RE: Tesla to close showrooms in favour of web

[Boggy]

Who actually cares!

Bye Bye Tesla.

Boggy

[unrepentant]

Major car manufacturers are very grateful to Tesla for paving the way but once the big players entered the arena it was always going to be tough sledding for Mr Musk.

A massive price drop like this is going to ps off existing owners (their residuals just got trashed) and looks like a panic measure (shares are currently down 7% this morning).

On the bright side I had a meal in Hedge Row the other week and it was very good. Maybe Kimbal can give his bro a job if Tesla goes pop?

[Cold]

simonrockman said:

Coverage of the stores shutting and the price cut misses the point that there are 300,000 unfilled orders for the Model 3.

Loads of nods and winks abound that suggest this really isn't true.

[D-Angle]

It's worth checking out the Rich Rebuilds YouTube channel to see his experience of buying an approved used Model X online. It's utterly comical.

If they are planning on using the same system to move their entire inventory, I would short their stock with every penny I have.

[LordFlathead]

Reciprocating mass said:

And if they can pull that off for most people that can’t afford to lord it around in a car that cost about 3 times there yearly wage then they will have made it l, but unfortunately for Tesla all the other manufacturers will cover that base quicker rendering Tesla but a footnote in motoring history and reasonably soon by the looks of things

EV's are a premium product.

The other manufacturers cannot make enough batteries fast enough to compete quickly enough. Tesla has already invested in three Gigafactories.. they are WAY ahead.

[jjwilde]

This forum has been predicting Tesla's failure every year for almost 10 years. The goal posts are just moved every time.

This thread has all the usual myths in it too. This time I just can't be bothered to argue. Also not a single person on here has ever shorted Tesla to surely make a small fortune when their stock goes to 0. Amazing that.

So explain to us all why if you know Tesla is going bust you don't short them? Anyone?

[LordFlathead]

I totally agree.

Pedantic ICE proclaimers that totally refuse to believe that the tipping point is coming.. well it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRcx-btcle4&t=...

[98elise]

st4 said:

British Beef said:

In principal, great idea to save money for Tesla.

BUT, dealers also service and repair, who is tasked with that now?

Good luck taking a Tesla into a local Quickfux and asking them to diagnose a faulty battery pack, or electric motor packed in.

This. And people still like to see cars. I think they are making a mistake and dealerships are needed for repairs/warranty work. A good dealership network is essential for a car maker to really thrive.

I think you're missing the point. Tesla don't have dealers in the normal sense. They have units in shopping centers doing the selling, with service centres for service and repair work.

It's the sales units they are closing.

When I ordered mine I went to Bluewater shopping centre but they just directed me their terminals to place the order. It was no different to doing nothing at home.

[98elise]

wab172uk said:

austinsmirk said:

its ok being negative about the future of EV's- but they are the most exciting thing to happen with motoring for the last 100 years. Honestly when you have one, drive one, all those generic 2.0 petrol/diesel lumps can be quickly forgotten.


yes I'm a petrol head, yes I love a decent engine, decent burble blah blah- but as a generic lump on wheels for sitting in traffic in, its the future.

clearly musk is some sort of bond esque evil villan, probably creaming millions off, building a space palace, but feasibly that's what you need to go up against the big giants.

And wind farms to generate all the clean pollution free electricity.

Soon this may well be the next diesel-gate. Once we are forced to buy EV, they'll then need to build more power stations to cope with all the demand. Then give it a few years, and Global warming will be down to EV cars and the power stations used to charge them.

But then what do we do with all the batteries that will need disposing of?

Thee is no need to build any more power stations as long as the majority of people charge overnight. The average driver needs about 7kWh of energy per day so the maths is fairly simple.

Degraded batteries can be refurbished at a cell level, or recycled into power storage, otherwise they can be recycled.

[havoc]

jjwilde said:

This forum has been predicting Tesla's failure every year for almost 10 years. The goal posts are just moved every time.

No, Musk just kicks off a new round of finance-raising.

They've not made a single cent in 10 years of operating - they only still exist because Musk's persuaded a LOT of investors that it's the future.


I admire his vision. I admire what he's trying to do in shaking up the automotive industry. I even think the cars are impressive (albeit dynamically flawed if you want to do anything that involves corners).

But it's NOT still there because it's a viable business. It's still there because Musk is the new PT Barnum.

[jack_86]

Ev owners act like their in some multi level marketing scheme completely brain washed and cult like!

[Pothole]

emperorburger said:

After hours share price dropped post announcement and with almost immediate availability on the $35k M3, they must have exhausted demand for the premium models. With the $920M bond repayment due and I can only imagine wafer thin margins on the $35k M3, things are not looking great for Elon in my opinion.

A last Hail Mary perhaps....

Did you read the article? "The product is vital to Tesla's bottom line, providing as it does a greater than 20 per cent profit margin on each vehicle sold "

[emperorburger]

simonrockman said:

Coverage of the stores shutting and the price cut misses the point that there are 300,000 unfilled orders for the Model 3. They don't need to fill the pipe but they do need to make sure that those deposits get turned into sales. I suspect there has been a high drop out and that's what has led to the price cut.

300,000 unfulfilled orders for the M3, yet the $35k model can be ordered and delivered in 2-4 weeks stateside. Suggests to me the supposed waiting list has all but dried up.

[emperorburger]

Pothole said:

Did you read the article? "The product is vital to Tesla's bottom line, providing as it does a greater than 20 per cent profit margin on each vehicle sold "

Would that be the same source that told us Tesla were going private at $420 a share.

[Shadow R1]

How many model 3's are in customer hands in the UK ?

The one car that appeared at Goodwood FOS last year, is still doing the rounds of Europe however.

[unsprung]

jjwilde said:

This thread has all the usual myths in it too.

+1

kudos to the handful of people here who've found the energy to post, yet again, the fundamental and widely publiciised facts of the business model / revenue streams / service centres of Tesla

goodness gracious, people; some days it's like trying to talk through something with the gormless cast of a reality TV show

[phope]

My crystal ball is as accurate as anyone else's but here's my view...happy to be proved wrong.

Tesla has provided an array of innovative designs, methodologies and technologies for EVs that will live on beyond Tesla itself. I see Tesla becoming the Blackberry/Research in Motion of our time...a early pioneer with a variety of valuable patents & technologies but just unable to compete in a sustainable way against the commodity phones (Android) and the premium volume of Apple

Tesla will not fail because of occasionally shoddy build quality, or limited palette of options, or overpromising/hyping of driver aids/self driving tech. It will possibly even continue to be steadily profitable in small amounts for a period of time. Volume competitors are coming such as Chinese, Korean and German manufacturers and many of these companies will also partner up on their EV tech

(For example, Ford and VW are seriously talking about licensing out the new VW MEB electric platform to Ford - Ford gain access to a custom built EV platform designed for seriously high volume production, and VW recoup much of their 'forced' investment in EV tech after their Dieselgate scandal)

Tesla will likely fail in the next 12-18 months because of good old cash flow...the simple cost of sustaining their overall business model, even without physical stores after these closures, will prove too much for them to continue trying to design and manufacture their cars, Gigafactories in Nevada, New York State and China, solar panels, battery packs, global charging network as well as R&D for next generation models. No manufacturer has been willing/able to partner up with Tesla to help them shoulder the burden of what they are trying to achieve.

They are simply trying to do too much with too little capital and those that are presently lending to the company will call a halt, leading it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, restructuring and eventual splitting up of the company. Shareholders will be decimated and the bondholders of the company who own the debt will be left with the rump of the assets to sell on.

Gigafactory 1 will be left with Panasonic who run it as a JV with Tesla, and repurposed to make commodity batteries for a variety of car manufacturers as they switch to EV models. The cells will also become bulk manufactured for large scale electricity storage units for residential/commercial purposes similar to the impressive way Tesla has built a battery farm in Australia to become a virtual power station for previously blackout prone areas.

Gigafactory 2 in New York which makes the solar panels will likely fall by the wayside as solar panels are just a commodity item that can be sourced cheaper in bulk from Asian manufacturers - leaving the local authorities to seek return of grants/subsidies provided to Tesla in return for job promises. GF3 in China under construction will likely be taken over by some random Chinese car company

The real asset of Tesla IMHO, outside of patents on software and battery tech which can be sold on to other parties is the Supercharger network - this could be split up and sold to various buyers as prime sites for paid for EV charging, either PAYG basis or subscription basis.

Change the physical chargers (which in the US are a proprietary charging connector) into a common standard like CCS2 (think proprietary Apple Lightning cable versus the commodity USB) and the operators of these sites will develop a good business model for selling quick charging EV tech at a reasonable price/convenient locations as the market matures as EVs become mainstream.

[Dr Nookie]

LordFlathead said:

I totally agree.

Pedantic ICE proclaimers that totally refuse to believe that the tipping point is coming.. well it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRcx-btcle4&t=...

I don't doubt the tipping point is almost here, I just don't think Tesla will be doing the tipping.

[RobDickinson]

coyft said:

I wonder how close Tesla are to regulatory approval of a fully autonomous vehicle?

Imo I don't think they will get it with their current hardware. They'll have level 3, plenty of driver assist but no full autonomy. Nothing in their hardware has backup in case of failure which is a requirement in USA.

[RobDickinson]

I love the abject hate and pessimism on Tesla in here it's funny.

Established auto couldn't deal with last weeks pricing or tech of Tesla, might catch up to the 2017 model 3 by 2021, now this pricing reduction will have them stting bricks

And this is before they roll in the maxwell tech into their batteries.