Model S development costs so far?

[doug]

Recent talk of hat eating reminded me of this:

"I will eat my hat if we spend anything close to $700 million on our model-2 car," [Musk] says."
Link: Industry News: Tesla's Elon Musk Pledges to "Eat His Hat" - Jalopnik

Any update on how much the Model S cost to develop?

 

[Norbert]

Recent talk of hat eating reminded me of this:

Any update on how much the Model S cost to develop?

Not sure, but I think at least including the Model X, it came close to that. However, that also includes the additional cost for a manufacturing capacity of 40,000 rather than 20,000 (in two shifts).

 

[ckessel]

The Q4 report off the investor's page shows about $150 million over the previous 9 months. Not sure how to find how much was spent before that since they weren't public then, but 2011 was a pretty high ramp up in R&D so I wouldn't expect it'd be nearly that high. Though the months from the last report to actual shipping is probably pretty high.

 

[daniel]

So how much did they spend developing the S?

 

[vfx]

.... (Now what about that 2008 hat eating pledge? :wink....

It would probably come down to how much was spent on the car and how much was for building a company/factory.

 

[VolkerP]

In 2011, he wrote a two-page article complaining about that :
Why Silicon Valley Won't Be Detroit For Green Carmakers

Thanks Norbert for digging out this one! Had to grin on that recurring pattern:

These days, it takes $1 billion or more to design, engineer, test, certify, and launch a brand-new vehicle. And that takes roughly five years.

And Jalopnik reported Elon's bet to eat a hat if Model S development costs would exceed $700m.

Now can we have Nigel go over the quarter results and check if that bet is won or lost? to extract costs for Model S R&D, acquiring and tooling the factory, work force hiring & training? What else might comprise "Model S cost?"

 

[daniel]

I think it would be fair to exclude the cost of the Freemont factory from the cost of development of the Model S. Developing the car, and putting it into production, are separate items, because the factory will produce many models of cars. JMHO.

 

[Citizen-T]

I think it would be fair to exclude the cost of the Freemont factory from the cost of development of the Model S. Developing the car, and putting it into production, are separate items, because the factory will produce many models of cars. JMHO.

That said, the factory was cheap and might not make a difference.

 

[Mycroft]

I think many of the points of Voelcker's article are true. Tesla is an anomaly because they were able to acquire an entire auto plant in the valley for peanuts. So they are likely to be the last major auto manufacturer in California.

 

[brian45011]

R&D Cost from the SEC filings from 7/1/09 through 3/31/12 total $380 million:
2009 $ 9.4 million
2010 $ 93.0 million
2011 $209.0 million
1Q12 $ 68.4 million

SG&A expenses from 1/1/09 through 3/31/12 total $261.5 million.

The DOE loan was $465 million: roughly $100 million for the Power Train Facility in Palo Alto and $365 million for the Model S Production Facility in Fremont.

I’ll leave it to others to make the allocations between Model S and the other parts of Tesla’s business.

 

[VolkerP]

great first post, thanks brian45011!

while the dates given do not match exactly the development time of Model S, I think it's safe to say that Model S R&D was way below $700m.

 

[SoCalGuy]

How much did Tesla spend to develop the Model S?

Just curious if anyone knows how much Tedla spent developing and commercializing the Model S. I know Fisker spent about $1.2B developing the Karma, Chevy/GM spent $3B developing the Volt and I think Tesla spent $200M developing the Roadster (correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[doug]

Merged with existing thread:

Model S development costs so far?

 

[CroDriver]

Just curious if anyone knows how much Tedla spent developing and commercializing the Model S. I know Fisker spent about $1.2B developing the Karma, Chevy/GM spent $3B developing the Volt and I think Tesla spent $200M developing the Roadster (correct me if I'm wrong).

Hmm... I'll rather not say which budget I had to build a company and car from scratch.

 

[AustinPowers]

Hmm... I'll rather not say which budget I had to build a company and car from scratch.

Why not? Don't be so modest, your car is fantastic. (I would happily buy one - if it wasn't WAY out of my financial league :wink
If you didn't have a billion dollar budget, so much the better.

Thumbs up!

 

[CroDriver]

Why not? Don't be so modest, your car is fantastic. (I would happily buy one - if it wasn't WAY out of my financial league :wink
If you didn't have a billion dollar budget, so much the better.

Thumbs up!

Thanks

Billion? Not even one percent...

Trust me, it where very hard 5 years for me.

 

[Zzzz...]

Hmm... I'll rather not say which budget I had to build a company and car from scratch.

Tesla's accumulated deficit is a $975M so far. This include all earnings and all losses from all programs, Roadster, Toyota, Mercedes, Model S, Model X.

Initial business plan was to spend $20M, get drivetraine from AC Propulsion, get cheap Chinese li-ion cells, and mate that with Lotus glider. Make profits....
But AC Propulsion tech sucked, there was huge problem with transmission, and Tesla had to settle with Panasonic cells. Glider from initial business plan made it, but even it was modified.

 

[William3]

Thanks

Billion? Not even one percent...

Trust me, it where very hard 5 years for me.

The Rimac is a stunning vehicle with amazing performance. You should be very proud. I wish I had the kind of money that would allow me to buy one. Do you think you'll ever sell cars to the United States?