False Information: Tesla Admits It Still Hasn't Completed A Model 3 Beta Prototype

[SocalMS]

from: Tesla Admits It Still Hasn't Completed A Model 3 Beta Prototype | Zero Hedge


Excerpts Below…


…buried deep within the company's most recent 10-K filing is an admission that there is still no Model 3 beta prototype.


…However, with production due to begin in H2 2017 (just 4 months away) and delivery in 2018, doubts are starting to appear


…Wahlman points out, Tesla has not “completed” a Model 3 “beta prototype” as of, well, either of these two dates: December 31, 2016 (the period that the SEC filing covers), or March 1, 2017 (the date on which the document was filed)

… Tesla could indeed deliver a Model 3 in July 2017 and declare victory. However, that is not to be confused with what a normal car company would call its start of sales to the general public.


…More smoke and solar panel mirrors?


…If the economics don't work with $80k cars, how will they work with $30k cars?

 

[N5329K]

Why do you think the economics haven't worked for their $80,000 cars? As I understand it, Tesla's margins are great. Which is a good thing, given that they're plowing those margins back (and going out for more) to build the company.
Robin

 

[SocalMS]

Why do you think the economics haven't worked for their $80,000 cars? As I understand it, Tesla's margins are great. Which is a good thing, given that they're plowing those margins back (and going out for more) to build the company.
Robin

My guess is that there's plenty of profit per car sold.. but the overhead is what's hurting Tesla
a. Building out Supercharger Stations
b. Battery Development
c. Building new factories


Thus the need to go to the public markets and sell stock..

 

[dsvick]

My guess is that there's plenty of profit per car sold.. but the overhead is what's hurting Tesla
a. Building out Supercharger Stations
b. Battery Development
c. Building new factories


Thus the need to go to the public markets and sell stock..

That's not overhead, that's expansion, and they needed that in order to develop the model 3, expand their product line, and lower their costs.

I'm not sure where the article gets "delivery in 2018" since it is widely stated on Tesla's site that deliveries will begin this year. So yes, they can start production in July and then deliver some starting August, then more in September, even more in October, November, and December. That's called ramping up the production line, all manufacturers do it, and I'm sure whoever wrote the article knows that full well.

 

[jelloslug]

This is old news. Tesla has been building beta cars since January.

 

[S'toon]

Zero Hedge is a batshit insane Austrian school finance blog run by two pseudonymous founders who post articles under the name "Tyler Durden," after the character from Fight Club. It's essentially apocalypse porn. It has accurately predicted 200 of the last 2 recessions.[citation NOT needed]

Tyler claims to be a "believer in a sweeping conspiracy that casts the alumni of Goldman Sachs as a powerful cabal at the helm of U.S. policy, with the Treasury and the Federal Reserve colluding to preserve the status quo." While this is not an entirely unreasonable statement of the problem,[1] his solution actually mirrors the antagonist in Fight Club: Tyler wants, per Austrian school ideas, to lead a catastrophic market crash in order to destroy banking institutions and bring back "real" free market capitalism.[2]

The site posts nearly indecipherable analyses of multiple seemingly unrelated subjects to point towards a consistent theme of economic collapse any day now. Tyler seems to repeat The Economic Collapse Blog's idea of posting blog articles many times a day and encouraging people to post it as far and wide as humanly possible. Tyler moves away from the format of long lists to write insanely dense volumes[3] filled with (often contradicting) jargon that makes one wonder if the writers even know what the words actually mean.[4] The site first appeared in early 2009, meaning that (given Tyler's habit of taking a *sugar* on each and every positive data point), anyone listening to him from the beginning missed the entire 2009-2014 rally in the equities market.

<snip>

Full article at:
Zero Hedge - RationalWiki

 

[SocalMS]

Full article at:
Zero Hedge - RationalWiki

Some people would say something similar about CNN/MSNBC/New York Times... etc..

 

[jelloslug]

Some people would say something similar about CNN/MSNBC/New York Times... etc..

Yea, OK.

 

[strider]

All media is biased. Be it ZH, NYT, WaPo, etc. You just need to know the slant of what you're reading and consume from a wide variety of sources. The truth will be somewhere in the middle.

ZH definitely has a bearish slant and they regularly seek out and publish bearish articles on everything. They are not Tesla haters by any stretch. They seek the negative in all things

I think the problem w/ the article is that Tesla doesn't follow a traditional car model timeline. Yet the C&D person views them in that lens as that's what they know. As they say, we'll see.

 

[CSFTN]

That's not overhead, that's expansion, and they needed that in order to develop the model 3, expand their product line, and lower their costs.

Isn't the proper term Capex, or capital expenditures?

 

[animorph]

"Tesla added a note in the filing to confirm that those beta prototypes are part of the vehicles “currently” being built in Fremont:"

Tesla confirms production of Model 3 ‘beta prototypes’

"No beta prototypes" was as of 2016 year end. They have built some now, but apparently they must be approved by the board to be official. Doesn't mean they can't use what they have already built to test.

 

[stopcrazypp]

"Tesla added a note in the filing to confirm that those beta prototypes are part of the vehicles “currently” being built in Fremont:"

Tesla confirms production of Model 3 ‘beta prototypes’

"No beta prototypes" was as of 2016 year end. They have built some now, but apparently they must be approved by the board to be official. Doesn't mean they can't use what they have already built to test.

There was another thread on this somewhere, but the gist I get is that this is largely a semantics thing. They are building prototypes, but they are not "beta prototypes" for the purposes of the SEC filing until the board approves the given prototypes as such. So it may be very well that they built the prototypes already that would eventually be considered "beta", just that they have not been labeled as such.

 

[gregincal]

My guess is that there's plenty of profit per car sold.. but the overhead is what's hurting Tesla
a. Building out Supercharger Stations
b. Battery Development
c. Building new factories


Thus the need to go to the public markets and sell stock..

So you just answered the question of how the economics work on a 30K car better than an 80K car. Many more are sold and the increased profits from sales of cars is better able to offset the capital expenditures. Indeed, this expenses are pretty much solely related to ramping up production for the Model S, so they will actually go down as the profit from selling the cars goes up.

 

[SocalMS]

So you just answered the question of how the economics work on a 30K car better than an 80K car. Many more are sold and the increased profits from sales of cars is better able to offset the capital expenditures. Indeed, this expenses are pretty much solely related to ramping up production for the Model S, so they will actually go down as the profit from selling the cars goes up.

Yes, I understand how it works.

I wasn't asking any questions, I was merely quoting the article...

 

[SageBrush]

Wahlman points out, Tesla has not “completed” a Model 3 “beta prototype” as of, well, either of these two dates: December 31, 2016 (the period that the SEC filing covers), or March 1, 2017 (the date on which the document was filed)

Do you really think that the document would reflect happenings at Tesla up to the filing date ?

 

[slipnslider]

Some people would say something similar about CNN/MSNBC/New York Times... etc..

I know the media makes mistakes, but to trust conspiracy blogs instead of respected journalists makes you likely to go do something crazy like electing a sociopathic megalomaniac con man to the presidency.

 

[Snow Drift]

Guys, read the 10K, it is As of December 31, 2016. It does not include any period after.

As of December 31, 2016, the following performance milestones were considered probable of achievement:



•

Successful completion of the Model 3 Beta Prototype;



•

Completion of the first Model 3 Production Vehicle;



•

Aggregate vehicle production of 200,000 vehicles; and



•

Aggregate vehicle production of 300,000 vehicles.

We expect that the next performance milestone to be achieved will be the successful completion of the Model 3 Beta Prototype, which would be achieved upon the determination by our Board of Directors that an eligible prototype has been completed. Candidates for such prototype are among the vehicles that we are currently building as part of our ongoing testing of our Model 3 vehicle design and manufacturing processes.

 

[AlMc]

Guys, read the 10K, it is As of December 31, 2016. It does not include any period after.

@Snow Drift drops the mic and walks off the thread.

 

[N5329K]

There's no Goldman Sachs conspiracy. Lyndon LaRouche would never allow it.
Robin

 

[S'toon]

There's no Goldman Sachs conspiracy. Lyndon LaRouche would never allow it.
Robin