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Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

reuters.com

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Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#191

Post by nartsbtaa »

patrickk wrote: post #26
shasheene wrote: post #19

The Economist recently did a good article on the financing of Elon Musk's companies that flew under the radar of Hacker News that probably warranted further discussion [1] [2]. (Though the author of that piece completely misses the relative importance of each company to Musk, suggesting "he could try to sell [...] SpaceX, through gritted teeth, to a defence firm") It's unfortunate there's a bit of a reality distortio…

> Maybe because everyone wants his companies to succeed... Surely the only ones who don't want dramatically cheaper space launches, cheaper, widely available solar PV installations and attractive, affordable electric vehicles are deeply entrenched incumbents whose continued profitability involves polluting the planet, or those who really hate the environment for whatever reason. There are valid criticisms you can lev…

There's a difference between wanting something to be true, and acknowledging whether a business is succeeding or not on its own terms.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#192

Post by nartsbtaa »

gniv wrote: post #146
_ea1k wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is going to take about 3 years for competition to reach where Tesla is right now with regards to range and charging networks.

Charging networks maybe, but range no. The Chevy Bolt that will start selling in a couple of months has 238 miles range. GM doesn't have the superchargers, but they can afford to price these cars with zero profit for a while, if they want to undercut Tesla.

But who would drive a Chevy Bolt if they could drive a Tesla? Even if the Bolt is a better car, Tesla has the better brand name for now.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#194

Post by nhf »

vkou wrote: post #57
phrygian wrote: post #27

Can someone explain what this[0] means? It would seem that when you buy the car, you don't own it after all. [0] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tesla-self-driving-car-n...

This is extremely anti-consumer, and I don't understand why you are being down-voted.

A point of clarification: you are able to use the car with a human operator in any ridesharing service. Tesla is saying that you can't share out your car on Uber's platform, with it operating at full autonomy, while you chill on your couch.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#195

Post by icantdrive55 »

mwfunk wrote: post #61
patrickk wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe because everyone wants his companies to succeed... Surely the only ones who don't want dramatically cheaper space launches, cheaper, widely available solar PV installations and attractive, affordable electric vehicles are deeply entrenched incumbents whose continued profitability involves polluting the planet, or those who really hate the environment for whatever reason. There are valid criticisms you can lev…

I don't think that's the only reason someone might express skepticism of Musk at this point. They might want Musk to succeed at these things very, very much, but fear that his sketchier tendencies might lead to failure.

I wouldn't call anything he's done as sketchy. I think he's a great visionary Engineer. I've been waiting for a person like him for a long time--a long wait.

That said, I just don't want to see his companies go bankrupt.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#196

Post by rimantas »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #181
TylerE wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're literally building them in an old Toyota plant, that at peak output was 426,000 vehicles annually.

They're building televisions in an old lawnmower plant. For the most part they built a new factory inside the old one.

More like building tv sets into lawnmower.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#197

Post by azernik »

abhorrence wrote: post #163
azernik wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually a very Apple strategy - discount the old iPhone, the fans realize a new one is in the pipeline but nothing's announced, and then the new one is finally released.

But the iPhone is predictably released each year, so I'm not sure this is really the same.

But differing times of year. So fans use the discounts as a leading indicator of releases on the month to 2 month scale.

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#198

Post by rtpg »

patrickk wrote: post #26
shasheene wrote: post #19

The Economist recently did a good article on the financing of Elon Musk's companies that flew under the radar of Hacker News that probably warranted further discussion [1] [2]. (Though the author of that piece completely misses the relative importance of each company to Musk, suggesting "he could try to sell [...] SpaceX, through gritted teeth, to a defence firm") It's unfortunate there's a bit of a reality distortio…

> Maybe because everyone wants his companies to succeed... Surely the only ones who don't want dramatically cheaper space launches, cheaper, widely available solar PV installations and attractive, affordable electric vehicles are deeply entrenched incumbents whose continued profitability involves polluting the planet, or those who really hate the environment for whatever reason. There are valid criticisms you can lev…

Considering how most of his current businesses exist thanks to gov't incentives/tax advantages in the domains, there are legitimate criticisms to the way in which his businesses are run.

Though I think it's proof the system works! Offer tax incentives for electric cars, get electric cars. Though it seems like Musk isn't making a super sustainable business just yet....

Solar City is arguably "good solar", but that company hasn't done well enough to hold up on its own, getting the Tesla bailout.

Tesla's made the great push for electrics, and that's awesome.

Also, I imagine there are many people who do _not_ want SpaceX to waste its time sending stuff to Mars, but want it to be a successful sattelite launching company. Meanwhile they're a sattelite launching company that blows stuff up more than average

Re: Tesla reports first quarterly profit in more than three years

#199

Post by biehl »

rtpg wrote: post #198
patrickk wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe because everyone wants his companies to succeed... Surely the only ones who don't want dramatically cheaper space launches, cheaper, widely available solar PV installations and attractive, affordable electric vehicles are deeply entrenched incumbents whose continued profitability involves polluting the planet, or those who really hate the environment for whatever reason. There are valid criticisms you can lev…

Considering how most of his current businesses exist thanks to gov't incentives/tax advantages in the domains, there are legitimate criticisms to the way in which his businesses are run. Though I think it's proof the system works! Offer tax incentives for electric cars, get electric cars. Though it seems like Musk isn't making a super sustainable business just yet.... Solar City is arguably "good solar", but that com…

You mean "Considering how most of his current businesses exist with some subsidies to slightly counter the massive government subsidies to fossile fuel companies and polluting-car externalities" ?
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