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Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

reuters.com

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Re: Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

#131

Post by ksherlock »

navigatesol wrote: post #3

> On Jan. 30, Musk told investors he thought Tesla would continue making money after finally turning its first back-to-back profits during the third and fourth quarters of last year, fulfilling his previous forecast that Tesla would become “sustainably profitable” from the third quarter of 2018 onward. Followed by a massive quarterly loss of $700MM and the pronouncement that the company has less than 10 months of cas…

For the [horses mouth](https://web.archive.org/web/20180819145940/http://shitelonsa...):

"The most you could said is that [Tesla] executives were too optimistic. They presented a better face to the situation that should have been presented in the final few months, but then, if they didn't do that, it would have become a self-fulfilling prophecy - as soon as a CEO says I'm not sure if we'll survive, you're dead. You know, I think people are making too much of this [Tesla] thing."

Re: Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

#133

Post by village-idiot »

caspper69 wrote: post #99
village-idiot wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Criminal prosecution of the owner because he decided that running cocaine was the best way to finance his company.

He was set up. He successfully argued entrapment, and was acquitted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_DeLorean

I said prosecution, not conviction.

He was entrapped, but he certainly said yes to bankrolling a cocaine smuggling operation, there's a recording of that event. While that was enough to escape conviction, it still cost him money and reputation at a time when he couldn’t afford it.

Re: Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

#134

Post by mikeash »

twblalock wrote: post #93
jancsika wrote: post #43

Suppose you buy a Tesla and in 10 months they fold. Who then maintains the proprietary software that keeps the vehicle running?

This is a good question whether Tesla survives or not. If you buy a car that is heavily dependent on software, even if the brand does not go out of business, who will support it in 10 or 20 years? Most automakers do not support their vintage cars or make new parts for them.

A 20 year old car today is heavily dependent on software, and they still seem to work.

Re: Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

#135

Post by patrick5415 »

twblalock wrote: post #93
jancsika wrote: post #43

Suppose you buy a Tesla and in 10 months they fold. Who then maintains the proprietary software that keeps the vehicle running?

This is a good question whether Tesla survives or not. If you buy a car that is heavily dependent on software, even if the brand does not go out of business, who will support it in 10 or 20 years? Most automakers do not support their vintage cars or make new parts for them.

A 20 year old car isn’t really vintage, but it’s trivial to find parts for most cars going back at to the 90s, at both the dealership and places like Napa.

Re: Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

#136

Post by ajross »

Waterluvian wrote: post #117
ajross wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even buying the burn rate in the title, Tesla's losses are like 8% of revenue. That's not at all far off from where Amazon and Google were in their early years. Again, it's not that there isn't an accounting worry here, what concerns me is the... hate. Just the visceral hate about this company that wants it to fail so badly that it leads people to apply these crazy double standards.

In your endeavour to rake people you perceive as internet haters over the coals, you also target people like me who genuinely wants Tesla to succeed but is the kind of person who loves asking questions and understanding how things work. And that really diminishes your credibility as perceived by everyone who reads the thread. Also it just kind of stings and discourages me from participation because then I have to dea…

To be clear: you asked a question about bankruptcy, that I answered. I also editorialized a little at the clearly implied frame of your question which seemed to assume that TSLA would be in chapter 11 in ten months. And that's insane.

If you were merely wrong and not spinning, I sincerely apologize. It's exceedingly hard to tell these days. Because hate.

Re: Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

#137

Post by cosmodisk »

proee wrote: post #101

I worked for a company that had a similar take on spending. The company was extremely profitable and brought in greater than 1 billion dollar in revenue. Yet any PO that was greater than $100 needed approval by the CEO. Not only that, the PO had to be typed on a manual typewriter (this is 2007) using carbon paper, and hand-delivered to a number of people to start moving up the chain. The process intentionally took MO…

Care sharing the name of the company? Right now I enjoy the complete opposite where I work...

Re: Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

#138

Post by bondolo »

A friend who worked on the charging system for the Model S reported that a few weeks before the vehicle shipped they were way behind schedule for building vehicles and falling further behind as the release date approached.

One Sunday morning the entire engineering team was on the manufacturing floor helping the struggling manufacturing team build vehicles and Elon appeared trailing a gaggle of execs. They started poking about and work started to grind to a halt. The engineering lead went over and asked what was up. Elon said that they were wanting to see first hand what was holding up production.

The engineering lead loudly told Elon to get the fuck off the manufacturing floor if he wanted any vehicles finished that day, that the engineering team didn't come in on a Sunday to dick about with execs and they would walk out if the execs didn't leave. If they wanted to talk they could schedule a meeting for Monday morning. Elon shut up and left and the team went back to building vehicles.

The engineering lead left the company several months after the Model S shipped as did most of the powertrain group. Tesla continues to burn through engineering talent, but like Apple, has a still continuous stream of bright eyed naive true believers willing to sign up.

Re: Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

#139

Post by eropple »

trimbo wrote: post #84
rayiner wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I question that CW. If that were true, the competitors would be making sporty sedans like Tesla. But almost none are. The competitors—the Bolt, Kona, etc., are all totally different form factors. The alternative, potentially better, theory is that everyone is reacting to the same incentives and market structures. Governments are pushing electric vehicles through subsidies and mandates. Meanwhile, exploding use of por…

> Governments are pushing electric vehicles through subsidies and mandates Specifically, isn't this because of CAFE[1]? Gas mileage compliance is calculated per manufacturer. So BMW can keep selling 17mpg M3s as long as they're selling enough of those i3s[2] [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_econom [2] - Which sell for $50K but are like $15K used!

You can find an i3 for $15K used? Where? Carfax has like $24K at minimum for a 2017.

Edit: NM, had to widen my search params. I dunno if I'd want to trust a 2015 electric car, though. ;)

Re: Musk to review all of Tesla's expenses in new cost cutting plan

#140

Post by cosmodisk »

atq2119 wrote: post #111
soup10 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The domestic oil boom and the fact that we are now a net exporter of oil makes the transition to electric cars less urgent.

This ignores the fact that EVs are currently the only viable path towards road-based transport that is compatible with the continued existence of our species. The transition isn't urgent due to oil prices. It's urgent due to greenhouse gases making the planet inhospitable for humans.

Oh,is that so? Try to guess where's the electricity coming and the inpact it has on environment.
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