Tesla stock downgraded to sell on signs Model 3 demand is starting to flag
Customers are realizing that they can’t get new vehicles until 2019, and are starting to look elsewhere
Tesla Inc. stock was downgraded to sell from hold by Cascend Securities on Tuesday on signs that customer demand for the mass-market sedan, the Model 3, is beginning to flag as the company grapples with production issues.
Cascend’s Chief Investment Strategist Eric Ross said new customers who have not already preordered the Model 3 are realizing that they can’t get new vehicles until 2019, and are starting to look elsewhere. The electric-car field is growing, with all the major car makers working on their own models, he said. Ford Motor Co. F, -1.35% alone has 13 electric vehicles planned for release in the next five years.
Meanwhile, “the company is burning through cash and will likely need to raise capital in the first half of 2018 (and perhaps even the first quarter 2018),” Ross wrote in a note. “And there won’t be enough Model 3 production to suggest break-even is around the corner.”...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla ... 2017-12-05
GRA wrote:edatoakrun wrote:GRA wrote:...Whether or not Tesla itself survives as a company and manages to introduce mass market cars, mass market BEVs undoubtedly will arrive, largely thanks to them demonstrating what could be done.
TSLA has never built any "mass market BEVs", as defined by relatively high production levels and low price, and may never build any.
I am one of millions of drivers world-wide who actually do drive "mass-market BEVs", in my case since early 2011.
I doubt the large majority of those who drive BEVS were significantly influenced by TSLA, even if they, like many misguided ICEV drivers, see some achievement in TSLA's failures.
I don't see how it is possible find any plausible rational counterfactual argument that the billions of dollars flushed down TSLA these many years could not have been far more productively invested in BEV production, under more competent management.
Which management would that be, since no one else has managed to produce a compelling BEV salable outside the limited market of BEV enthusiasts (without subsidies, that is)? As I said, whether or not Tesla will build the first mass market BEV remains unclear, but someone will because Tesla has
1. Eliminated for all time the canard about BEVs being "nothing more than glorified golf carts"
2. Taken significant business from the likes of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche etc., so they can't dismiss them as being niche cars, and have to compete.
3. Showed how and then built a charging infrastructure that makes BEVs usable for shorter trips (if still well short of what's needed to fully compete with liquid fuels on longer ones)...
1. The opinions of idiots have limited relevance.
2. Unsupported by facts. Those companies have seen premium SUV sales surge, more than offsetting losses in the declining sedan segments.
In fact, TSLA seems to have increased total high-priced vehicle sales by means of subverting the intent of government subsidies for BEVs, diverting those payments toward the premium market segments. In doing so, TSLA has provided cover for other premium vehicle brands to take their own seats at the taxpayer-funded trough.
3. Each supercharger location is an open wound from which TSLA bleeds cash. Why anyone would regard such a silly and unsustainable promotional stunt as a corporate asset, is beyond rational understanding.
Superchargers are a major reason why, despite selling cars at very high prices, and further supported by very high government subsidies, TSLA today still has no profits in view.