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

[anthonyj]

Any Monday predictions?

Flat until earnings like Q2

 

[Unpilot]

Efficiency is meaningless... until you have to go on a roadtrip, when suddenly it's everything (in the real world where they'll be charging on CCS1 chargers).

But I mean, if Porsche's goal is to build a city car, then sure, efficiency doesn't matter.

They are all...everyone of them.... building city cars. The hope is someone else will do the work required to have enough charging station built out...at some time in the future.

If only one company would build a large number of charging station's...and an efficient car...

 

[Unpilot]

300 today?

 

[shlokavica22]

Flat until earnings like Q2

Big names report next week (AAPL just a day before TSLA), so the macro can be wild as a result.

 

[sundaymorning]

Major Garrett on Twitter



I wonder if this will move markets, including TSLA.

BREAKING NEWS: Congressional leaders, Trump have reached a tentative deal to temporarily reopen the government without wall funds, according to Hill officials.

Twitter

A temporary deal to reopen the government without wall funding.

 

[shootformoon]

I do not know the scale/severity of the service/communication problem and I guess they have a percentage budget based on the car sales revenue/cash flow since it is currently a money losing business. So the solution is simply how to allocate the limited resource within the service department.

Specifically for broken communication. Possible major causes are:
1. understaffed
2. broken/outdated IT platform
3. under trained communication specialists

I am not sure if they actively monitor the stats in terms of average time a customer gets a response, how fast a complaint gets taken care of etc. But an initiative can be taken based on reducing/stabling of these metrics.

I believe even with limited budget, they can still achieve better results. But the growth of the service requests could outpace the implementation of the new resources/methods so there would be some lags. And some posts already claimed some improvement and new methods introduced. So maybe we are over-worried, as investors, not as owners waiting for service.

You're relatively new here, so I'll be gentle. This has been an issue with Tesla since the beginning, and if they've noticed, they've done a woefully inadequate job of actually addressing it. They've promised various levels of improvement over the years, many of them publically by various VPs, all of which have failed to move the needle. It's a deep corporate culture issue and it's not likely to change significantly until Elon Musk feels the pain.



Sometimes the dirty laundry doesn't get cleaned until others start to mention the odor. Better for it to be Tesla's investors/customers bringing it up on a conference call now than for customers to revolt en masse in the future. Frankly, if shorts want to harp on this issue, that's a completely valid thing for them to do.

I'm very long TSLA for nearly 6 years now. That hasn't blinded me to the problem.

 

[Nocturnal]

Efficiency is meaningless... until you have to go on a roadtrip, when suddenly it's everything (in the real world where they'll be charging on CCS1 chargers).

But I mean, if Porsche's goal is to build a city car, then sure, efficiency doesn't matter.

Can I have my M3 efficiency and have somebody respond to my emails in a timely manner?

 

[KarenRei]

Can I have my M3 efficiency

I don't know, did you deliberately choose to ruin your efficiency by choosing an inefficient vehicle configuration? Which will still be far more efficient than a base config of an I-Pace or Taycan driven in the same conditions?

 

[SOULPEDL]

Same with the spoiler and badge debacle. I can't get too upset because I'm basically getting them for free (eventually?) but it's ridiculous how they handled it. I should have received an email before delivery noting the missing items, I should have been told at delivery (I had to ask about it), and since then there has been NO official communication. It's genuinely baffling. It is not hard to send a mass email out to all PUP buyers that says "sorry about the missing stuff, we are working on it. We will update you once a month with an ETA until you receive them".

That is odd, but I think it could be a transforming industry thing - different channels of communication in this gen, perhaps more tribal vs written. People have told me about their delayed spoilers in the past. Question is how did he know? Do people need to connect more online to be in the know, or are they missing critical info through delivery or service channels? This could be tribal is what I'm trying to say and this gen is expecting it. Is Tesla just another App?

I had a concern from the start about training. How many accidents would be caused by new people getting keys to this machine after just a 10 min overview. The videos came later but all very basic. In hindsight, many of the hours that I learned about things over the phone with service could have easily been avoided with better information up front. (I still think people should have a simulator to practice this machine before driving one, but that's also true in general with cars... and yet all is assumed there as well, right?). But Training is a cost without a known ROI. You get a new app and, if designed well, you should just be able to figure it out, right? NOT if you haven't used apps before.

We are in a society that relies on our phones, technology, and the last update just to understand new things. If you try to get something fixed with your phone service (Sprint, and T-Mobile), you'd better know Twitter to connect with an expert in a chat (I just had that experience, no kidding).

Same concern or different? Elon comes from the software side of business, and it's great having those updates and AI. But I do wonder about him balancing cost up front vs cost of service after the fact (along with frustration). Or is he also evolving automotive into this gen and this is the backlash I'm hearing here? Again, is Tesla like just another app? And is this the price to pay for having a $35K BEV and the mission. Maybe.

 

[sundaymorning]

Trump and Congress reach a deal to fund government for three weeks: Sources

 

[Tslynk67]

Damn, hard to keep up with this thread when you don't visit it several times per day - I'm still back on page 360!

Just wanted to say that I offloaded my handful of $NVDA at $160 and re-bought $TSLA with the proceeds at $298,30

These were the 17 $TSLA that I sold at $353 in pre-market back mid-December, I was now able to buy 20, so 3 shares for free!

Of course now I'm wondering why I didn't do with ALL my Tesla shares, I could have had 75 for free instead...

Anyway, a call experiment that was quite successful, but stressful when you're used to buy & hold.

Happy to be all-in $TSLA once again!

 

[Nocturnal]

I do not know the scale/severity of the service/communication problem and I guess they have a percentage budget based on the car sales revenue/cash flow since it is currently a money losing business. So the solution is simply how to allocate the limited resource within the service department.

Specifically for broken communication. Possible major causes are:
1. understaffed
2. broken/outdated IT platform
3. under trained communication specialists

I am not sure if they actively monitor the stats in terms of average time a customer gets a response, how fast a complaint gets taken care of etc. But an initiative can be taken based on reducing/stabling of these metrics.

I believe even with limited budget, they can still achieve better results. But the growth of the service requests could outpace the implementation of the new resources/methods so there would be some lags. And some posts already claimed some improvement and new methods introduced. So maybe we are over-worried, as investors, not as owners waiting for service.

I haven't been worried as an investor, but now I'm starting to a little. How is there not anyone in management that sees these things as problems? It is becoming obvious that Tesla as they are now do not care much about customer communication. It's not like that will kill Tesla, but it will eat into brand loyalty over time.

I don't know, did you deliberately choose to ruin your efficiency by choosing an inefficient vehicle configuration? Which will still be far more efficient than a base config of an I-Pace or Taycan driven in the same conditions?

I'm not following you here.

 

[Zhelko Dimic]

Efficiency is meaningless... until you have to go on a roadtrip, when suddenly it's everything (in the real world where they'll be charging on CCS1 chargers).

But I mean, if Porsche's goal is to build a city car, then sure, efficiency doesn't matter.

I feel you keep bringing your own biases into this discussion.

Taycan doesn't strike me as a road-trip car (That's a min-van in North America
It isn't meant to be first car. It's likely to be 3rd or 4th. Alternative to 911, in some ways more practical (space), in some less (range and track-ability). It may attract some Panamera, and some Macan buyers too.

While I'm not attracted to it, I know bunch of people from Porsche club that would think it's a great "occasional (frequent?) commute, weekend blast on the winding roads" car.

So yeah, a city car.

 

[Nocturnal]

That is odd, but I think it could be a transforming industry thing - different channels of communication in this gen, perhaps more tribal vs written. People have told me about their delayed spoilers in the past. Question is how did he know? Do people need to connect more online to be in the know, or are they missing critical info through delivery or service channels? This could be tribal is what I'm trying to say and this gen is expecting it. Is Tesla just another App?

The problem isn't that not everyone is getting the message, it's that nobody is. Nobody has any real info on the spoilers. Nobody has ever received an email from Tesla apologizing for it, acknowledging it, or mentioning an ETA. SC staff is completely in the dark and so is every other owner I've spoken to. Granted, it's a free spoiler (now) and it's hardly the end of the world. To me though, it is worrying (and frustrating of course).
I've said this before but if BMW had done this to me I would have stuck my foot so far up the Dealer's behind that he could taste my socks. The fact that people aren't is a testament to how much we like our vehicles and Tesla...but why risk that goodwill when a simple email will resolve a majority of the frustration?

 

[omarsultan]

Those would be lies. By contrast, "Retail Investors Complaining About Their Terrible Service Experiences On Tesla Earnings Call" would be true if AWDtsla's question were asked as-is.

The goal of conference call questions isn't to gripe. It's to learn what Tesla's plans are.

True, but it's also an opportunity to control the narrative instead of being victim to it. Best analog is probably back when there were all the issues with noise drive units. Own the issue, explain root cause, detail the fix, follow-up at the next ER with updates, showing positive progress.

 

[Zhelko Dimic]

I haven't been worried as an investor, but now I'm starting to a little. How is there not anyone in management that sees these things as problems? It is becoming obvious that Tesla as they are now do not care much about customer communication. It's not like that will kill Tesla, but it will eat into brand loyalty over time.

You know how we say that it's hard for legacy manufacturers to switch to EV? Well, complexity is mostly in switching skillsets, engineering new processes, training people, procuring new software systems, migrating data, procuring equipment, engineering new supply chains. Cost of robots is probably one of the smallest issues there.

That same situation (to a lesser degree) plays out here in Tesla needing to fix Customer Support. Opposite to what many say here, it is not simple fixing these issues.

I just wish to understand if Tesla decided it's a priority? If they have, they'll fix it. It will take few quarters, but they'll fix it. What keeps me up at nigh is if Elon understands how bad it is, and if he decided it's important?

 

[SOULPEDL]

Back to the market... not following macros again, dipping in the morning for no reason. Figures...

 

[RobStark]

Internet shows gas is $5.57 a gallon in Germany, it’s much more expensive in Europe than the US.

So is electricity. Not directly proportional but expensive.

 

[Buckminster]

Poll: Tesla Service Management

 

[CorneliusXX]

Can someone please let me know when we get to "mainstream buyers"? Because back in the Roadster days, issues with anything were said to be, "Well, early adopters will put up with issues, but when they get to mainstream buyers with the Model S....". Then it was, "Well, S early adopters may put up with issues, but when they want to mass market it to mainstream buyers...." Then it was "Well, S and X owners may put up with issues, but when they want to sell the 3 to mainstream buyers...."

When exactly do we get to these intolerant "mainstream buyers"? Who apparently have never been mad at other manufacturers before?

Nowish it seems