Tesla posts a huge loss, as Model 3 output lags

This car is systematic, hyyydromatic...why it's greased lightning!
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reno
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Tesla posts a huge loss, as Model 3 output lags

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Electric-car maker Tesla (TSLA) swung to a $671 million loss in the third quarter as it struggled to ramp up production of its new Model 3 small car.

The loss, of $3.70 per share, compared to a profit of 15 cents per share in the July-September period a year ago.

That was far bigger decline than Wall Street had predicted. Analysts polled by FactSet forecast a loss of $2.85 per share.

Sales of Tesla's Model S sedan and Model X SUV rose 4.5 percent to 25,915. But investors' eyes were on the Model 3, the $35,000 car that's intended to move Tesla from a luxury niche automaker into the mainstream.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had promised that the Model 3, which has more than 500,000 potential buyers on its waiting list, would be simpler to make than Tesla's previous vehicles and not plagued with the same delays. But Tesla produced just 220 Model 3s in the third quarter, far lower than the 1,500 Musk promised.

And the problems will continue. Because of delays at its battery facility in Nevada, Tesla said it now expects to be making 20,000 Model 3s per month by the end of the first quarter of 2018. Musk had initially set a target of December for that level of production.

Tesla's revenue rose 30 percent to $2.9 billion for the quarter, in line with analysts' expectations. The company said installations for its energy storage business more than doubled from a year ago.

Tesla's shares fell 3 percent to close at $321.08 Wednesday, but in after-hours trading following the earnings release, the stock fell an additional 4 percent, or $12.83, to $308.25. The shares have risen 45 percent since the start of this year.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-post ... tput-lags/

different report here about the same reading do.

Getting to market with the Model 3, which will carry a base price of about $35,000, has been a humbling experience so far. Tesla built just 260 Model 3 sedans in its most recent quarter — considerably short of its target of 1,500.

And the sluggish pace has coincided with a rash of job cuts and allegations of lax safety standards on the assembly line from its workers.

While Wall Street analysts and media coverage have focused on the shortfall in Model 3 production, Mr. Musk concentrated Wednesday on the fact that Tesla expected to deliver record numbers of its higher-priced Model S sedans and Model X sport-utility vehicles in the last three months of the year.

But the company also reported wider losses than expected for the quarter that ended Sept. 30. Revenue from auto sales increased 8 percent to $2.08 billion, compared with the same period a year ago, but the company lost $619.4 million, versus posting a profit of $21.9 million in the third quarter of 2016.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/busi ... -musk.html
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wvjohn
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Re: Tesla posts a huge loss, as Model 3 output lags

Post by wvjohn »

I'd never bet against Musk, because he's always pulling something out of his hat, but it is hard to see how the Model 3 is going to production as claimed. One of the hooks on the whole electric car thing is that the federal subsidies are limited to the first X number of cars, and while he is churning out the pricey ones (and likely making huge money on those) the other manufacturers are chipping away at the cap number. Don't remember the exact details, but I seem to remember that the total number of preorders exceeds that cap number. The current administration is unlikely to raise that numbers for anything except coal-powered cars :)
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wvjohn
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Re: Tesla posts a huge loss, as Model 3 output lags

Post by wvjohn »

New tax plan ends subsidies at the end of the year. If it goes through, could be a real problem for Teslas order book.
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