Short-Term TSLA Price Movements - 2015

[EarlyAdopter]

All is normal in terms of business. The excessive drama from the media is not.

"Cleaning out dead wood", "General housekeeping", etc., happens all the time. Especially after there has been massive recruitments. It's best to get the task done early on, when people are still within probationary periods, when it becomes apparent an employee is not a good fit for the job or employees are otherwise under performing. It is amazing how many inflated resumes are out there.

Usually this housekeeping is done under the guise of a "general layoff" in a more mature company. Good people stay or get transferred, the rest are simply replaced when the right person comes along at the right time. Tesla is simply took advantage of the timing.

Even more importantly, with bad leadership comes bad hires. Tesla had a string of bad executive management in China who demonstrated bad judgment, so no doubt they made a significant number of bad hires. Time for a clean sweep.

The media is using the phrase "layoffs," but I'd bet these were flat out firings for underperformance or cultural fit, and the word layoff is only being used either because of a) translation differences, b) legal reasons (in some countries it's easier to "layoff" employees than "fire" them, even with cause), c) media bias and agenda.

 

[Lump]

A few employees from yesterday's event should expect to be "laid off" Five-year old Kid starts Tesla Model S in a shopping mall in China, hits a baby | CarNewsChina.com - China Auto News

 

[aznt1217]

A few employees from yesterday's event should expect to be "laid off" Five-year old Kid starts Tesla Model S in a shopping mall in China, hits a baby | CarNewsChina.com - China Auto News

I just don't understand how he reached the pedals?

 

[Bobbyducati]

A few employees from yesterday's event should expect to be "laid off" Five-year old Kid starts Tesla Model S in a shopping mall in China, hits a baby | CarNewsChina.com - China Auto News

"The engine was off, but that was not enough to stop a five-year old boy." -_-

 

[anticitizen13.7]

Guys - I agree with you guys it's not a bad thing to clean house, but we can disagree without need for a condescending tone.

Attacks were made towards maoing with regards to his bearish Q4 estimates, but he came out almost spot on. The head-in-the-sand absolute refusal to accept the possibility of negative news is not how we get a balanced, informed discussion.

Negative news and criticism of Tesla is fine with me. I've criticized Tesla plenty for ongoing communication issues, and for the initial range issues with the P85D that persisted for almost 2 months (oddly, the P85D's significant range penalty prior to the torque sleep OTA update never gained any traction in the news, despite the fact that I thought it would be potent ammo for a Bear attack).

I agree that "head in the sand" is not a wise attitude, but neither is "the sky is falling".

 

[jhm]

A few employees from yesterday's event should expect to be "laid off" Five-year old Kid starts Tesla Model S in a shopping mall in China, hits a baby | CarNewsChina.com - China Auto News

Wow, this is really scary. Tesla really needs to have a software safety lock. This could happen at any store or any home where there are small children. Tesla got damn lucky this infant was not seriously hurt or worse. We need a software fix pronto.

 

[Tuxedo]

I just don't understand how he reached the pedals?

Maybe creep mode was turned on?

 

[AlMc]

Wow, this is really scary. Tesla really needs to have a software safety lock. This could happen at any store or any home where there are small children. Tesla got damn lucky this infant was not seriously hurt or worse. We need a software fix pronto.

You could even call it 'valet/safe mode' where you can input on the touch screen '0' speed! Novel idea (Yes, sarcasm....but not directed at anyone....Many of us have been asking for this 'mode' for months...actually now over a year)

 

[eepic]

You could even call it 'valet/safe mode' where you can input on the touch screen '0' speed! Novel idea (Yes, sarcasm....but not directed at anyone....Many of us have been asking for this 'mode' for months...actually now over a year)

Don't they have a gallery mode of some sort? The cars in stores let you play around with all the settings and sunroof but the drivetrain is disabled. Unless it's a special fw version flashed onto those cars, one would think marketing employees can enable that for display cars for this very reason.

 

[mibaro2]

A few employees from yesterday's event should expect to be "laid off" Five-year old Kid starts Tesla Model S in a shopping mall in China, hits a baby | CarNewsChina.com - China Auto News

I thought if you had the charge port open, and j1772 adapter in it (even not charging or connected to a charger), that the car could not be put into drive.

 

[eepic]

I thought if you had the charge port open, and j1772 adapter in it (even not charging or connected to a charger), that the car could not be put into drive.

Or put .167 and turn on range mode (lol, too soon?)

 

[aznt1217]

All eyes on AAPL. Let's see if Tesla is somehow in this

 

[dmckinstry]

A few employees from yesterday's event should expect to be "laid off" Five-year old Kid starts Tesla Model S in a shopping mall in China, hits a baby | CarNewsChina.com - China Auto News

I thought there was a minimum weight required in the driver's seat before the car would move.
Also, the brake pedal has do be pressed before the car can be taken out of park. What's going on here?

 

[eepic]

All eyes on AAPL. Let's see if Tesla is somehow in this

From the Engadget liveblog Live from Apple's 'spring forward' keynote!

Tim Cook mentioned all major auto manufacturers have committed to Carplay, then moved onto healthkit. Not sure if there'll be more about cars.

 

[ecarfan]

I don't believe a 5 year old, on their own, could start a Model S and cause it to move even if the key fob was present. They could not trigger the seat weight sensor (90 lb threshold) and reach the brake pedal so it could be put in gear.

Some key information must be missing from that story.

 

[Johan]

I don't believe a 5 year old, on their own, could start a Model S and cause it to move even if the key fob was present. They could not trigger the seat weight sensor (90 lb threshold) and reach the brake pedal so it could be put in gear.

Some key information must be missing from that story.

Agree!

Yao Ming's 5-year old nephew?

@jhm: that sarcasm...

 

[schonelucht]

I don't believe a 5 year old, on their own, could start a Model S and cause it to move even if the key fob was present. They could not trigger the seat weight sensor (90 lb threshold) and reach the brake pedal so it could be put in gear.

Some key information must be missing from that story.

Father in the driver seat getting an explanation from the sales guy. Kid on his lap playing "Vroom, vroom" looks down sees strange things, crouches to the ground, presses on a few of the pedals, sees a wooden block. Father and sales guy still obliviously yapping away. Kid moves wooden block that prevents him to play with the brake. And the rest is history. Or Tesla didn't brief their Chinese sales personal on how to safely disable a demo car in a mall or Tesla got very lucky this didn't happen in the US (the lawsuit and publicity would be deafening). Whatever the case, they need to get this under control quickly. Not because this issue is relevant, but because the outfall could have become relevant.

 

[MartinAustin]

Either way, it is scary that the Tesla staff were not saying "no children in the drivers's seat!"

Those "Tesla staff" may have sold one or two cars but have done serious damage to the brand.

Assuming this report is true, it's probably a measure of the caliber of staff who were getting hired. (along with those who were advising "it's difficult to charge the car" or whatever that issue was)

The car needs a "gallery mode" as said above. "Gallery Mode - Car Will Not Move" will flash in red on the display, so that no-one is under any illusion that it may move. And you can move the accelerator, brake or gear lever as much as you want, but the car won't move until Gallery Mode is turned off by entering a custom PIN.

 

[JRP3]

Grabbed some more at $190, couldn't resist. Thanks to the FUDaykin waging all out war on TSLA :wink:

 

[ev-enthusiast]

Father in the driver seat getting an explanation from the sales guy. Kid on his lap playing "Vroom, vroom" looks down sees strange things, crouches to the ground, presses on a few of the pedals, sees a wooden block. Father and sales guy still obliviously yapping away. Kid moves wooden block that prevents him to play with the brake. And the rest is history. Or Tesla didn't brief their Chinese sales personal on how to safely disable a demo car in a mall or Tesla got very lucky this didn't happen in the US (the lawsuit and publicity would be deafening). Whatever the case, they need to get this under control quickly. Not because this issue is relevant, but because the outfall could have become relevant.

Thanks for your input schonelucht.
Did you just try the same with your children and your Model S?
Or is this just some random thoughts / fiction?

Because I simply can not imagine that a small child is able to start a Model S.
If I put the Model S in reverse, roll back for parking and lean back too much for looking backwards, parking kicks in every time!
I have to really sit on the seat in order to not activate parking during parking procedure.
No small child could activate seat sensor, braking pedal and gearshift all at once.
Please go and figure out on your own!
Waiting for your feedback.