Hold off on buying your Tesla

[green van man]

Financial report on radio this morning saying Tesla is well on the way to fileing for bankruptcy in America.
Seems they have got through a billion $ in 3 months and investors are not forthcoming with new money.

It would be a pity to see the innovation go but I would wait and see before buying mine.

Paul.

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by green van man

Financial report on radio this morning saying Tesla is well on the way to fileing for bankruptcy in America.
Seems they have got through a billion $ in 3 months and investors are not forthcoming with new money.

It would be a pity to see the innovation go but I would wait and see before buying mine.

Paul.

Sound advice Paul, but I wonder just how many are actively considering the purchase of a Tesla at this time?

It was the same when Saab folded, yet in my experience support for the marque remains readily available at reasonable cost.

I feel Tesla's problems stem more from the legal cases against them than with any inherent problems with the car.

Regards, John.

[Bonefishblues]

I can't help but feel there are a few other manufacturers hoping to pick up their IP in a fire sale...

[OV4]

Tesla’s taking on an enormous amount of debt to keep running, and hasn’t (as far as I know) ever had a profitable year.

Musk is a charismatic character (not an attractive character IMO, but certainly has charisma) and has increased popular awareness of electrified vehicles, but while launching a car into space, for example, is newsworthy it doesn’t really help the bottom line.

[GreenBrick]

A collaboration with another car company may be mutually beneficial?

[GreenBrick]

Especially now this has been created...

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...-now-completed

[OV4]

I like it. It's almost as if a Scimitar GTE has fallen in love with a 2005 Accord wagon.

[Dippydog]

Such things tend to be self fulfilling prophesies.Story gets out they're well on the way to bankruptcy,punters don't buy cars as they're worried about the future of the company and therefore getting their cars fixed etc.and investors won't invest as rightly they don't want their money going out the window,so company does indeed go bust and everyone then says see I told you so.

[steadvex]

media & financial investors have been saying this since the roadster was in development...

Out of the current auto makers, its only Volvo or Tesla I'd be willing to give my money towards, and so far, Tesla are the only ones taking electric seriously, outside of china anyway. Who else is constantly innovating?

If I won the lottery tomorrow I can safely say I would be ordering a Model S! Never fancied a really expensive car until I sat in one, then when I had a short spin as a passenger all sorts of man maths was working overtime to see if I could afford one!

I agree with @Dippydog I imagine many companies have folded due to the bizarre way a company is valued/invested in

[I-S]

Stories of Tesla's impending bankruptcy have been going on and on.

You need to look VERY carefully at where these stories come from - Tesla is the most shorted stock.

What that means (for those who don't know about the crazy things that go on on stock markets) is that whole bunches of people have "sold" tesla shares they don't own, expecting the price to go down (at which point they "buy" the shares they don't own and pocket the loss as a profit).

Sadly for those people, Tesla's stock has been very robust over a longer trend (ignoring the usual day-to-day, week-to-week peaks and dips that are common) which means that an awful lot of people on wall street are hurting and hurting badly because they bet against Tesla.

It is coming to the point now where a lot of these people are now writing articles that are contributed to sites like SeekingAlpha (an online share tips platform) with doom and gloom stories about Tesla in order to try to push the stock price down so that they do not take such an enormous bath on the stock.

These people are aided by several other groups who have an interest in seeing Tesla fail - not just the predictable Big Oil and Big Auto, but also the likes of car dealerships associations (who dislike Tesla's direct-to-consumer approach).

Yes, Tesla have spent a LOT of money over the past few years. That's not really surprising - they've been building the biggest battery factory in the world in Nevada, a huge solar panel plant in New York state, production lines for the Model 3 in Fremont CA, investing in the development of the Model 3, Semi and Roadster models, etc. The point is that these are capital-intensive ventures so yes, they've been spending a lot of cash.

The point that needs to be made clear is that revenue is increasing also. Tesla have delivered a record number of cars in Q1 this year, and will deliver more in Q2. Also Tesla's other product lines, particularly Energy Storage products (PowerPack, PowerWall) have been performing excellently (with massively increasing demand also).

So take the Tesla doom and gloom stories with a pinch of salt. Yes, they've been close to the wind many times, and by no means are they super-secure. But what are you comparing them to? The established auto makers like Chrysler (Chapter 11), GM (Chapter 11), Porsche (borrowed heavily to attempt VW takeover, lost out and ended up taken over by VW)?

Tesla have already changed the world. The I-Pace and eTron would not exist without Tesla having pushed the manufacturers to make them. The Model S outsells any other saloon car in its price bracket (eg 7 series, S class, etc), DESPITE much poorer interior quality.

And if Tesla were in need of an injection of cash, there are still many willing investors who believe in what they are doing, even if wall street doesn't.