Today Elon Musk says.....
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Also made money this quarter with 2.9 billion in the bank and 1 billion coming due soon. Said they would start making money now. BUT: You're going to make less money selling $45,000 Model 3's than you are making $50,000 to $70,000 Model 3's and even less when/if $35,000 Model 3's come out. Big expenditures have to be coming along to start up truck manufacturing in 2019. Although the factory in China where Model 3 and Y will be made is from China's money, some of that will likely come from Tesla itself. I say the likelihood of consistent money making quarters, like Samuel Clemens' death, is greatly exaggerated.
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I'm happy they made a profit so they can continue to grow and be an example/thorn in the side the other manufacturers. Cadillac could have gone the Tesla luxury EV car route for example. Instead they want to charge the same and deliver less and many see Cadillac as a has-been brand.
While $46k is the lowest current price for a base vehicle, upgrade options can still add another $10k to that. The take up on options of some level is probably 90% and the value probably averages $6 k
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To be fair, Elon did point out that they would be cashflow positive, except when paying off debt, and they have a lot of that. He should have said they'll be operationally cashflow positive. And while you may be right in predicting Tesla's financial future, the problem is that most people have been wrong predicting Tesla's past. Who predicted that Tesla would reduce costs so much that gross margins would exceed 20% this quarter? Extrapolating a financial future based upon lower cost vehicles, doesn't factor in that Tesla still has a lot of room to increase manufacturing efficiency, and thus reducing costs even further. They still use alot more labor than traditional car manufacturers.
Oh, I thought you were referencing this: https://electrek.co/2018/10/25/tesla-model-3-base-35000-impossible-timeline-elon-musk/
what we do know ,he is making money at this stage and at this production rate
what we also know, is that he has 3 new battery building machines that they say will reduce battery costs by 30 percent
they are also talking about faster line production that will reduce costs per car as well
the fact that he hopes to have it in 6 months (Elon time) the 35,000.00 dollar car looks promising in my eyes
unlike the other car manufacturers that might have a electric car in 2021
what we don't know, is the total demand out there for EV's right now and is the 35,000.00 car the tipping point ( it cant hurt)
what is gm doing - who knows?
what we also know, is that he has 3 new battery building machines that they say will reduce battery costs by 30 percent
they are also talking about faster line production that will reduce costs per car as well
the fact that he hopes to have it in 6 months (Elon time) the 35,000.00 dollar car looks promising in my eyes
unlike the other car manufacturers that might have a electric car in 2021
what we don't know, is the total demand out there for EV's right now and is the 35,000.00 car the tipping point ( it cant hurt)
what is gm doing - who knows?
What are other companies doing, we don't know. Vehicles don't get announced until closer to production time so the hype builds, not builds then dies down as too much time has passed. The question is how many people are prepared to switch. If every one is (we know that's not the case) then production can grow, the cheaper the more you sell as more people fall into your price ball park. If you want EV production (purchases) open ended you need infrastructure (charging stations), reasonably cheap electrical rates (how ever you get it), rebates/incentives (until parity is reached). Quiet driving alone is not enough, there has to be a monetary component. Personally I think one of the best incentives is free charging stations (even only L2's) at designated parking spots like malls etc. that are prepared to foot the bill for the foot traffic. There's nothing like seeing your neighbour getting "free" ride to get them to change their mind. It's human nature (perhaps not at its finest). OK maybe I'm a little cynical but I bet not by much.
My wife are on an Oregon vacation trip to Depoe Bay right now in our Volt. IF we had a Tesla, (any Tesla) this trip would be a piece of cake with supercharger stations along the way at convenient locations. The Volt cannot be fast charged, no matter where we are, so we are stuck running all but about 60 miles of our trip on gas. I really can't wait until I can afford a Tesla, or until someone like GM builds a comparable EV. At this moment in time....there is no serious competition to Tesla for an EV traveler. And the fast charging network is the secret sauce!
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No. $22,000 would be the tipping point.
Increasing production of the Bolt EV by 20% this quarter.
Moving battery and component manufacturing to the United States.
Designing additional electric vehicles based on the Bolt EV's technology.
Coordinating with public fast charging providers.
I don't know. I travel as far as quickly as someone in a Tesla Model S 60 using the Supercharger Network could. I'm just a country bumpkin in a Bolt EV, so what I'm doing can't be that special.
$22k is the tipping point for those that want to buy in on the USED market.
Where you live has a lot to do with how well you get around in your Bolt.
I Challenge you to drive across the plains states in your Bolt at any kind of efficiency anywhere close to the supercharging network.
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Nope. $22,000 was the median new car purchase price. The used market drops another $10,000 to $12,000 off that.
How about Denver to Lincoln? Or do we have to find a place where the public DCFC are still being planned, permitted, and constructed? How about the Model S I go up against only gets to use the Superchargers that were available when the Model S was also only two years old?
Tesla fanatics like to equate the availability of fast charging as a measure of a non-Tesla EV's worth, but the Supercharger Network has serious gaps too. How about a race from Seattle to Fairbanks? Or from British Colombia to Quebec? There are locations where Tesla models would be just as limited as the Bolt EV, despite the pompous attitudes.
I'm not sure what trade in prices have to do with anything. Plenty of people have junker cars that they've been holding onto for years, and if the new price of the traded in car is within $10,000 of the price of the Model 3 (many of them, such as BMW 3 series, were), then they are essentially the same price. Last time I drove through Brentwood (granted, this was a while ago), the two most common vehicle types were >$100,000 luxury sedans/SUVs and Toyota Priuses. Income has very little to do with cars purchased as status symbols.
But step outside the wealthy and upper middle class circles, and you'll find that working class people rarely spend more than $30,000, even for a new car. The one exception to that might be trucks, but those are often purchased as business expenses.
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Right now there's only $45k Teslas; there's no $35k Teslas (yet?). So they're not a tipping point until they *sell some*.
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