Tesla Model 3 - Make or Break ??

but this goes to what i said about 6 months ago.....i will never buy another normal ICE car. collector cars, vintage, ancients, track cars etc yes, but a normal commuting car never again. it will only be hybrid of electric for that category in my garage.

 

i read the article then re-read it....i think what they must mean is that all of the variations of the models they have will run with the same general electric drive train. so they must have 14 different versions of the golf for example, and they are counting all of them.

what will be interesting is how the manufacturers will differentiate themselves on the drivetrain, or if they just forget that and make it a functionality and/or design contest. the other interesting thing to see will be if the world can actually make that many batteries.....

 

yes lets hope they make them exciting.
the way to make that case to me as a car guy, is to enter the product in a race like le mans or 24 hours of nurburgring etc, and win. thats when they will make the jump from transportation to sport.

 

They are already doing that with motorcycles at the Isle of Man. Right now, electric is it's own class, but they are catching up fast.

 

Report claims Tesla has been manufacturing FLAWED Model 3 parts, adding to production delays as they must be 'reworked'

• Report from CNBC cites current and former Tesla employees about the Model 3
• It claims 40% of parts made or received at Fremont factory must be reworked
• Tesla has hit back at the report, arguing it's based on inaccurate assumptions
  

Production of Tesla’s more affordable Model 3 sedan has been hit with numerous delays over the last few months, causing the firm to push back its targets on more than one occasion.

And, according to a new report from CNBC, this could be in part because Tesla has been churning out a high rate of ‘flawed parts.’

The firm has received more than 400,000 orders, and CEO Elon Musk initially claimed they’d be making 20,000 of the vehicles per month by December.

Now, however, Tesla is targeting 2,500 per week by the end of March, and 5,000 per week by the beginning of the summer.

Citing current and former Tesla employees, the CNBC report claims roughly 40 percent of the parts made or received at the Fremont factory must be ‘reworked.’

It also claims Tesla has had to bring in outside help for rework and repairs, and even send parts from Fremont to its remanufacturing facility 50 miles away in Lathrop, California.

Not only is this affecting the production rate, the report claims, but employees said it’s taking a toll on morale.

CNBC also sites Tesla job listings for remanufacturing technicians and a team process leader to back up the claims.

But, Tesla has hit back, arguing that the report makes inaccurate assumptions.

‘Our remanufacturing team does not 'rework' cars,’ a Tesla spokesperson told CNBC.

The firm also says the process is ubiquitous in the auto industry, and that they are not at all unique in remanufacturing.

‘Remanufacturing is a process that literally every automaker on earth performs,’ Tesla said in a statement responding to the report, according to Electrek.

Rest of the story:-


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5502373/Report-claims-Tesla-manufacturing-FLAWED-Model-3-parts.html

 

The resignation of Tesla's Corporate Treasurer, CNBC Flawed parts report and Volkswagen's plans to ramp up EVs caused TSLA stock to dip 4.5% yesterday.

Why Tesla Stock Tumbled 4.5% Today

March 14, 2018

A rat-a-tat-tat of bad news machine-guns the electric-car stock.


What happened
Shares of electric automaker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) dropped as much as 5% in Wednesday trading before retracing to close the day down "only" 4.5%. Multiple stories broke today affecting the stock, including:

• A report from Bloomberg confirming that Susan Repo, Tesla's corporate treasurer and vice president of finance, has left the company -- this following last week's loss of Chief Accounting Officer Eric Branderiz.
• A separate report from CNBC stating that Tesla "is manufacturing a high ratio of flawed parts and vehicles that need rework and repairs" -- as many as 40% of all the car parts it is producing -- which is making it "hard to hit production targets" and affecting employee morale.
• A Wall Street Journal article on how Volkswagen is moving to swamp Tesla in the electric-car market, with plans to introduce as many as 30 new hybrid automobile models and 50 all-electric cars coming to market over the next seven years, being churned out by as many as 16 new electric-vehicle production factories.

So what
It's hard to know if investors were reacting to any one of these stories more particularly than the others -- or whether Wednesday's sell-off was caused by a combination of the continuous knocking and pinging of multiple bad news stories breaking in a series. (I rather suspect the latter.)

What is clear is that the broad picture being painted here is of a pioneering electric-car manufacturer stumbling as it attempts to ramp up production, and giving a well-heeled competitor on the other side of the ocean time to make up lost ground. You can see the effects of this picture on Tesla's stock chart.

Now what
With no profit to Tesla's name, investors have a hard time valuing the company on traditional metrics such as earnings. (Analysts think Tesla will earn a profit next year. Then again, they've said that before.) In cases like these, investors often default to valuing a stock based on sentiment, and the negative or positive tone of news stories and press releases about its prospects.

Today, that sentiment was undeniably negative, and it's having its effect on the stock price. Tomorrow, however, is another day. If the news turns brighter, I'd expect Tesla's stock price to turn greener.

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https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/03/14/why-tesla-stock-tumbled-45-today.aspx

 

Schadenfreude can be corrosive


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

I don’t understand the new Jaguar electric SUV. Why go to market with a car that’s already inferior to the Model X?

300 miles is the minimum benchmark right now and the Jaguar doesn’t even come close.

Kai

 

the takeaway for me on all of the press quotes above is that tesla absolutely has to take advantage of their head start in order to survive later on.

regardless of what they say and how much money they throw at it, the jaguar's and vw, will have delays, they will have quality issues, they will have production issues, and they will have a hard time overcoming the (apple like) cool factor that the tesla's have gained for themselves already.

BUT, tesla must deliver, literally, and must then be close to flawless by 2023.
no way round that imperative.

 

When the Volkswagen Group (VAG) ramps up its EV production, it will swamp Tesla in sales of EV vehicles, due to numerous production plants around the World.

In 2016 VAG produced 10 405 062 units - 6.073 M being Volkswagen units. Tesla produced a mere 83 922 units, a ratio of VW out producing Tesla 72.4:1

As more and more alternative Manufactures produce EVs thus further eroding Tesla sales, it may be heading the way of Fisker Karma - extinct.

 

Tesla Is Facing a Crucible

By Eric Newcomer
‎March‎ ‎16‎, ‎2018‎ ‎1‎:‎00‎ ‎PM


Hi all, it’s Eric. Jim Chanos, the short seller famous for betting against Enron, has said he thinks Tesla Inc.’s stock is “worthless.” Chanos got some new evidence this week that may support his short sales against Elon Musk’s car company. A string of executives have headed for the exits, including a surprising number from the company’s finance team, as Tesla is dogged by questions about whether it can meet its production targets.

The chief financial officer left abruptly last year in a curious turn of events, where he was replaced by his predecessor: Deepak Ahuja served as Tesla’s CFO from 2008 to 2015 and then took over the job again in March 2017, according to his LinkedIn. Then late last year, one of Tesla’s audit committee members, Steve Jurvetson, went on leave from the board (following accusations of misconduct, which he has denied). The vice president of business development and director of battery technology both left in the past year. Jon McNeill, one of Tesla’s most senior executives, went to take the chief operating officer job at Lyft Inc. last month. Eric Branderiz, Tesla’s chief accounting officer, departed last week. And Bloomberg reported this week that Susan Repo, the corporate treasurer and vice president of finance, is out.

The press has rightly been focused on trying to figure out how badly Tesla will miss its production targets for the all-important Model 3 electric sedan. After all, actually building cars is pretty important to Tesla’s business.

Bloomberg built a Tesla Model 3 Tracker. The data show Tesla is producing approximately 737 cars a week. In July, Tesla predicted that it would produce 5,000 Model 3s a week by the end of 2017. Oops.

Tesla has steadily rolled back its production targets and still looks like it will be behind schedule. According to Bloomberg’s analysis, Tesla Model 3 output has actually slowed from February when it was producing something like 936 Model 3s a week. My colleague Dana Hull reported that Tesla temporarily suspended production in late February, potentially explaining the slowdown.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-16/tesla-is-facing-a-crucible

 

keep in mind that chanos is talking his book - as always.

we all know the realities facing tesla. they are the same today as they were yesterday. and yet bloomberg and other financial papers feel the need to come back and beat them over the head again and again. their excuse will be that they are doing their duty..... what i can tell you from being on the inside of oil for 30 years is that they are also very susceptible to writing stories about and with the slant of some interested clients.....

the comparisons between tesla and vw are a little off. its like trying to compare any small run manufacturer with their mega company competitor

the other thing that is off is taking all of tesla's expenditures to reach this point, and then not counting the last 50years, or 30 years, or 20 years worth of investment that vw has had to make, and then applying their revenue to that. its lopsided.

the tesla stock story comes down to this:
those that tried to apply conventional metrics to the stock and shorted it, have had their asses kicked, and are looking for every avenue of revenge, vindication, and restitution. if you keep in mind that every story will have that bias from the start, you dont even need to read the article.

i dont have any of the stock, nor have i shorted it. but the endless stream of negative news based on the rolling last 3 days of data is just tiresome.

 

Want to buy a Tesla? Better get one while the tax credit lasts

March 19, 2018

Tesla (TSLA) is a victim of its own success, as buyers of its acclaimed electric cars may soon unhappily discover.

The automaker is nearing a milestone level of sales that will result in the loss of a $7,500 federal tax credit aimed at encouraging Americans to buy electric cars. That will raise the cost of Tesla's vehicles for motorists, and potentially hurt the company as it competes with other electric car makers, analysts say.

The credit, which phases out in steps after any manufacturer sells 200,000 electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars, was originally enacted in 2008 to boost sales of non-polluting electric vehicles. When Congress extended the credits in 2009, it added the sales threshold. The argument was that if electric car sales grew too fast, the tax credits could swell the federal deficit.

Morgan Stanley (MS) analyst Adam Jonas predicts that Tesla will hit the 200,000 sales mark by the middle of this year. European competitors like BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo have all announced plans to sell more electric cars in the U.S., but so far have sold very few. As a result, they have much more room to keep offering the tax credit, which could makes their vehicles more attractive to buyers.

Losing the tax credit could come as a rude surprise for consumers who have ordered Tesla's recently introduced Model 3 and are on a wait-list to get the car. An estimated 225,000 Model 3s, which is aimed at taking Tesla's cars mainstream, are on that list.

Analyst Jeremy Acevedo of Edmunds.com believes that vanishing tax breaks will lead to canceled orders. "The introduction of the Model 3 marks the first time Tesla ever targeted more price-sensitive buyers," he said.

Affluent buyers have been paying an average of close to $100,000 with typical options for the Tesla Model S sedan and the Model X SUV.

Meanwhile, Tesla needs to prove to investors that it can manufacture 5,000 Model 3s a week by June. If it can't hit that target, the company could have trouble raising further capital.

Model 3 prices nominally begin at $35,000. But the average Model 3 produced since last year has been selling for about $50,000 in the long-range version, with a distance between charges of 310 miles. The $35,000 version, with a smaller battery and less range, is not available yet because Tesla has yet to produce the smaller battery.

Price-sensitive buyers who are on the wait-list to buy the Model 3 could consider other electric cars, such as the Chevrolet Bolt or redesigned Nissan Leaf. The Leaf starts at $30,000 and likely will remain eligible for the $7,500 tax credit this year. The Hyundai Ionic electric starts at just over $30,000 and has plenty of sales room before losing the credit.

European luxury brands are also stepping up the pressure on Tesla in the U.S. Given their lower sales, BMW's sporty, high-performance i8 hybrid and its all-electric i3 are all but certain to remain eligible for the tax credit.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on Model 3 orders and the expiring tax cuts. But company CEO Elon Musk has complained publicly that the sales cap for U.S. tax credits for electric vehicles are unfairly structured. He notes that many European countries provide far greater subsidies for electric vehicles.

Congress could eliminate the sales limit for tax incentives to buy electrics, but that's unlikely. The Trump administration has opposed most clean-energy subsidies.

So if you're considering an electric car, be sure to research the tax credit situation thoroughly before you start shopping (Edumds.com offers a list of vehicles that qualify for tax credits).



https://www.cbsnews.com/news/want-to-buy-a-tesla-better-get-one-while-the-tax-credit-lasts/

 

Goldman Sachs Holds Strong on “Sell” grade for Tesla

Today, a Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) analyst by the name of David Tamberrino reiterated the firm’s “sell” rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). Their price guidance? $205 which is a massive 34% down from its current price point of $313/share. This means GS believes Tesla is massively overvalued and that they see a fair stock price for the automaker at $205/share.

Tamberrino’s justification for the strong downgrade here:

“We believe the company is tracking below its 2018 Model S/X guidance of approx. 100k units (an implied 25,000 per quarter). Further, while monthly Model 3 deliveries are showing sequential improvement, we estimate that they will fall well short of consensus expectations … We continue to expect a slow ramp for the Model 3, and maintain our Sell rating as we expect shares to de-rate as targets are potentially pushed further out.”

To sum.. Tesla can’t make the Model 3, which is their “bread and butter” mass appeal sedan, fast enough. While the Roadster and Model S and X have been very popular in their high-end luxury niche markets, its the Model 3 that Tesla has been betting big on for a long time now. They need greater volume than their current lineup commands in order to finally become profitable over the long term and the Model 3 is designed to deliver just that. Tamberrino and every other investor knows this and its a bad sign if Tesla slips on its goals.

They originally forecast that they would produce 5,000 Model 3’s per week in 2017 and then backpedaled this goal to Q1 2018 before finally pushing it yet again to next quarter. If Elon Musk and company aren’t meeting 5,000 per week just how many Model 3’s are they actually making? We won’t know until April 2nd when the automaker will divulge this figure during their earnings call.

In the meantime our friends over at Bloomberg have devised some clever assumptions to approximate how many Model 3’s Tesla is actually building. Their findings? Somewhere in between 800 to 1,000.

Rest of the article:-


https://wccftech.com/goldman-sachs-holds-strong-on-sell-grade-for-tesla/