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

[Chunky Jr.]

We need a strong rally into the close, what’s pushing it down?

AAPL has a similar trajectory, so not TSLA specific

 

[EV forever]

Seriously, are you guys just TSLA investors and not car owners? The paint quality on their cars (I've had 3) is worse than KIA.

Certainly no where near the Luxury brands they are trying to compete with (Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, etc.)


EDIT - and yes, paint is the single biggest gripe I have about the cars.

I love my red Model 3. I haven’t found any flaws in over 2 years of ownership. It looks much nicer than the red Honda Clarity FCEV that sits next to it in our garage. Similar price range, purchased within 2 months each other. So no clue what you are referring to here.

 

[Artful Dodger]

We need a strong rally into the close, what’s pushing it down?

The Governor's comments at his press conference. Exact same result as yesterday. Supporting the County's right to make arbitrary, capricious decision (which zero other counties in the state are making). It is a fix.

 

[bkp_duke]

I love my red Model 3. I haven’t found any flaws in over 2 years of ownership. It looks much nicer than the red Honda Clarity FCEV that sits next to it in our garage. Similar price range, purchased within 2 months each other. So no clue what you are referring to here.

Well, I'm 0 for 3. Both our P85s and our Model 3 all had worse paint than the BMW 3 series and Audi's that they replaced.

 

[MP3Mike]

But I have to wonder if most of the issue is Tesla taking shortcuts to maximize volume instead of quality. They already underpaint many visible areas of the vehicle that other manufactures cover very well - look at all the door and trunk hinge areas on a Model 3 and the under-hood paint.

I think what you call "underpaint" is Tesla reducing the amount of paint applied to each car to keep within the emissions limit that California allows while producing as many cars as possible. (This may also be why Tesla doesn't have a solid roof option on the S, 3, or Y, to reduce the amount of paint required per vehicle.) If they painted all the areas that aren't visible from the outside they would have to paint fewer cars. I don't have an issue with this.

Second to that, common Tesla paint issues are dust nibs

This is definitely an issue that they need to improve on. I don't know the root cause, dirty paint shop, bad filtration, poor separation of activities, etc. But it is obvious they have a problem there. And I hope they can, and will, fix it. Especially since the problem then blossoms; their delivery prep people try to fix them and make things worse. (At least in some locations.) This is another area they could improve, pre-delivery prep...

 

[Todd Burch]

The NASDAQ's had 2 big stepdowns this afternoon. This one is about the same size as the other. Doesn't appear to be TSLA-specific.

 

[LN1_Casey]

Which one? I believe there are 3 at this point, two of which were built in the last couple of years.

The one named in the article, the guy who was promoted. I didn't save the name.

In other news, ick;

Elon Musk on Twitter

Just leave it there. Don't further engage.

(Though I do agree with a further comment of Overlord's, is that you can't disagree to simply disagree because of the person who said it. If Trump said, "We need to stop the mistreatment of cats and dogs!" I'd have to agree. I'd be suspicious to his reasoning, but still agree.)

 

[jerry33]

I love Tesla, but a strong argument can be made that the paint is the worst part of the cars . . . and it hasn't improved that much over the past 8 years.

Paint has always been the worst part of any car--or at least the most complained about--going all the way back to the Model T and Stanley Steamer. Even after seven years and 130K miles I got lots of complements on the Model S' paint.

 

[jerry33]

No, it's not. Toyota didn't have that problem when they shared this plant with GM.

I believe the cars that were made there were typically not sold to those who cared all that much about paint quality.

 

[JusRelax]

The one named in the article, the guy who was promoted. I didn't save the name.

In other news, ick;

Elon Musk on Twitter

Just leave it there. Don't further engage.

(Though I do agree with a further comment of Overlord's, is that you can't disagree to simply disagree because of the person who said it. If Trump said, "We need to stop the mistreatment of cats and dogs!" I'd have to agree. I'd be suspicious to his reasoning, but still agree.)

Here's a more elaborate viewing of the thread, and I think Elon is right to keep an open mind... focus on what is said, not who says it:

 

[CyberDutchie]

The Governor's comments at his press conference. Exact same result as yesterday. Supporting the County's right to make arbitrary, capricious decision (which zero other counties in the state are making). It is a fix.

What did the Governor say that erases all of today's gains?

 

[Todd Burch]

OK if we close right near day's open, or slightly red, then I'm going to adopt the opinion that shorties took advantage of the macros to push TSLA down to show no gains for the day. Whatevs. Keep compressing the spring, kids.

 

[Reductionist]

New filing: www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.359281/gov.uscourts.cand.359281.4.0.pdf

Key section:

 

[StealthP3D]

I don't consider myself rehashing but simply providing some balance to the narrative that this was all brilliant Elon 4D chess which executed perfectly as planned.

Well, finished cars are flowing out of the plant as we rehash this. But let's re-hash it from a different, more relevant perspective.

What are the two biggest threats Tesla COVID-19 threatened Tesla with?

1) Impact to production
2) Impact to demand.

Elon just took care of the biggest threat to production, being shut down. He also increased the chances Tesla suppliers would not be on extended shutdown by causing people to look at the COVID-19 response in a new light and giving the conservatives a stronger voice with their local governments to prevent a repeat of the Alameda County disaster.

With regard to demand, no doubt COVID-19 and associated economic hardship has reduced the addressable market somewhat. Tesla has never had a problem selling cars to liberals who could afford new cars but for many conservatives and independents who are wary of environmentalists and liberal government policies encouraging EV's etc. it was a hard sell. And with so many people out of work, Tesla's traditional market has been slightly constricted, right when their production is poised to start breaking all-time records. Elon has now embraced the formerly skeptical and difficult market of conservatives and independents and given them powerful reasons to like him and think of Teslas in a favorable light. They went from thinking Elon Musk lives off the government teat to Elon Musk tells the government to f*ck off! All while simultaneously encouraging governments to let people go back to work instead of holding out for some mythical decline in cases as if they could stop CV simply by telling half the population to not go to work. All of a sudden, right when demand was threatening to become a potential issue for the first time in Tesla's history, Elon doubled the addressable market by bringing formerly recalcitrant potential customers on board and generally encouraging people to get back to productive work.

If that's not 4D chess and killing two birds with one stone, I'm not sure what would qualify? Elon did exactly what he needed to do to get people out of their COVID-19 induced stupor while simultaneously bringing a huge new class of potential customers to the table. Some of them knew they kinda wanted a sleek new Tesla but it just didn't feel right. Elon fixed that.

 

[LN1_Casey]

New filing: www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.359281/gov.uscourts.cand.359281.4.0.pdf

Key section:
View attachment 541121

Wow, the whole thing will likely be moot by the time this case is heard in court. Civilian court is so slow.

 

[larmor]

You're kidding right? Go find the transcript.

Maybe unrelated to what he said and news of LA County going on a shelter in place till July.

 

[Causalien]

Here's a more elaborate viewing of the thread, and I think Elon is right to keep an open mind... focus on what is said, not who says it:

View attachment 541120

Some of the liberals I met, just the fact that you are not bashing trump means you are marked as an enemy. Same reason as the feminists saying you are supporting sexism by not openly bashing patriarchy.

 

[Artful Dodger]

... and we're RED.

 

[jerry33]

Biggest issue with Tesla paint I think is resilience (resistance to wear, chipping, etc.) & not consistency. Resilience would be affected significantly by the chemicals allowed to be used in the mixes.

I don't really get this. I had 1969 cars that got rock chips, orange peel, blobs, etc. when there were nothing like the current regulations. If you want paint perfection, you go to a detailer and get paint correction. People do that with their BMWs and Mercedes all the time. No production line car is going to have flawless paint (perhaps with the exception of the very early Rolls and Bentleys). One thing I have found is that aerodynamic cars get more rock chips than square cars. (I suspect this is because the square cars get the chips on a small area above the grill, while aerodynamic cars get them all over the hood.)

 

[Krugerrand]

The opportunity to put forward a more positive message and not generate as much hostility. Too many here are simply choosing to ignore the damage he has done, damage which I think could have been avoided.

Are you serious? Knowing what you know about how everything he’s ever said, typed or done is constantly taken out of context or twisted. The guy can’t even turn around without being given an enema.

You think saying something that you personally find more appetizing is suddenly going to be met with fairness and all hail, Elon Musk! Get real. This is about how you feel, not other people. At least be honest about that.

I will never be happy when someone is acting in an irrational manner and going down the wrong path. I am taking this in stride but think there needs to be more of a counterpoint about what has happened.

This really isn't about my investment, which I expect to keep increasing.

Wait...what? So you didn’t get upset and sell based on his tweets? And the discussion we had about sliding scale of investment based on Elon’s level of craziness didn’t happen? And the damage you perceive he’s done is worth investing more?

It's about the poor messaging and tactic which Elon chose. Too many people here are simply happy with anything he does, that's never been me and never will be. When I see better ways to achieve a goal I tend to point that out. I don't consider myself rehashing but simply providing some balance to the narrative that this was all brilliant Elon 4D chess which executed perfectly as planned.

Well, dang. Whether the messaging and tactic were poor or he was employing some chess technique the facts remain:

Factory open and making cars
Chance remains to get S&P inclusion
Expansion pedal mashed
Free publicity up the whazoo
SP up

He can streak down main street yelling jeffro01 for president for all I care, because regardless what either of us thinks of his actions he’s clearly doing a lot right.