WASHINGTON, D.C. April 3 (DPI) – Tesla Inc. is missing its early and ambitious production targets for its Tesla 3 sedan, drawing criticism from Wall Street, just as founder Elon Musk sends out an ill-advised April Fools Day tweet about a Tesla bankruptcy.
Readers and pundits alike still are not sure what to make of Musk, the 46-year-old South African-born entrepreneur who – depending on whom you ask – is the reincarnation of either Henry Ford, Howard Hughes or PT Barnum – or perhaps all three.
The ambivalence is fair, given that Tesla – what the WSJ calls “the Silicon Valley automaker” – will either pay off its investors handsomely, or leave them holding a big financial bag. At this point the odds of mounting losses seem to be growing. As one WSJ.com poster put it:
Tesla’s stock is down 36% from its high. It bonds are now graded junk. It has never come close to making money in any year. In the last four years it has lost over 2.6 billion. With their 10,000 model 3’s in first quarter the 400,000th person on the waiting list will get theirs in 3.3 years. That might be okay however since Consumer Reports ranks them 25th out of 29 in reliability. Hilarious that unreliable and they do not even have an engine and a single speed transmission. Consumer Reports gave the Model X, their over $100,000 SUV, the lowest score in reliability. They listed their ten dogs to avoid based on reliability and the Model X is #1. Tesla owners are like your neighbor who just had to be the first one on the block with a HDTV. The rest waited and bought a much better and more reliable one for a whole lot less. Can’t wait until these Model 3’s that were rushed out are come back for recalls.
Tesla this week announced the production of 2,020 Tesla 3s, well short of its stated goal of 5,000 per week. And many observers said they doubted the number reported by the company.
It’s true that Tesla has already upended the global auto industry, having forced GM and Ford among others to accelerate development of electric cars. Tesla is indeed a revolutionary company. But its fortunes remain cloudy at best. As readers are pointing out:
“. . . Mr. Musk said on Twitter he has returned to sleeping in a Tesla factory as he closely oversees production of the Model 3. More likely, this is just more theater. If the CEO of a multi-billion dollar business has to sleep at the company’s factory in order to make production goals, the wrong people are in charge at every level. Whether cars, solar panels or rockets, everything in the broader enterprise is wholly dependent on government contracts or subsidies. The taxpayers are bankrolling all of this.
Let’s get real. 2,020 for ONE WEEK (the last week of the quarter) does not equate to a “production rate” of 2,020 per week. It’s a “show” week. Average production for the quarter was 752 cars per week — THAT is closer to the real production rate. Tesla is shameless when it comes to manipulating statistics. Why do they do this? Don’t they realize that the obvious manipulations make them look like amateurs?
The fraud continues. So, according to Tesla, they built 793 cars in the last week of 2017. If they merely continued at that pace, already well behind multiple prior predictions, in the 1st quarter of 2018, then they would have built 10,309 (13 weeks times 793 cars per week) cars in the 1st quarter. Yet, they only built 8=9,766 Model 3s in the 1st quarter. So, their production DECLINED from the last week of 2017 through the entire first quarter. That is, they merely get a bunch of cars 90% complete and then complete them in the last week of the quarter. Even with this blatant lie, they still don’t come close to meeting their repeatedly delayed goals. How can any one buy this guy’s nonsense anymore?