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Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

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Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#21
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems fair to compare an automaker to another automaker. Declining sales among your competitors is a strong indicator of a difficult environment to sell into. Unless you're saying the cited sales are sedans only, in which case I get your point.

Not really fair, I can walk into a dealer and buy any car from one of those other brands. The Tesla numbers are 1-2 years of built up demand being built/delivered in one quarter. These numbers will definitely not continue.

[deleted]

Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#22

From their press release: "We also want to thank all of our customers who volunteered to help us with deliveries, and our new customers who are showing their faith in Tesla by purchasing our products in such large numbers." Isn't it illegal for a for-profit company like Tesla to make use of "volunteers"/unpaid labor? There are only narrow exceptions e.g. interns for school credit. https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/fl…

Current Tesla owners volunteered their time to help new customers take delivery and get familiar with their new vehicles over the course of a single weekend.

I think you're going to have a hard time getting any of the people involved to try and fight to be classified as "employees"

Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget the Supercharger network; seems like that's another big part of Tesla's first-mover advantage that any serious competitor will need to address at some point if they want to "catch up".

Oh definitely, so there are plenty of other electric car charging stations. The issue though is that there is no uniform paying experience and also you don't know what kind of charging speed you will get. I have been looking at the new Hyundai Kona Electric and the Kia niro EV which are both competitively priced.... But you don't have the super charger network which might be a deal breaker.

The issue though is that there is no uniform paying experience

I grab the appropriate card of the two (Blink and ChargePoint) in the console, tap it, sorted.

But you don't have the super charger network which might be a deal breaker.

In seven years of Nissan Leaf ownership, I’d bet i could count the number of times I’ve used a public charger on both hands. Electric’s aren’t like ICE where you’re always looking for a place to fill up. You fill up at home, like civilized people do. Super charger is nice, but I personally wouldn’t factor it in.

Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#24

- accelerating China factory due to tariffs of about 40% into China, they don't indicate what accelerating actually means Numbers: - Q3 production 53,239, - Bloomberg’s estimate: 53,457 - North American deliveries of 55,840 rank the Model 3 among the 10 best-selling sedans in the region--and the only one that's electric - pretty good news in the face of what other car companies are doing - GM sales are expected to fa…

Yeah, there's a clear shift coming in the automotive industry. The auto makers who don't have plans for electrification right now are in big trouble.

Thankfully, the VW group will actually be okay - they've tasked Porsche's engineers with electrification of all the companies owned by the group.

The Taycan will be built on the J1 platform (Porsche controlled/built). Porsche is developing 3 different packages for other car makers: the SPE (Sport platform electric) for Lamborghini, and then they’re developing a PPE (Premium Platform Electric) for Audi and Mercedes, and finally, they’ll have the MEB (modular electrification box) which is a kit for anyone else who wants electric drivetrains (VW, others)

Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#25

From their press release: "We also want to thank all of our customers who volunteered to help us with deliveries, and our new customers who are showing their faith in Tesla by purchasing our products in such large numbers." Isn't it illegal for a for-profit company like Tesla to make use of "volunteers"/unpaid labor? There are only narrow exceptions e.g. interns for school credit. https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/fl…

I suspect Tesla is referring to customers driving out to pick up their Tesla from the factory or distribution center rather than waiting for Tesla to ship it to them. Something likely encouraged by long wait times.

Nope. Sounds like volunteers did new-customer orientation:

http://www.thedrive.com/news/23779/tesla-accepts-volunteers-...

Sounds like a face-to-face version of the unpaid peer-to-peer "support" you get in some product support forums.

Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#26
post #4

Impressive, but they are going to need to dramatically increase that number to if they wish to compete when the big car companies wake up.

Sure it benefits Tesla to produce more cars to compete with the big auto companies. But I do not believe that suddenly any of them will be able crank out a cost competitive electric car with the same range in any large quantity. Sure your existing car companies are better right now at physically building the conventional parts of a car, but the most expensive part of an electric car is the batteries. Tesla's partners…

Not to mention that the battery business is a huge deal on it's own - potentially as big as car business

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/sep/27/south-aus...

Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#27
post #4

Impressive, but they are going to need to dramatically increase that number to if they wish to compete when the big car companies wake up.

Sure it benefits Tesla to produce more cars to compete with the big auto companies. But I do not believe that suddenly any of them will be able crank out a cost competitive electric car with the same range in any large quantity. Sure your existing car companies are better right now at physically building the conventional parts of a car, but the most expensive part of an electric car is the batteries. Tesla's partners…

> But I do not believe that suddenly any of them will be able crank out a cost competitive electric car with the same range in any large quantity.

This is ignorant and downplays the companies that have existed for decades.

Tesla isnt profitable, the rest of the auto companies are profitable.

These auto companies have already developed electric vehicles(see Bolt and Leaf) but demand doesnt cause them to produce Tesla amounts of electric vehicles. If they saw an increase in demand, they will use their billion dollar infrastructure to continue to produce vehicles.

To think there is any 'struggling to keep up' with Tesla for automotive is an ignorance of the automotive industry. Tesla is trying to survive, the established players are developing their own new technology.

Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh definitely, so there are plenty of other electric car charging stations. The issue though is that there is no uniform paying experience and also you don't know what kind of charging speed you will get. I have been looking at the new Hyundai Kona Electric and the Kia niro EV which are both competitively priced.... But you don't have the super charger network which might be a deal breaker.

The issue though is that there is no uniform paying experience I grab the appropriate card of the two (Blink and ChargePoint) in the console, tap it, sorted. But you don't have the super charger network which might be a deal breaker. In seven years of Nissan Leaf ownership, I’d bet i could count the number of times I’ve used a public charger on both hands. Electric’s aren’t like ICE where you’re always looking for a…

Oh definitely, the charging at in my garage is a main reason that I would like an EV. My issue is that my family lives in Michigan while I am in upstate NY. So the super charger stations would be super useful for that trip when I don't fly. That definitely is a small amount of my total travels but I only have one car, so it is a consideration.

Also it is good to hear that it only takes about two cards for charging. It is something that you think about but can't really test how it would work with your driving until you do it.

Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#29

From their press release: "We also want to thank all of our customers who volunteered to help us with deliveries, and our new customers who are showing their faith in Tesla by purchasing our products in such large numbers." Isn't it illegal for a for-profit company like Tesla to make use of "volunteers"/unpaid labor? There are only narrow exceptions e.g. interns for school credit. https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/fl…

They are talking about the Tesla fan groups that have meetings, do test drives, demos, etc. It's no different from say, Hot Rod culture or Harley culture.

Re: Tesla delivered 83,500 vehicles in the third quarter, more than expected

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure it benefits Tesla to produce more cars to compete with the big auto companies. But I do not believe that suddenly any of them will be able crank out a cost competitive electric car with the same range in any large quantity. Sure your existing car companies are better right now at physically building the conventional parts of a car, but the most expensive part of an electric car is the batteries. Tesla's partners…

> But I do not believe that suddenly any of them will be able crank out a cost competitive electric car with the same range in any large quantity. This is ignorant and downplays the companies that have existed for decades. Tesla isnt profitable, the rest of the auto companies are profitable. These auto companies have already developed electric vehicles(see Bolt and Leaf) but demand doesnt cause them to produce Tesla…

This. Ford makes 1.6 million cars (worldwide) per quarter. Tesla, while impressive, cannot keep up when someone else enters their market segment.

If tomorrow Ford/Chevy/Toyota announces a model 3 like car for 2020 release with something close to the 3's specs, Tesla is dead unless they can pull a rabbit out of their hat. Tesla can do what- 350k to 400k cars a year based on current numbers? The big players can do that in weeks.

I think there is some merit to the point about batteries- Tesla has a supply chain in place for that while everyone else is going to be fighting on the open market (as far as I know).

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