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

nytimes.com

161–170 of 778 posts

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

#161
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

No it's people who are invested in Tesla being concerned about Musk's mental health and his ability to run his business. In particular because that wasn't his only scandal. And it's got nothing to do with the US either. Do you see many German, Swiss or Japanese Ceos smoking pot and getting drunk on podcasts?

No we don't and that's what people don't really like about them. Heck I don't even know who the CEO of these companies are.

The issue is Tesla feels personal. Other cars really don't have that feeling.

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

#162

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 Model S range 100 kwh battery = 370 miles. Audi E-tron 95 kWh battery = 208 miles. Audi has a fair bit of catching up to do.

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

#163
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

>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. Eventually you reach a point where everything is good enough so being better isn't much of an advantage. Like if Tesla gives you 700 mi range but Audi does 500mi, does anyone really c…

> Like if Tesla gives you 700 mi range but Audi does 500mi, does anyone really care?

In this case, yes, because current battery tech charges much faster from 0-80% of the battery, so a battery with more range than you'll use is still beneficial because it'll charge faster for the portion you do use. But I'm being snarky--that's not your point.

Tesla's advantage is far more than just range.

* The battery management system, which minimizes battery degradation (google "nissan leaf degradation")

* The manufacturing process adopted to actual EVs (and not shoehorning an EV into an ICE car design)

* The lack of dealerships and resulting ability to push software updates to cars containing new features

* The standardization of self-driving hardware -- all Teslas made since ~2016 have the camera hardware set up in the same positions

* The actual ownership of the software / UI and it actually being done well, when most other manufacturers seem to be shooting for "passable, I guess"

* The big touchscreen UI, which is (effectively) the same across all models, which makes keeping software up-to-date much easier

It's just not even close. Other manufacturers can improve battery tech, too, but these other things require bold action that traditional manufacturers are too slow / cautious / encumbered to take.

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

#164

Just want to say that the amount of hate Elon gets on HN is really interesting.

It's the same handful of characters repeating the same ad hominems every earnings report. Anti-weed puritans whining about "joe rogan weed". The pro-news crowd attacking him for his rebuff of the news industry. The "thailand crowd" for lack of a better word upset Elon Musk brought up pedophilia epidemic in thailand. And the short seller crowd claiming this earnings report is their vindication and their road to riches ( stock barely dropped after hours so looks like the shorts are wrong again ). It's groundhog's day. In 3 months, we'll get the same comments over again.

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

#166

Tesla's 1.5B reduction of cash on hand was largely due to the 920M convertible bond payment — but that only happened because TSLA didn't perform to the level necessary for conversion (~$360 IIRC). I wonder what changes in terms this'll warrant for future capital raises. Then they mention that they missed a lot of revenue due to missing half their shipments overseas, and onto Q2 (But also expecting a loss in Q2). Sale…

A few more years of this amd they may be bought out by the likes of BMW. The tesla brand is worth something, even if on the hood of a german car.

[deleted]

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

#167
post #113
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who issued him a United States Department of Defense security clearance, to start with. At least they should. I guess Musk plays by different rules than us plebians.

Why should they? It's much less problematic than alcohol.

Because a clearance requires you to have discretion and control of yourself to maintain the secrets you learn due to it.

If you lack the self-control to not use a federally illegal drug on camera, then do you have the self-control to not leak secrets to score points in an argument or if you're drinking with a friend and they apply some social pressure, for instance? Maybe, maybe not, but it raises red flags about how trust worthy you are.

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

#168

Tesla's 1.5B reduction of cash on hand was largely due to the 920M convertible bond payment — but that only happened because TSLA didn't perform to the level necessary for conversion (~$360 IIRC). I wonder what changes in terms this'll warrant for future capital raises. Then they mention that they missed a lot of revenue due to missing half their shipments overseas, and onto Q2 (But also expecting a loss in Q2). Sale…

A few more years of this amd they may be bought out by the likes of BMW. The tesla brand is worth something, even if on the hood of a german car.

Tesla has about $9B in debt. They are not an attractive takeover candidate. They've never turned an annual profit.

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

#169
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I cannot tell if this is a satirical comment or not.

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

#170
post #156
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you would expect that someone from tech revolutionizing an entire industry at global scale would get a little bit more respect and appreciation here.

I respect the engineers and workers actually doing the revolutionizing, not the man taking all the credit and the money.

I definitely respect them too, but they would not do anything of this magnitude if it wasn’t for Elon’s vision and leadership. Isn’t that obvious?
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