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

[Krugerrand]

Damaging the brand in the UK, maybe, probably not overall.

It's a relatively small market comparatively and the S/X has a much lower demand than the 3/Y. I just saw that only 11k MS have ever been sold in the UK...that's not worth changing production, it's reality.

Most of the world is LHD and it's an American company. Increasing efficiency and lowering cost is the prime directive for Tesla. It makes sense. Every lhd car company has models they don't make in rhd.

Maybe the UK should have purchased more...if the 11k number is true, that's horrible.

I actually know a number of Brits, most well off and in various walks of life. They’re definitely a different breed of human. That’s neither good nor bad, it’s just true. They think uniquely.

 

[SPadival]

Great news for when Tesla ramps up the Semi production and makes a right hand .. oh.. wait a minute.. never mind !! (*)

Decision to allow wider truck bodies paves way for electrification of big rigs in Australia

Decision to allow wider trucks on Australian roads should pave the way for the electrification of heavy duty transport.

thedriven.io

Rob, give me a h/t if you see this here first

(*) except the jump seat has to be relocated to the left.. unless you want to annoy the driver.

 

[SPadival]

Curious, is the RWD MY just released officially the slowest Tesla at 6.6sec to 60?


View attachment 979173

You North Americans live in a bubble. I have been driving the slowest Tesla in the world for the last 9 months (MY RWD @ 6.9 seconds 0-100kmph)

 

[betstarship]

From everything I read on autos recently -

Overappreciated: Helping avert climate change.
Underappreciated: Features thanks to the "computer on wheels" concept.

Thank you batteries for all that you do.

 

[hooty]

Trying to calculate the exact figures, but BYD + Denza (BYD owned) almost certainly sold more than 435K BEVs in Q3.

 

[M|S|M MYP]

$TSLA has surprisingly held up in this rough market, just refueling the rocket fuel for Q4

 

[Artful Dodger]

Weakness is TSLA continues despite continued growth and inline retooling for cheaper or faster production, in setting of UAW strike who are making tesla killers (/s), new product line to be delivered any day now, and pathway to FSD now clear by getting AI to watch videos of drivers guarding their safety scores...

Ah, but "Weakness is TSLA" is "Relative Strength" in this Market.

With $20B+ in its war chest, Tesla is is fine shape to weather these macro headwinds. It's the mission that counts, and we are winning.

Cheers!

 

[Cosmacelf]

You North Americans live in a bubble. I have been driving the slowest Tesla in the world for the last 9 months (MY RWD @ 6.9 seconds 0-100kmph)

I have a hard time imagining a Tesla that accelerates that slowly. Does it feel like an ICE with comparable times, or slower, faster?

 

[M|S|M MYP]

Ah, but "Weakness is TSLA" is "Relative Strength" in this Market.

With $20B+ in its war chest, Tesla is is fine shape to weather these macro headwinds. It's the mission that counts, and we are winning.

Cheers!

Buy These 3 Stocks for Fortress Balance Sheets

Companies with favorable balance sheet characteristics are better equipped to weather downturns, can pursue growth opportunities, and give peace of mind to investors.

finance.yahoo.com

 

[SPadival]

I have a hard time imagining a Tesla that accelerates that slowly. Does it feel like an ICE with comparable times, or slower, faster?

It is faster. I have to put it in chill mode when my wife is in the passenger seat as it's too fast for her . Other cars at roundabouts sometimes fail to give way because they think I'll take off at an ICE car pace and they can clear. The look of horror on their face when I am half way around the roundabout in a second is priceless.

 

[FastEddieB]

I have a hard time imagining a Tesla that accelerates that slowly. Does it feel like an ICE with comparable times, or slower, faster?

In 2014 we bought a 2011 Ford Flex with EcoBoost (Twin Turbo, 365 hp) mainly to tow our travel trailer.

Car & Driver tested it @ 6.2 seconds 0-60, which always felt fast to me. Until now. I’m driving it while the wife has our M3LR in Longboat Key, FL on vacation. The Flex still has a nice push once the turbos spool up, but NOTHING like the instant torque and acceleration of our Tesla. Actually feels a tad sluggish now to be honest.

I think we’re all just spoiled!

 

[Tony73]

There is a COST to damaging your brand by taking product evangelists and forcing them to buy another brand of car when they upgrade. How is this difficult to understand? You think its a great plan to take the first 1,000 UK owners of Teslas and tell them you cannot be bothered to make that car any more for their country, despite them being the most dedicated early-adopter brand ambassadors...I run two businesses. I would HAPPILY sell my product at cost (or even below it) to the loudest, most vocal supporters of my brand.

And lets be honest, if Tesla could make the RHD model S in 2015, what the hell has happened now to make it so difficult for them to offer the new version?

Oh and also, yeah you can pay $90,000 to buy a car designed to be driven on the wrong side of the road, but 99% of people are not going to ever do that. Imagine if Tesla was british and only selling RHD models in the US... you would be the first to scream at them about how arrogant and dumb that was.

I understand where you are coming from and I get the brand value of having a flagship model. On the surface it certainly seems like an unusual decision but keep in mind that the refreshed S/X are not exactly setting sales records in Europe and Asia. Part of that is the preference for smaller cars in the UK and Japan. I suspect that Tesla got market feedback that they were unlikely to match the previous numbers making it even less worth it.
Tesla opened reservations in RHD markets when they first revealed the new S/X and then canceled over a year later so it seems that they intended to produce the RHD at reveal time in 2021 but changed their minds later.

Edit: To get an idea of the scale of the model S sales collapse in Europe, Norway is at 87 YTD. The Taycan is at 146. So you have completion from 3/Y at the low end and Porsche/MB/BMW at the high end.
The prospect of selling 20-ish cars a quarter in the uk is probably why the RHD was cancelled

 

[Electroman]

You graduated in physics? E = mc^2

Dismissing your condescending tone aside, what I said was, I did not know that a compressed or a wound up spring would weigh more just because it has more potential energy.

 

[dhanson865]

A new face on tesla price targets

12 mo: ~$485 ($1.54T valuation at 70 PE), 2024 net income = ~$22B
2030: ~$6150 ($19.5T valuation at 30 PE), 2030 net income = ~$650B

 

[dhanson865]

New airbag light safety trigger rolling out to the fleet now (to clarify the new part of the behavior is how fast the blinking is, the fact that they blink after airbag deployment isn't new)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1709225468195426405

 

[insaneoctane]

New airbag light safety trigger rolling out to the fleet now (to clarify the new part of the behavior is how fast the blinking is, the fact that they blink after airbag deployment isn't new)

View attachment 979503

https://twitter.com/x/status/1709225468195426405

I honestly feel that Tesla should rapid flash the brake lights anytime the vehicle stops rapidly, ie stops above a threshold like ~0.75 G's or so. Since they're computers on wheels, safety features like that are trivial. Reducing the odds of a rear-end due to a sudden stop by enhanced visibility seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[betstarship]

Starlink mobility on a Cybertruck

https://twitter.com/x/status/1709250917277855881

 

[betstarship]

Well, December 1st 2023 (2 months) is the plan for direct to cellular enablement for t-mobile and SpaceX. No more dead zones.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1708179015154937881

Actual root link: Notify going to License

 

[CorneliusXX]

Yeah I don't even know, but he's just one example I saw on Twitter with a number way out there. Not sure how this shakes out with the massive US deficit and bond issuance along with what's happening around the world. Hedge funds hugely shorting US treasuries, long end of the curve keeps moving up.

Reality is probably somewhere in the middle but the next decade could be very different from the last

Things certainly seem out of kilter. The US is raising immense amounts of government debt and is going to have to finance it at high rates. It's strange that asset prices and employment levels haven't come down as a result given the flow on effects that high rates usually have. Either onshoring must be picking up a lot of economic capacity or there is a time lag before we see the usual impacts of higher rates

 

[Thekiwi]

I understand where you are coming from and I get the brand value of having a flagship model. On the surface it certainly seems like an unusual decision but keep in mind that the refreshed S/X are not exactly setting sales records in Europe and Asia. Part of that is the preference for smaller cars in the UK and Japan. I suspect that Tesla got market feedback that they were unlikely to match the previous numbers making it even less worth it.
Tesla opened reservations in RHD markets when they first revealed the new S/X and then canceled over a year later so it seems that they intended to produce the RHD at reveal time in 2021 but changed their minds later.

Edit: To get an idea of the scale of the model S sales collapse in Europe, Norway is at 87 YTD. The Taycan is at 146. So you have completion from 3/Y at the low end and Porsche/MB/BMW at the high end.
The prospect of selling 20-ish cars a quarter in the uk is probably why the RHD was cancelled

Rivian sold a similar amount of vehicles - 15.5k - in Q3 as Tesla sold S/X units, and at a similar price point ~$80k+.

It should be noted that Rivian is a growing choice at that price point, especially amongst the west & east coast wealthy as of late. Rivian hasnt really expanded much beyond North America yet, so not a stretch to say they outsold Tesla S/X in North America in Q3. Of course Cybertruck will be the better comparison once it starts shipping, and no doubt will outsell Rivian considerably once ramped.