Tesla reports its biggest loss yet.
The car maker had been hoping to turn its losses into a profit with the introduction if the Model 3, its lower priced sedan.
Although its revenues increased from $2.28bn to $3.29bn, its losses also increased from $121.3m to $675.4m in the 3 months to December.
That’s quite some loss and all due, accordingly, to a bottleneck in the production of the Model 3.
Tesla said it expected to start generating positive quarterly operating income at some point in 2018 with its production reach 2500 in the first quarter of 2018 and up to 5000 by the end of the second quarter.
Tesla was supposed to be making 5000 Model 3s a week by the end of 2017 but in the last 3 months of the year, only managed 1550 cars in total.
The cause is blamed on poorly designed automation systems in the production of the power modules which for now is being replaced by humans.
They hope to solve the automation issues soon.
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Just to carry on with this negative report the first cars, although only sold to Tesla and Space X employees to help with beta testing have proven to have some problems - from a harsh ride, to a faulty high voltage part.
The car was made to be a $35,000 vehicle, but the first production cars to be sold are the upgraded 310 mile range high spec cars at $50,000, so not quite the cheap man’s Tesla. The lower spec cars are due very soon, with a lower range of 220miles.
If you want one in the UK, you can put down your deposit and keep looking at the website for a delivery date. Right hand drive production is due to start in 2019.
Tesla just doesn't have what it takes to compete with cars in a similar price bracket. If you ignore the fact that it's an EV, the only remaining thing it has going for it is the electric tourque. It doesn't ride as nice as other luxury cars at it's price point, but it also can't really corner well. Other cars have at least that going for them. It also just doesn't feel as high quality as a 50.000$ car should.
So really the only people buying these cars are the ones, that want an EV and have the money to spend, and Tesla fans who convince themselves that it's a great car. If things don't change for Tesla soon, other manufacturers are going to attack the Tesla price segment aggressively with their own EVs.
I have only been in a Tesla S and it was very nice but for £130,000 it could be better. The problem is other manufacturers are catching up fast and even overtaking them. EV is good but still needs more development especially in the recycling side and longevity side of things. Look around on todays roads and cars are easily 15 years old. EV cars currently will not last that long so the green side of things is reduced.
Hybrid is the way forward for most companies with EV just about there.
The new Porsche E with its super fast charge and value compared to other top end cars will be very attractive.