Posted on 05/23/2019 6:08:16 AM PDT by artichokegrower
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who borrowed $517 million on margin to buy more stock, potentially would be forced to liquidate all his shares and risk bankrupting Tesla if the price falls by 20 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Never a viable business model beyond a niche/exclusive product.
If EV catshes on they cannot compete with existing players on scale of production it price...
As an exclusive status symbol can charge premium and keep margins to be viable.. at scale, but players will always be able to win.
It takes a real genius to bankrupt a company with high priced and high demand products.
But I would rather my Ford Explorer 2010's body panels fell off rather than have my defective transmission, like hundreds of thousands of others which Ford refuses to acknowledge or recall, costing consumers tens of millions in damages for "Exploder" trannies. I despise Ford for their outright fraud. I wish Musk luck in saving his innovative company.
I, too owned a few Ford Exploders, and had the tranny rebuilt in one of them.
It was cheaper than replacing the battery on a Tesla would be...and those are 100% guaranteed to fail given time. As short as 5 years, maybe as long as 10 years.
I had a 1998 Ford Explorer... with a long term marginally functional transmission, which finally locked up completely after only 100K miles.
Tesla STOCK (not the cars) has been a study in investor psychology. Tulip bulbs come to mind.
For a company that has never once made a profit to have such a large market value is insane.
I wouldnt touch it...even to short it, because it makes absolutely no sense to me.
I have never understood why anyone would Own a Tesla.
The battery is only good for 8 to 10 years and then it has to be replaced because it wont hold a charge. The replacement cost is at least $10K.
I wont buy a car if upfront I know that in 8 years I will have to replace a part that will cost $10K regardless of how well I maintain the car.
Maybe leasing the car makes sense but not buying.
Elon Musk raised billions of dollars to research, develop the technology, build the infrastructure and manufacture electric vehicles. The man has well known and documented personal and business deficiencies. However the fact that doomed Tesla was that there simply is not a profitable market for electric vehicles in the United States. Most consumers want the reliability and convenience of the internal combustion engine. Unless coerced they tend to shun electric vehicles.
There is little doubt that Tesla will eventually go bankrupt. However the market forces that doomed Tesla are already hurting big auto manufacturers such as Ford, GM and VW. These companies like Tesla have made huge investments in EV research, technology, infrastructure and manufacture. They have had virtually no return on those huge investments. The money is dead and squandered. These companies are suffering as evidenced by the recent contractions at Ford. IMHO the auto industry made a very bad investment, are being dragged by debt and will be suffering mightily.
There is a fun youtube video of a family of four going on a ski trip in a Tesla. They wear their coats in the car. :
Never a viable business model beyond a niche/exclusive product.
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Agree. And, although slow out of the gate, many of the major auto manufacturers are passing Tesla by. The best thing that could happen to Tesla (and stock holders) would be to be bought out by some auto company with the bandwidth, auto mfg and supply chain expertise to make Tesla profitable. Tesla appears to me to still be ahead in the autonomous driving and software arena which would be a big plus for the right company.
I don’t think Teslas are high demand. They are also expensive to build. I saw a youtube video comparing electric cars and, though they really liked the battery and motor tech in Teslas, the body construction was overly complex.
How much to do that and how long did it last you?
“There is a fun youtube video of a family of four going on a ski trip in a Tesla. They wear their coats in the car. :”
The Tesla is a great car for an overcast day (but no rain)at 70 degrees with no traffic.
Not to mention the fact that the other car manufacturers are getting into the electric market and providing options that are much lower cost than Tesla. In particular, they are adapting existing body styles to electric and leaving out the self driving tech that drives the prices up. Also, since they are just getting into the gig, the rebates are available to prop them up.
The rebates exist for each manufacturer and phase out as that manufacturer sells a certain amount of vehicles.
Yep. :)
I consider teslas to be glorified golf carts. They may be great for people with 10 mile commutes and as an “extra” car, and even greater for those that can get “free charging”, but for everybody else, they need a real car in the garage if they plan on any longer trips.
My family visited Disneyland several times from Seattle. We drove. It couldn’t be done in a Tesla, practically speaking.
I had a 1996 Explorer. No transmission trouble but, after 4 years and 37k miles the paint started cracking all over the hood, roof, etc. I took it to a friend who owned a body shop who said the primer was shrinking. They only way to properly fix it was take the vehicle back down to bare metal and prime and paint everything.
Of course, Ford corporate would not help me at all because I was about 4 months beyond my 3 year/36000 mile warranty.
However, the owner of the dealership ended up repainting the entire vehicle for $500. He stated that was his cost just for the labor.
I consider teslas to be glorified golf carts.
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That would make a great bumper sticker.
A TESLA IS A GOLF CART
I think electric motors are great. Small, controllable, constant torque....but batteries are awful! Hate them. I need to see something better than lithium ion before I jump in.
If he’s banking on autopilot to save him, he’s in big trouble. Autopilot has to be pretty much perfect, no testing on your user base. CR just slammed it yesterday. Pretty much called it RetardoPilot. No chance of 2020 introduction.
Musk’s lies like a Tesla will earn you $100k in income as a cab just sink is credibility.
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