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Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

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Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#251

Post by radiorental »

flexie wrote: post #191
hueving wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or withdrawals from people. The deposits are non-committal so people can cancel without losing anything.

I can't think of any product I'd rather have than a Tesla. I think Tesla will sell millions of Model 3. Which other car is 400,000 people waiting patiently to buy for two years, even putting down a $1,000 deposit? Tesla is doing to traditional car manufacturers what Apple did to Nokia.

> Tesla is doing to traditional car manufacturers what Apple did to Nokia.

Sincerely, and with all due respect, this is a false analogy.

What happened to Nokia was pretty much self inflicted. Mismanagement, competing empires, complacency.

Apple did not start shipping low end brick phones and eat Nokia's market.

Post '08 bailout automotive manufacturers are lean and hungry (for the most part)

Furthermore, the 'traditional' car market, while slow to move, is not far behind. And in some cases is taking a longer view. E.g. Ford is going straight to Level 4 in 2022. Forget the ICE v. electric debate, that ship has sailed and everyone is heading to EV. The real battle will be to produce the safest self driving product.

I am long on TSLA, I expect them to do well however they are in a far riskier spot than Apple was when the iPhone dropped. They were healthy, profitable and experienced (+Jobs). TSLA is none of those.

I'm not disagreeing with your sentiment. I just thought we were past the Apple analogies.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#252

Post by broodbucket »

elgenie wrote: post #245
bigiain wrote: post #244

When I first read this, my head saw "Fifty Cent"... And I thought "A _rapper_ has just bought $1.7billion worth of Tesla shares???" and was all ready to make "Has Tesla already become the Cristal Champagne of car brands?" gags... Still, half a billion return in two weeks on a 1.7 billion play is pretty nice money...

Fifty Cent got a minority stake in Glaceau instead of a payment for endorsing their Vitamin Water. When Glaceau sold to Coca-Cola, that equity was worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million.

Pretty sure 50 is bankrupt now.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#253

Post by radiorental »

koreyb wrote: post #220
smogcutter wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's really interesting. Seems like the answer is they need a lot more third party shops - the problems that McNeill describes sound like the kind of thing that happens when there isn't enough competition. If I'm a model 3 customer, I don't really care about your service record in Palo Alto. What can you do for me in Skokie? Very interested to see how all this plays out. The success or failure of the Model 3 could…

Ford doesn't do batteries, solar, supercharging stations, autopilot tech, etc. Delorean produced 8,583 vehicles. :) But I get your point.

> autopilot tech

On the contrary. They're well along that path.

Not sure what solar has to do with cars.

And charging stations? Do you think that's profitable secret sauce?

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#254

Post by skinnymuch »

prolly_a_moron wrote: post #169
danhak wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a comment you wrote elsewhere in this thread: > It's my understanding that this was another offering, so, essentially, Tesla sold 5% to Tencent at an average price of $217 and change. Current shareholders get diluted. Prices go up. This is entirely incorrect. The only shares Tesla told to Tencent were priced at $255 as part of the March 17 offering, and that only represents < 2% of Tencent's position.

> This is entirely incorrect. The comment was 4 hours old, based off a Seeking Alpha news bulletin (I should have known better) and was prefaced with "it's my understanding..." which left it open for you, or anyone else, to correct. What exactly are you out to prove here?

Isn't that exactly what he did? Correct you?

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#255

Post by afuchs »

Robotbeat wrote: post #60
timr wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, the reason GM "doesn't care" about the Volt (I'm exaggerating here; they obviously care a little bit ) is because they're rational: electric cars are not popular with mass-market consumers, and it's far from clear that they're going to become popular. GM is investing in what sells, and right now (i.e. for the last decade or two), that's SUVs and light trucks. Which doesn't bode well for Tesla, at least in t…

The whole point of advertising is to make something popular that isn't already or to maintain popularity for something that would otherwise decline in popularity. As long as all GM is doing is sniping at other electric cars while doing general broad-based advertising of their fossil fuel powered vehicles, they're not lifting a finger to expand the EV market. I wouldn't worry about Tesla, anyway. Tesla has huge brand…

By what definition is the Model S the fastest production sedan? Its top speed is limited to 155 MPH (249 km/h) 155 mph (249 km/h). Compare that to the Aston Martin Rapide S at 203 MPH (326 km/h), or the more affordable Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, who's top speed as given by the manufacturer is 204 MPH (328 km/h).

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#256

Post by aaronblohowiak »

ithinkinstereo wrote: post #243
kpil wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they can deliver the cars, and at a reasonable price, you are probably spot on.

I think for a young late 20s, early 30s professional with disposable income, maybe a baby on the way, it's really a no-brainer deciding between a 3-series, C-class, Volvo, vs a Model 3. And if you can only afford a Camry/Altima/Jetta/etc. a 5-10K increase in price for a much better (perceived) product is also a no-brainer. People will def max out their credit to get the upgrade to a Tesla. The above, doubly-so for Ch…

Does the model 3 have sufficient room for a rear facing car seat? One of my main concerns

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#257

Post by Nadya »

afuchs wrote: post #255
Robotbeat wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of advertising is to make something popular that isn't already or to maintain popularity for something that would otherwise decline in popularity. As long as all GM is doing is sniping at other electric cars while doing general broad-based advertising of their fossil fuel powered vehicles, they're not lifting a finger to expand the EV market. I wouldn't worry about Tesla, anyway. Tesla has huge brand…

By what definition is the Model S the fastest production sedan? Its top speed is limited to 155 MPH (249 km/h) 155 mph (249 km/h). Compare that to the Aston Martin Rapide S at 203 MPH (326 km/h), or the more affordable Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, who's top speed as given by the manufacturer is 204 MPH (328 km/h).

The other common measurement of 0->60 acceleration and not top speed. The proper description would be "quickest production sedan" instead of "fastest production sedan" but I digress.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#258

Post by Retric »

radiorental wrote: post #251
flexie wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of any product I'd rather have than a Tesla. I think Tesla will sell millions of Model 3. Which other car is 400,000 people waiting patiently to buy for two years, even putting down a $1,000 deposit? Tesla is doing to traditional car manufacturers what Apple did to Nokia.

> Tesla is doing to traditional car manufacturers what Apple did to Nokia. Sincerely, and with all due respect, this is a false analogy. What happened to Nokia was pretty much self inflicted. Mismanagement, competing empires, complacency. Apple did not start shipping low end brick phones and eat Nokia's market. Post '08 bailout automotive manufacturers are lean and hungry (for the most part) Furthermore, the 'traditi…

Car companies are selling bricks. In large part because of the used car market no company makes reliable and cheap because the cost conscious don't buy new cars.

Further, the dealer model forces high markups, heavy advertising, etc to attract the kind of people that buy new cars.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#259

Post by MegaButts »

TheSmiddy wrote: post #224
harichinnan wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the car version iphone, with people queuing up at the store days before the product is seen. I would believe they would stop production exactly at 400K cars, the current waiting list and start a new Model 4 waiting list. They have an air of exclusivity now with their current models. People still gawk at the sight of a Tesla. They would want to maintain that awe factor with Model 3 as well.

You're assuming a pure profit motive. Literally everything Elon Musk is doing has a strong element of trying to save the world. The goal of Tesla is to make every new car sold electric, if they have to command 100% of the market they will do that, but they'd rather there be some competition.

> Literally everything Elon Musk is doing has a strong element of trying to save the world.

Maybe. Or maybe he's just saying that to make money. If Elon Musk ends up being completely successful in all of his endeavors, he will be the world's richest person by far.

I suspect the truth is in the middle. He does want to change the world, but he's not willing to become poor (let's say a net worth of less than a million dollars) in the process.

I have no problem with people getting rich, especially if they've earned it. But I see Elon Musk as a salesman more than anything, and he's damn good at it. He has generated a cult following of people who believe he is doing everything possible to save the planet.

I am very skeptical that Elon Musk is half as great as he's made out to be on certain internet forums. I do not mean to say he is not an incredibly accomplished person, only to say that he does not live up to his self-generated hype.

Of course time will tell. I truly hope he is as great as people make him out to be. But I just don't see it. Hopefully he makes me into a believer by delivering on all his promises.

Re: Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

#260

Post by NeutronBoy »

flexie wrote: post #191
hueving wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or withdrawals from people. The deposits are non-committal so people can cancel without losing anything.

I can't think of any product I'd rather have than a Tesla. I think Tesla will sell millions of Model 3. Which other car is 400,000 people waiting patiently to buy for two years, even putting down a $1,000 deposit? Tesla is doing to traditional car manufacturers what Apple did to Nokia.

> Which other car is 400,000 people waiting patiently to buy for two years, even putting down a $1,000 deposit?

None, but I would hazard a guess that's because if you want to buy a BMW, a Mercedes or an Audi, you don't need to. You can simply go and buy one!

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