreparable harm to the planet. Musk plays on Boss Mode (along with others) while everyone enjoys bread and circus and laughs at people trying to accelerate progress with regards to climate change. I hope those quarterly profits, trucks, and SUVs are worth it when climate change hits i…

Tesla is one way to reduce carbon emissions from automobiles. It is not the only way. There is also:

* Battery-electric vehicles manufactured by other companies

* Plugin hybrid-electric vehicles manufactured by other companies

* Reducing automobile usage in general

* Developing energy-efficient processes to synthesize carbon-neutral liquid fuels using carbon-neutral energy sources

* Developing new and more efficient carbon-neutral energy sources and using them to synthesize carbon-neutral liquid fuels

* Developing the technology to trap or sequester carbon emissions

* Some combination of the above

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#108
post #104

If Tesla runs out of money, does it just mean they will be acquired by another car company, or something else?

I think it's unlikely they'll be acquired. Tesla has about $9B in debt, had never been profitable on an annual basis, and most other automakers are plowing forward with their own EVs.

I don't see much upside in acquiring Tesla. I expect chapter 7 bankruptcy (liquidation), or chapter 11 if Elon can pull the ripcord soon to have some money available to weather the restructuring.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#109
post #73
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rockets may be easier to develop than a product for the mass market. Car manufacturers have had many decades of optimizations of their processes. It’s very hard to catch up.

Cars-as-software demand software-centric co's hiring ML people. Legacy won't catch up, startups will.

Dream on. Cars aren’t software.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#110
post #64

I see this trend continuing for Tesla. Aside from Musk's leadership, which is very polarizing, I don't see their cars as being very compelling compared to the upcoming offerings of Audi and Porsche. Tesla isn't really competing against Ford/Chevy/Honda/Toyota. Instead they are competing against BMW/Mercedes/Porsche/Audi. By comparison Teslas seems like a toy compared to those other brands so I will gladly wait and gi…

Tesla is years ahead and is innovating faster, so how can they catch it? For example Audi E-tron has just 200 miles of range vs. the new Model S with 370 miles with a same size battery.

> Tesla is [...] innovating faster

This is the point that so many people miss when arguing that an EV revolution is coming and others will catch Tesla. It's not that Tesla's lead is insurmountable; it's that Tesla's lead is growing, not shrinking, with each passing day.

No single feature or technology tells this story adequately but the compound effect of all of them does: it's 2019, and not a single manufacturer can produce a car that rivals a 2012 Model S.

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