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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

#251

Post by guiomie »

mitchellh wrote: post #23

Really great news! But something that shouldn't be overlooked is the discounts they gave in Q3 to push deliveries up. First, those that know me know that I am a Tesla FANATIC. My girlfriend once challenged me to not talk about Tesla (motors, energy, something) for a 24 hour period. I dunno if I've ever done that honestly. I'm also an owner (no surprise given my fanaticism, lucky to be able to afford one). And I also…

If the discount is what brought profitability, than wouldn't this mean the car is mispriced?

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

#252

Post by saiya-jin »

kakarot wrote: post #220
vsl wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they keep doing it, and if you pay close attention to Tesla, you’re aware of it. You’re also aware of rumors of AP2 coming. If you don’t follow Tesla news, you’re in for a surprise. Regardless, I think it’s a fair critique: buyer’s remorse is a real thing with Tesla. It’s one thing to buy a $3000 computer from Apple and have it replaced with a much better one the next week, it’s another to buy a $100K car and ha…

At the end of the day however, it is not Tesla's responsibility nor in their best interest to educate their customers to make intelligent purchasing decisions. If you want change in this regard, it's not going to come from Tesla.

depends what kind of brand they are trying to develop. with cars many people are still traditionalists and stick to what they were happy with.

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

#253

Post by 086421357909764 »

mtgx wrote: post #248
vsl wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they keep doing it, and if you pay close attention to Tesla, you’re aware of it. You’re also aware of rumors of AP2 coming. If you don’t follow Tesla news, you’re in for a surprise. Regardless, I think it’s a fair critique: buyer’s remorse is a real thing with Tesla. It’s one thing to buy a $3000 computer from Apple and have it replaced with a much better one the next week, it’s another to buy a $100K car and ha…

It doesn't help that Tesla tends to have long delays for cars. For instance, let's say I pre-ordered a Model 3 now. But I won't get it the first half of 2019. And then a month later, Tesla announces Model 3 with Autopilot 2.5 hardware or whatever, holographic HUD, and so on. And that new car will ship within 2 months. Then I'd feel pretty screwed by Tesla...

If they announced upgrades and that the new car was shipping in 2 months you would be at whatever current build was being deliver (sans any cosmetic changes they may request your input on). If the manufacturing lines are updated to add features as a baseline after you order but before your build, you will get whatever they are.

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

#254

Post by exessf »

ams6110 wrote: post #96
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 have anything against Musk. I simply don't care much one way or the other because the things he's working on will never affect me. Electric cars are not something I'm interested in owning at the price Tesla is asking. Or even half what Tesla is asking. Utility electricity works fine for me, is a small fraction of my monthly budget, and is reliable. I.e. something I never really worry about. Payments for and m…

This is the typical narrow minded, short sighted views expressed by the below average citizen of the world.

I definitely expect more from anyone on HN.

This guy should be ashamed of himself.

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

#255

Post by saiya-jin »

forgetsusername wrote: post #228
patrickk wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Many of his Detroit competitors wouldn't exist/would be a shadow of their current selves if it wasn't for a massive bailout in 2008. Why is this never mentioned? If this is how low the bar is set (bailing out large, badly-managed c…

> simply because they are the main oil producer? You realize that the US is a net oil exporter now, right? The SA regime will collapse because of many factors. Your comments read like you believe everyone in the world is corrupt except Elon Musk.

every politician IS corrupt in this world, usually on many layers by many parties at the same time.

I am sure there are few exceptions out there, but as described - few, and exceptions.

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

#256

Post by saiya-jin »

inimino wrote: post #161
komali2 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, that is the standpoint of a cynic or perhaps nihilist. Which is totally fine, people should have the right to not care about stuff without being judged for it. However, if everyone was a perfect nihilist, you wouldn't have cheap old cars to drive because nobody would have made cars. You wouldn't have a cell phone, and especially a data connection, if not for the space program. And so on. So whil…

> cynic or perhaps nihilist Nonsense. It is a perfectly reasonable perspective for someone who isn't terribly interested in technological development and wants to live practically with what exists today. There's a place for dreaming about Mars, but most people don't. That's fine, and it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with cynicism or nihilism.

this is beyond one's personal dreams. only total anarchist/nihilist truly doesn't care about state of the environment where he lives. solarcity - cheap storage of solar energy for daily uses in household - not for everybody, but potentially for billions for sure.

space - indirect windfall of discoveries and improvements made in materials, manufacturing processes etc - it happened in the past with Nasa, it happens/will happen with them and others.

I drive 13 year old diesel bmw that costed 25% of a new one and probably will never buy a new car, so what? Mankind needs people like him, now more than ever.

It's not perfectly reasonable perspective. It's a perspective of an old, grumpy person who only cares about himself, and the world he lives in. Sure, we have plenty of those, but it ain't the best attitude to say at least.

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

#257

Post by loceng »

vkou wrote: post #55
loceng wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole is greater than its parts. Tesla, to 'own' the ecosystem, needed to eventually offer what SolarCity has or there'd be a segment in their market they are catering to.

By that logic, what's really preventing Ford and Toyota from reaching true success is that they don't own any oil rigs. TSLA owning SCTY makes about as much sense as Toyota buying Exxon-Mobil, with a small helping of 'enormous conflict of interest.'

What do you mean by true success? The more of an ecosystem you can provide for the more competitive you can potentially be. If Ford and Toyota owned or control enough oil, like say certain countries do, and they would sell that oil cheaper to you if you owned a Ford or Toyota - and yes, they could potentially be more successful.

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

#258

Post by mikeash »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #156
secabeen wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Really great news! But something that shouldn't be overlooked is the discounts they gave in Q3 to push deliveries up. Elon stressed in the call that they did not give significant discounts, and the few that did happen were not to be repeated.

The exact quote: "Our vehicle gross margin increased Q2 to Q3. One of the other things I've seen out there is that somehow we achieved these numbers as a result of widespread discounting. That is absolutely false. There were a few discounts but they were few and far between and that has been absolutely shut down to zero. You can see that in the fact that the vehicle profitability increased, even excluding ZEV credits…

I'm guessing this is a bit of misdirection. Outright discounts on the purchase price probably were rare and not supposed to happen, as he says. However, from what I've seen from new buyers in that period, it was nearly universal for Tesla to waive the $1,200 "destination fee," which is effectively a $1,200 discount on the purchase price. They also have a referral program going which gets you $1,000 off, although that's been going for something like a year now and isn't new for Q3. That's a $2,200 total discount on many vehicles, which isn't a whole lot on a car that starts at $66,000, but it's something.

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

#259

Post by mikeash »

topbanana wrote: post #97
mitchellh wrote: post #23

Really great news! But something that shouldn't be overlooked is the discounts they gave in Q3 to push deliveries up. First, those that know me know that I am a Tesla FANATIC. My girlfriend once challenged me to not talk about Tesla (motors, energy, something) for a 24 hour period. I dunno if I've ever done that honestly. I'm also an owner (no surprise given my fanaticism, lucky to be able to afford one). And I also…

Out of interest, what levels of discount were on offer?

It was common for Tesla to waive the $1,200 "destination fee," and they also have a referral program going which gets another $1,000 off.

There were also some stories of people getting bigger discounts, like getting the 60kWh to 75kWh battery upgrade at no additional charge. Those were supposedly rare and were not supposed to happen, though.

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

#260

Post by mikeash »

aidenn0 wrote: post #168
mitchellh wrote: post #23

Really great news! But something that shouldn't be overlooked is the discounts they gave in Q3 to push deliveries up. First, those that know me know that I am a Tesla FANATIC. My girlfriend once challenged me to not talk about Tesla (motors, energy, something) for a 24 hour period. I dunno if I've ever done that honestly. I'm also an owner (no surprise given my fanaticism, lucky to be able to afford one). And I also…

You're telling me I could have gotten a steep discount on an S in Q3? How big a discount are you talking about; I've avoided test-driving one because I don't want to drop that much cash on a car.

It's probably good that you missed it. They made a huge improvement in the Autopilot hardware in cars built after October 10th. Tesla says that with software updates, that hardware will be capable of full self-driving.
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