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Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

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Re: Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

#61

Post by mikestew »

bfwi wrote: post #26
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he is worth more than Tesla's debt Most of Elon's net worth is in illiquid SpaceX stock and Tesla shares.

Why is the Tesla stock illiquid? It's publicly traded. I'm sure he could sell SpaceX stock on the secondary market quite easily. SpaceX has never lacked in interest from investors.

Why is the Tesla stock illiquid? It's publicly traded.

It's not liquid as far as Musk is concerned. Ignore the aspect of "CEO dumps $COMPANY stock" for a moment. The kind of numbers Musk would need to dump would also affect the share price. 'cuz, you know, a bunch of supply just came online without corresponding demand.

Re: Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

#62

Post by _ea1k »

sokoloff wrote: post #13

> Tesla has achieved enormous results in ramping up its Model 3 production faster than almost any new model car in history. That defies my gut feel, so I checked on carsalesbase to confirm/refute. Nearly any new car model that I look at far outsells the Model 3 during new model ramp up... http://carsalesbase.com/us-car-sales-data/tesla/tesla-model-...

It didn't match my "gut feel" either, but I'm having a hard time finding a good case of a faster rampup in that data. I don't think a minor refresh would count.

Can you cite an example?

Re: Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

#63

Post by ryanhuff »

adamkittelson wrote: post #49

They're really struggling with delivery logistics though. I was scheduled to pick up my Model 3, which will be my 3rd Tesla, this Wednesday. I've been hounding them for my bill of sale because the bank needs it before they'll send a check. I called the local delivery center again this morning and they informed me they gave my car to another customer. They didn't bother to let me know about this or the home office so…

I suspect as they fix one issue (production, etc), the next in line becomes the bottleneck. Now it’s delivery logistics, but once that’s fixed, it will become service, which already seems to be straining.

Re: Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

#64

Post by stephengillie »

MrEfficiency wrote: post #23
lozaning wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope Tesla succeeds, but I cant deny I'd love to pick up a 3 on the super cheap because Tesla went belly up.

This sounds good until you realize you bought a first generation vehicle(unreliable parts) and a company that is no longer producing them.

This must be reflected in insurance rates. How much more does it cost to insure a Model 3 than a Camry?

Re: Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

#65

Post by AtlasBarfed »

twblalock wrote: post #25
iamgopal wrote: post #4

Theirs is 50 percent profit business. Only matter is, it will take time to zeroing their debt.

Tesla aims for a 25% profit margin on the Model 3 and is not there yet: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/21/tesla-shares-to-soar-on-stro... From what I can see, the margins on the other models are similar. And the company still loses money overall.

May? That's pretty old.

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-3-solidly-profitable-s...

That is more recent (July) and shows 30% on the long range, without dual motor or performance bumps, all of which are probably really profitable add-ons. Of course who knows who is paying this guy to do the teardown/sourcing for the article.

I'm guessing the 35k version rolls out when it becomes profitable to do so to keep on target with the debt payments.

Re: Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

#67

Post by tardo99 »

MrEfficiency wrote: post #23
lozaning wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope Tesla succeeds, but I cant deny I'd love to pick up a 3 on the super cheap because Tesla went belly up.

This sounds good until you realize you bought a first generation vehicle(unreliable parts) and a company that is no longer producing them.

It's very unlikely that Tesla will disappear. The bear/short case here is just that the stock goes to $0 because it's overvalued. The company will not die.

Re: Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

#68

Post by rconti »

sokoloff wrote: post #13

> Tesla has achieved enormous results in ramping up its Model 3 production faster than almost any new model car in history. That defies my gut feel, so I checked on carsalesbase to confirm/refute. Nearly any new car model that I look at far outsells the Model 3 during new model ramp up... http://carsalesbase.com/us-car-sales-data/tesla/tesla-model-...

I specifically searched the comments for "history" because another line in the article triggered my spidey sense:

> It still has hundreds of thousands of $1,000 pre-orders for the Tesla Model 3 (more than any car in history).

Um, yeah, Tesla IS having a hard time getting balanced coverage, and people writing articles where they specifically look for things Tesla does that nobody else TRIES to do is part of the problem.

I'm one of the very few people in the world who has put money down on a Model 3 and another car, and I still wouldn't count for the competition of "more than any other car in history" because:

* My "deposit" on my previous car was $500, not $1000, so I'm sure this author would find a way to discount that and say it's "not the same".

* My "deposit" on my previous car wasn't even solicited by the dealership; in fact, they didn't WANT to take my money, they just kept promising my spot in line was solid, which I wasn't all that happy about. Ultimately my $500 deposit was them photocopying my credit card so no money actually changed hands.

Re: Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

#69

Post by agumonkey »

superfrank wrote: post #41

This article seems to be saying that Tesla is in a good place because they build good, popular cars and electric vehicles are the future. Maybe, I'm reading different news stories than the author, but I don't feel like those are criticisms of Tesla that I'm seeing anymore. Pretty much every current news story I'm seeing is either focusing on Tesla running out of money because their cars aren't profitable enough, or t…

The Tesla profitable article wave seems done. They seem to have managed to scale just enough and just stable enough to unfold orders which was already a risk a year ago.

Re: Tesla Is Doing Much Better Than Headlines Suggest

#70

Post by jonknee »

stephengillie wrote: post #54
jonknee wrote: post #44

Anyone who has eyes can see that there are lots of Tesla vehicles on the streets wherever there are lots of wealthy people. That has never been a question or something that headlines suggest. The problem is Tesla sells these cars for less than it costs to build them and have had trouble making enough of them with a build quality matching the luxury price tag. Short sellers will magically go away if Tesla can start to…

Supposedly, Tesla's cars themselves sell for more than their production cost. The loss comes in supporting Tesla-as-a-fuel-reseller* - aka the Supercharger network. It would be like if Toyota started opening gas stations, and Camrys and RAV4s and Siennas and Tundras got almost-free gasoline. While these businesses are complementary, they're very different operations, and should at least be in separate business units,…

Any source for this? The Supercharger network is no longer free (at all for Model 3, 400 kWh in annual credit for Model S/X), but either way it was and still is a heavily marketed feature of Tesla vehicles so you can't ignore the cost. They need to make money or they will go out of business.
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