Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[VValleyEV]

I don't know how you can call him a fool - if you read the article you would learn that he has had his Model S since 2009.

“... but from what I gathered, the goal is to close the stores and move all sales to online”

Funny thing about this is, the sales have been almost completely on-line, even if you “purchase” at the store. I purchased last Sep at a store, all they did was log into the same site I could have, and they helped me look for an inventory car that met with my requirements. So what is this huge deal-breaking change for a supposedly longtime Tesla owner, savvy fan, and investor? Just doesn’t sound right.

BUT HERE’s the thing: does this mean an end to trade-ins, or can you do that from the website and bring your trade-in to the service center at delivery time like I did? I don’t see that option on the website but maybe it is there after the “buy”. I see no reason why not, in fact most of the trade-in stuff was handled by email/web communications after I left the showroom. If they are still doing trade-ins I would want a trade-in estimate before I committed funds for a deposit on the new car.

 

[SO16]

The difference is that a test drive has zero commitment behind it. Perhaps I am missing something, but even if you turn your car in 7 days, you are probably looking at being locked up for a couple of weeks:
1) Original loan needs to process with the lender once you take delivery
2) Tesla needs to process your return and a) pay off your loan (which means #1 needs to complete first otherwise there is no loan to payoff)
3) It's unclear what happens to your trade-in if you had one. Do they give it back to you? Do they cut you a check for the trade in value? Will they be willing to do that before they have flipped it?
4) All this needs to be reflected with the credit agencies so the loan is cleared off your credit report and you can now apply for a new car loan--unsure what impact, if any, that would all have on your credit score
5) Until all this clears, perhaps you have no car since you traded in the old one and still don't have a new one

Go to a dealer selling a used Tesla for the test drive.

 

[ReflexFunds]

Joe Rogan talking about his Tesla again:

"It doesn’t even make sense. Regular cars are stupid, they’re stupid, they just don’t work as good. That thing is way better than any car I’ve ever driven, and it’s just going to get better. "

"I really did not expect to like it as much as I do. And then once I got it I was like oh ok now I get it."

 

[sparcs]

If Tesla already have two locations available to build the Y, the choice of exact location is not such a rush. I expect Grohmann is already manufacturing some of the longest lead time equipment for the Y line, and Tesla has likely put in orders for other manufacturing equipment such as Fanuc/Kuka robots. Where they send it to can be finalised later.

Perhaps the pace of construction in China is what allows Fremont to become an option for production. A gigafactory in Europe might also help to lower demands at Fremont and make room for Model Y.

Will be interesting to see how Tesla makes this puzzle fit.

 

[SO16]

I don't know how you can call him a fool - if you read the article you would learn that he has had his Model S since 2009.

Those two items are unrelated.

 

[MP3Mike]

So on ur next trip, stop at the Supercharger on your way home, or wherever you're planning to stop for the night. The bty is up to temp after about 30 miles on the Interstate, certainly after an hour of driving.

Actually the Model 3 is so efficient that people are reporting that it takes at least 2 hours of freeway driving to get the pack up to full Supercharging temperature. (And that may be after preheating the car.)

 

[scaesare]

The second car is guaranteed a minimum draw, something like 24kW or 30kW, so yeah, if you are humming along at 120kW and someone plugs into the other charger, you'll take a bit of a hit.

I've always wondered if the V2 145kW charger cabinet rating, yet individual car draw limiting to 120kW was to accommodate this, but I've never seen anything that indicates if that's the case.

 

[SO16]

Well, thus guy is going to be buried in his Z06! In his defense, it is a beautiful car. And, he really does get my excitement about my Tesla. Just different strokes for different folks.

Dan

I was a big corvette fan. Key word....”was”.

Now if I want the same experience with my Tesla, I just get someone to scream in my ear while driving. Fun and funny for a bit. Then it gets old.

 

[Chocochip]

As noted here.

I voted this Informative because it is and I can only vote once.

But what's possibly even more important is how transformative the test drive experience was for Rogan, and probably for most people who drive a Tesla for the first time. I wouldn't know, I don't own the car and never took a test drive - and now I probably won't have the chance until, you know, I actually buy my own. But it's the story that I hear again and again and again... and I guess most people on this thread treat this as common knowledge (yeah, you give someone a test drive, you blow their minds, they're hooked, they start with the questions, blah-blah...), but this is KEY to the company's success!

So I really hope that, long term, Tesla will come up with some way of allowing potential customers to get to drive the car before they are required to make a substantial financial commitment. As an investor, I'd rather have 10 people who got hooked on a test drive and, even if they don't have the money to buy one right now, the experience stays with them and some of them end up overextending financially for a Tesla, rather than one customer who bought the car without a test drive and is left even slightly disappointed by any part of the experience.

 

[Dan Detweiler]

“... but from what I gathered, the goal is to close the stores and move all sales to online”

Funny thing about this is, the sales have been almost completely on-line, even if you “purchase” at the store. I purchased last Sep at a store, all they did was log into the same site I could have, and they helped me look for an inventory car that met with my requirements. So what is this huge deal-breaking change for a supposedly longtime Tesla owner, savvy fan, and investor? Just doesn’t sound right.

BUT HERE’s the thing: does this mean an end to trade-ins, or can you do that from the website and bring your trade-in to the service center at delivery time like I did? I don’t see that option on the website but maybe it is there after the “buy”. I see no reason why not, in fact most of the trade-in stuff was handled by email/web communications after I left the showroom. If they are still doing trade-ins I would want a trade-in estimate before I committed funds for a deposit on the new car.

When I got my 3 in October I ordered online. Never went to a showroom. In the process of filling out all the paperwork there were options for trade ins. Take some pictures. Submit with paperwork (all done online). Need financing? That's online too. Take delivery at a service center, drop off the trade in. Wham Bam thank you Mam. Couldn't be easier.

Dan

 

[Zaxxon]

I've been meaning to raise it with Tesla, but apparently I'll need to have exact times for everything and up to now I haven't been tracking it that closely. So on the next trip I'll log things and submit to them.

Your Tesla Account page's History section should have a detailed list of your Supercharging history, down to the minute.

 

[copyhacker]

Go to a dealer selling a used Tesla for the test drive.

I did exactly this. Went to a local Chevy dealer for some Volt service, saw they were selling a used Model X, asked if I could take it home for a couple of days. Best test drive ever.

 

[bramsvs]

Ihors tweeting, Ihor Dusaniwsky on Twitter:

$TSLA short interest is $7.41 bn; 26.81 mm shares shorted; 21.18% of float; 0.30% stock borrow fee. #Tesla short sellers have gotten out of neutral after a quiet Feb. & early March. Shares shorted are up 1.12 million shares this week, +4.35% as #TSLA's stock price fell 11.8%​

 

[Remus]

There is also the alpha male thing that is a deeply embedded thing. Making the most noise is one factor in establishing an alpha position in a group. More importantly, an individual that perhaps couldn’t outperform on the basis of strength alone, finds an object or objects to amplify their ability to display dominate behavior by using it to make loud noise in an attempt to intimidate.

Chimps and Gorillas display the strategy by using cans and other objects that they bang together to make a lot of noise.

I am louder than you is a basic basic primate display, just no with an ICE or Harley.

And yea some folks can’t give it up. Hardcore wiring is tough to beat. When talking with someone who feels this way, I differentiate between your daily driver vs your passion/ hobby/ entertainment.

Fire Away!

Just need to be smoked by a silent Tesla couple of times...

 

[capster]

There's been some evidence recently of this accumulation occurring. It's embedded in the ratio of institutional holdings vs retail investors over the past 2 quarters. Of course the data release pace is diliberately slow (the most recent 13F filings) which delays info about changes in their holdings.

NASDAQ hosts a page:

Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) - Increased Positions by Institutional Holders

I'm no expert in high finance. Please let me know your interpretation of this data. Thanks!

Cheers!

My interpretation is that it undercounts institutional shareholders.

When my shares reach their potential in a number of years, I’ll be an institution!

 

[anthonyj]

Ihor Dusaniwsky on Twitter

Updated short interest

 

[KarenRei]

Ihors tweeting, Ihor Dusaniwsky on Twitter:

$TSLA short interest is $7.41 bn; 26.81 mm shares shorted; 21.18% of float; 0.30% stock borrow fee. #Tesla short sellers have gotten out of neutral after a quiet Feb. & early March. Shares shorted are up 1.12 million shares this week, +4.35% as #TSLA's stock price fell 11.8%​

 

[MP3Mike]

Ihors tweeting, Ihor Dusaniwsky on Twitter:

$TSLA short interest is $7.41 bn; 26.81 mm shares shorted; 21.18% of float; 0.30% stock borrow fee. #Tesla short sellers have gotten out of neutral after a quiet Feb. & early March. Shares shorted are up 1.12 million shares this week, +4.35% as #TSLA's stock price fell 11.8%​

Hasn't he been saying that there has been no TSLA shorting all week? How do they add 1.12 million shares to the short position if they haven't been shorting?

• 3/1: "#Tesla Down 7% on Long Selling Not Short Selling. $TSLA short interest is $8.22 billion; 25.69 million shares shorted;"
• 3/5: "$TSLA short interest is $7.31 billion; 25.62 million shares shorted; 20.24% of float; 0.30% stock borrow fee. #Tesla shares shorted are basically flat for the year, up only 47k,"
• 3/6: "What $TSLA short covering ???? #Tesla shares shorted are actually up by 47k year-to-date (virtually flat), the short side is not pushing the stock price up or down in 2019"
• 3/7: "$TSLA short interest is $7.41 bn; 26.81 mm shares shorted; 21.18% of float; 0.30% stock borrow fee. #Tesla short sellers have gotten out of neutral after a quiet Feb. & early March. Shares shorted are up 1.12 million shares this week,"

Sadly I don't think I can trust his data anymore. Either he has been wrong all week, he has been lying, or he is misrepresenting things. If yesterday shorted shares were only up 47k this year, and today they are up 1.12 million shares, that is major shorting yesterday, not this week.

 

[capster]

Oh don't worry, SA has got you covered there:

View attachment 383843


1) "Many believe there is falling demand"
2) "It's unlikely to happen in time"
3) "Even though the SUV market is larger, this can't possibly save TSLA from bankwupcy"


And did I say that they'll point to the reduced US deliveries as a sign of flagging demand? It's right there on page 2.

"The drop in US deliveries can be explained in part by the diversion of Model 3s to the European and Chinese markets, but that does little to explain the collapse of Tesla’s high-end products."

I'm sorry, what? Oh and also, there's now a "steep decline" in deliveries of the Model 3 in Europe as well.

Of course there is.

SA’s "Looks like desperation" looks like projection to me. Psychological projection - Wikipedia

 

[Curt Renz]