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

[Singuy]

It is 100% ridiculous to tell a current owner they can't drive the X and the Y. I have to drive 4 hours to go test the damn car, and you're telling me I can only test one? Great way to treat a customer that wants to make a potential $100k+ purchase.

Drive 4hrs for a test drive? You should sign up to a local facebook Tesla owners club and just ask if anyone can give you a test drive. You'll find a bunch of people willing.

 

[GatorMeat]

It is utterly ridiculous. That a person couldn’t or wouldn’t call ahead when they were such a distance away as the OP stated and simply prebook a double slot is beyond ridiculous. It’s not 2013 nor 2018 nor are either of those models new to the market, though one is still in a high demand period which could cause a delay in test driving availability.

And because demo vehicles and advisors can still be a limited resource here’s another thought, one could book a single test drive of the vehicle they’re most leaning toward and come back a month or 6 later and book to test drive the other model.

Or one could book a test drive of one vehicle at one location and book the other vehicle at a different location and simply time such test drives when they’re in the area visiting family, friends or when on vacation, or, or, or. Tesla is not going to stop a person from doing those things.

Obviously, if you just show up there may not be a time slot available or the vehicle you want to test drive available. That happens at dealerships too you know, where at some locations vehicles and salesmen can be a limited resource.

Don’t be a dumb human and not think ahead. Don’t be a dumb, arrogant, entitled human and think you’re somehow special and that anyone is going to drop everything and cater to you because you’re spending some money.

I guarantee I could contact the Tesla location in question and manage to get myself a test drive in both vehicles if they were available by being pleasant, reasonable and understanding. Yes, part of being those things would be to compromise if needs be and maybe not getting the test drives exactly at the times I’d most prefer.

What I don’t do is make my first post on a Tesla enthusiast’s forum about how Tesla won’t let me test drive two vehicles and go on about how much money I’m prepared to spend. That person calls me to book an appointment for anything and instantly my schedule is full from now until you know what freezes over.

FYI, Tesla texted me about the X. I told them I'd be traveling and since the nearest test drive location was 4 hours away, could I setup a time next week and drive the X and Y. Where did you conclude that I 'dropped in' and demanded to drive 2 cars, when my complaint is Tesla Sales and Service coverage is severely lacking and too far apart? I can dig up the texts for you since you think I'm lying. I got another text weeks later from sales about 3.99 APR

 

[bkp_duke]

Funny I'm labeled a bear. I said nothing of $TSLA. Just giving my situation of living 2 hours (4-hr round trip) from nearest service and why that's bad for future sales. I owned Lexus for over a decade prior to Tesla, but I had Toyota 20 minutes away for service. Mobile service was only offered to me once when I first purchased in 2018 and the dude showed up in cargo shorts and a t-shirt. My last 2 service trips required me to travel as mobile wasn't able to handle the issue, or isn't available. Who knows with Telsa. I see dozens every day, so I bet many will be upset when they do need service and have to drive 4 hours.

Patience grasshopper. Compare the number of service centers now to 2 years ago.

And Toyota/Lexus has been building their network out for 50 years here in the states.

 

[GatorMeat]

Drive 4hrs for a test drive? You should sign up to a local facebook Tesla owners club and just ask if anyone can give you a test drive. You'll find a bunch of people willing.

I'm definitely not going to ask some stranger if I can test out their car bc the manufacturer doesn't think they have to accomodate a test drive. When I was in Vegas, I was able to test drive a Y when I saw 2 sitting in a parking lot and Tesla did it all remotely. But if you don't live in a big city Tesla doesn't car to make service and sales easy for customers. They rather you go to a FB group and request strangers for test drives. Crazy

 

[GatorMeat]

@GatorMeat
So you are around Tallahassee? or Gainesville?. (up in NWFL) I'm a bit confused looking at a map of Florida and service centers.
mine is off Colonial Blvd in Ft Myers, though I've used it once, when I purchased my MYLR and used the Rockville, Md, once when I had the windshield replaced, (just opened after moving from Gude Drive in Rockville)

If you don't buy one, well, someone else probably will at least for the next few years. It took 10 months from order to receipt for my MYLR which now has >20,000 miles in 364 days

(there is a Florida Tesla users group btw)

could Elon's Twitter interview with Rhonda Santis be stealth advertising? will it affect the SP positively?

I'm in between Pensacola Service and the new Tallahassee Service they just submitted permits for. I bought mine in 2018 when no one here had one, now I see dozens everyday

 

[StarFoxisDown!]

YoY will be fine for Q2 because of Shanghai shutdown last year, but market already knows that.

Q2 may easily be lower EPS than Q1. In fact analysts are currently expecting it to be ~10% lower.

Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) Analyst Ratings, Estimates & Forecasts - Yahoo Finance

See Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) stock analyst estimates, including earnings and revenue, EPS, upgrades and downgrades.

finance.yahoo.com

That is likely because there were more price cuts into Q2 than Q1. You would have to hope COGs somehow goes down even more to counter.

I have no idea on Q3, depends on interest rates.

But please tell me how I'm cherry picking when analysts are currently projecting decreasing profits QoQ, when Q2 from Q1 should cyclically be an increase?

Again, why would you think the market would apply some high PE value to a stock that's currently flat / negative earnings growth?

Because it did for Amazon for nearly 10 years? Hell Amazon's earnings this year and for 2022 are a dumpster fire compared to what they did in 2021 or even 2020 and yet Amazon still has a TTM PE of 277 today.......277.

Because it did for Nvidia over the past 6 months even though Nvidia's earnings were garbage until this latest one?

As for Tesla's Q2 earnings, I guess you conveniently only recall any and every price cut and disregard the price hikes Tesla has made multiple times so far this quarter. But I guess because analyst's say....

 

[jerry33]

I’ve never found a test drive to be valuable unless there are size or other physical considerations.

 

[mongo]

It is 100% ridiculous to tell a current owner they can't drive the X and the Y. I have to drive 4 hours to go test the damn car, and you're telling me I can only test one? Great way to treat a customer that wants to make a potential $100k+ purchase.

...I was supporting you...
"Ridiculous" was the term applied to your statement that Tesla wouldn’t let you test drive two models.

"It was the ridiculous claim that Tesla wouldn’t let the person test drive two different vehicles, an X and a Y, but rather only one of them that I responded to"

I was saying your claim was not ridiculous as we had experienced the same thing.

 

[mongo]

I’ve never found a test drive to be valuable unless there are size or other physical considerations.

/self user name checks out...
I found out I fit better in a two door than a four door version of a past car. However, that can be done in the showroom without driving (really tried to make X seats work years ago). Though, test driving the S really highlighted my forward vision issues, but now I know to check sight lines.

Back to ICE, the test drives also showed that the manual version was great, but the automatic was crap. As regards Tesla, they are all quick, but back to back seems like a reasonable test before getting a P version.

 

[geometro]

Is this the “test drive” forum or the “investor” forum?

 

[TrendTrader007]

Do urself a favor and hit the ignore button on this troll Zaddy Daddy like i did a long time ago.

ignored
talking about PE ratios of a high growth company reflects a high level of ignorance
i could not care less about some lousy outdated backward looking metric like PE ratio when it comes to TSLA
NVDA market cap after hours is approximately $943.75 billion
TSLA market cap after hours is approximately $586.94 billion
that is 60% higher than TSLA market cap
those who think NVDA has larger TAM and more exciting future than TSLA are free to sell TSLA and buy NVDA
personally, i couldn't care less if NVDA goes to $1000 a share and TSLA stays below $200 for next several years
eventually, TSLA CAGR will far outpace NVDA CAGR
just my opinion
not financial advice

 

[nativewolf]

Not just funny but what an amazing image. Wow. Almost makes me want to go to space for a day.

 

[nativewolf]

CapEx for 2023 vs. 2022 is supposed to be ~2B higher.

DETAILS matter.

You are cherry picking, and you know it.

Are you going to be singing praises for Q2 2023 when earnings are a SMASH HIT above last year due to China lockdowns stopping GF Shanghai? Probably not.

A more reasonable metric would be Trailing Twelve Months.

Quoting net income on a company re-investing in itself to build 3 Gigafactories, 2 Megafactories, a massive supercharger network, and deep deep R&D to try to sell your take as a company slowing down is disingenuous. It's a flat out lie.

No it's not a lie just as your points that tesla is making extraordinary investments. However, EM has said he's willing to ride margins to 0 so it is simply silly to not expect profits to fall...perhaps to almost nothing. It will have little to do with the capex but the general macro economic clime. NVIDIA is, I am sure, investing substantially in R&D and buildout. Right now they are focused on a hotter segment and will be rewarded. Tesla is rewarded for forcing the world to move to sustainable transport. Personally I'd rather invest in one vs the other but I'd do so knowing it might not make any money this year. Profits could be a fraction depending on what happens with the economy, Ukraine, China, etc.

So yes he cherry picked a number but he could have cherry picked other numbers, or elon stating he'd cut margins to sell cars.

EDITED- by elon stating he'd cut margins to sell cars he's stating that the measure management is using to determine success is the number of vehicles sold. It's the first good on him I'd give him in a while. It's a war. Marketshare is the measure that I would use too because EVs should go a long time and you only have one chance to convert a customer. Keep the factories wide open. That changes transport. Good on EM

 

[nativewolf]

Drive 4hrs for a test drive? You should sign up to a local facebook Tesla owners club and just ask if anyone can give you a test drive. You'll find a bunch of people willing.

Seriously? Someone wanting a car has to join a facebook user group to get a test drive? this isn't 2012....Tesla is selling to general public here. When I wanted to test drive a lightning I had a choice of 4 dealers within an hour and I am in the countryside.

 

[Blue horseshoe]

Stop with the test drive posts...

 

[Krugerrand]

Funny I'm labeled a bear. I said nothing of $TSLA. Just giving my situation of living 2 hours (4-hr round trip) from nearest service and why that's bad for future sales. I owned Lexus for over a decade prior to Tesla, but I had Toyota 20 minutes away for service. Mobile service was only offered to me once when I first purchased in 2018 and the dude showed up in cargo shorts and a t-shirt. My last 2 service trips required me to travel as mobile wasn't able to handle the issue, or isn't available. Who knows with Telsa. I see dozens every day, so I bet many will be upset when they do need service and have to drive 4 hours.

A) I didn’t label you a bear. Take that up with the appropriate poster.

B) I live over 6 hrs round trip from a Tesla SC. No chance mobile service will ever be offered to me. I make service visits work. Good thing I have a reliable vehicle that doesn’t require much attention.

If I was offered mobile service, I wouldn’t care if the person showed up in their birthday suit or in full drag. Not sure why what your mobile service guy showed up in was worth mentioning.

 

[Krugerrand]

I'm definitely not going to ask some stranger if I can test out their car bc the manufacturer doesn't think they have to accomodate a test drive. When I was in Vegas, I was able to test drive a Y when I saw 2 sitting in a parking lot and Tesla did it all remotely. But if you don't live in a big city Tesla doesn't car to make service and sales easy for customers. They rather you go to a FB group and request strangers for test drives. Crazy

You do realize that literally thousands and thousands and thousands of people NEVER test drove the Tesla they bought. That there was a time ZERO test drives were available.

Now, I understand you need to have one and I understand you’re bent out of shape because Tesla doesn’t act like a 100 year old OEM. Hint: Tesla will NEVER act in that manner no matter how angry you get about it. Buy your next vehicle with that in mind.

 

[GOVA]

It is 100% ridiculous to tell a current owner they can't drive the X and the Y. I have to drive 4 hours to go test the damn car, and you're telling me I can only test one? Great way to treat a customer that wants to make a potential $100k+ purchase.

Lexus will kiss your behind. Go get their X equivalent. You might get a free beverage and massage too. Done.

 

[30seconds]

Bump in Q1 but I’m expecting better factory utilization, increase in S & X sales, decrease in commodity costs and increase in overall units to make up for the price cuts.

 

[Unpilot]

It is 100% ridiculous to tell a current owner they can't drive the X and the Y. I have to drive 4 hours to go test the damn car, and you're telling me I can only test one? Great way to treat a customer that wants to make a potential $100k+ purchase.

Don't buy the car...someone else surely will.

Not a problem for Tesla...and if/ when it becomes one they will change.