Stanphyl Capital letter for the month of December 2018 discussing their short position in Tesla stock and the all-electric SUV competition that may hurt Tesla’s sales.
We remain short stock and call options in Tesla, Inc. (TSLA), which I consider to be the biggest single stock bubble in this whole bubble market. The three core points of our Tesla short position are:
1) Tesla has no “moat” of any kind; i.e., nothing meaningfully or sustainably proprietary.
2) Tesla will again soon be losing a lot of money and has a terrible balance sheet despite relatively light competition, but will soon be confronted with massive competition in every aspect of its business.
3) Elon Musk is extremely untrustworthy.
Q3 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc
For several years now (in hindsight, several too many!) I’ve been arguing that TSLA bulls are confusing “luxury electric car loyalty” for “Tesla loyalty,” and that once superior European alternatives are available Tesla drivers will flock to them. Among those relatively near-term alternatives (out in late 2019) is the Porsche Taycan, and according to Porsche’s surveys guess who’s most interested in buying it? Yes, Tesla drivers. After its U.S. tax credit price advantage over Tesla (whose credits will be gone at the end of 2019), the stunning, Autobahn and Nürburgring-tested Taycan will cost just a few thousand dollars more than a base Tesla Model S and, among innumerable other advantages, will charge 2 ½ times as quickly. Hmm, Tesla or Porsche… Not a tough choice!
The Taycan is just part of an onslaught of luxury EV competition about to rip the face off sales of Tesla’s most profitable models, the S & X, and this month came the first reviews (ahead of late-December European and April U.S. availability) of the Audi e-tron, an all-electric SUV with a bit over 200 miles of range vs. the 237-mile base Model X but with a much nicer interior and a price that’s over $9000 lower than the Tesla’s before the Audi’s $1875 to $7500 tax credit advantage. The Audi received solid reviews (here, here, here and here), and three more electric Audis will follow the e-tron: the Sportback in late-2019 and, in 2020, the spectacular e-tron GT that recently debuted at the L.A. Auto show, as well as a small electric crossover.
Meanwhile, available immediately is the new Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover (which received fabulous reviews, handily beating Tesla in comparison test after comparison test) and is $14,000 less than the Model X and $8000 less than the Model S, gaps that (as with the Audi) widen by an additional $3750 when Tesla’s tax credits begin phasing out this week and escalate to $7500 in January 2020. I’ve driven the Jaguar and can assure you that no objective person will say it isn’t much nicer than any Tesla.
The Mercedes EQC all-electric SUV will be available in Europe in mid-2019 and in the U.S. in early 2020, with an EPA range nearly equal to that of the base Tesla Model X (an estimated 225 miles vs. 237 for the Tesla) at a cost that’s approximately $26,000 less, as the Mercedes will probably sticker at around $65,000 and get a full $7500 tax credit while the Model X starts at $84,000 and will get no tax credit when the Mercedes arrives. And by 2022 Mercedes will have ten fully electric models, covering nearly all its model lines.
And let’s not count out BMW; here’s a fascinating interview with their head EV powertrain engineer.
Less expensive and available in early 2019 are the excellent new all-electric Hyundai Kona and Kia Nero, extremely well reviewed small crossovers with an EPA range of 258 miles for the Hyundai and 238 miles for the Kia, at prices of under $30,000 including the $7500 U.S. tax credit. I expect these cars to have an immediate and severely negative impact on sales of Tesla’s Model 3 and a future severely negative impact on Tesla’s so-far unseen Model Y small crossover (assuming, of course, the latter makes it to market before Tesla declares bankruptcy).
In October Tesla reported the best quarter it will ever have (a GAAP profit of $312 million), and in 2019 it shall return to its money-losing ways. My October and November letters explain why Tesla’s 2019 GAAP loss will be at least in the hundreds of millions of dollars and perhaps over a billion dollars; rather than repeating that analysis here, please email me if you haven’t seen it and I’ll send you those letters. And to kick off Tesla’s awful 2019, here’s a great explanation as to why Q4 2018 (the one we’re in now) will be worse than Q3, and here’s a great take on how really bad Q1 2019 will be.
But lest you believe Q3 really did mark a significant and lasting turnaround for Tesla, keep in mind that no group has a better grasp of a company’s prospects than its executives, yet their massive exodus continues with the steady departure of multiple key accounting, production, and engineering people including, in December, the replacement of Tesla’s General Counsel with a prominent securities fraud criminal defense attorney. (Read into that what you will!) Rather than listing the never-ending stream of executive departures here, please use this link to see the astounding full list. Many of these people left millions of dollars in unvested stock on the table, and one must ask why. Do they assume that stock will wind up worthless? Were they asked to do things they were “uncomfortable” doing? Or is Elon Musk just so difficult to work for that it isn’t worth the millions of dollars they left behind? None of the answers to those questions are favorable to Tesla. While a couple of low-level whistleblowers have come forward publicly to report on internal dirty deeds at Tesla, with that many high-level departures I have no doubt that myriad more significant whistleblowers are doing the same.
Perhaps the most important ongoing Tesla story is the evaporation of North American Model 3 backlog. For proof, here’s a shot of Tesla’s web site from today, December 31st (!) showing immediate availability…
…and a desperate tweet from Fraud-Boy himself on the 31st, carnival barking like a late-night infomercial salesman…
…and finally from the 31st came this story from one of the Tesla shill-blogs…
I’ll take “the over” on that “over 3000”!
Many people argue that “truly massive” Model 3 demand will be unleashed if Tesla offers a shorter-range, lower-priced version in 2019; here’s why I think that’s wrong: first, I can’t see any way that a short range (approximately 220-mile) base car can be priced at less than $40,000 (including Tesla’s $1200 delivery charge) vs. Tesla’s original promise of $35,000 (a price which has now been scrubbed from Tesla’s web site). After all, the unoptioned long-range rear-wheel-drive base car (recently discontinued) with an 80 kWh battery sold for $50,000 (including the delivery charge) and probably cost Tesla around $45,000 to build and sell. If Tesla cuts that battery size by 1/3 it will only save around $5000, so just to break even it would have to price the shorter-range car at around $40,000 (before options). Now let’s put that in perspective…
Tesla recently sat with piles of unwanted long-range (310 mile) rear-wheel drive Model 3 inventory at a net customer base price of $42,500 ($50,000 minus a $7500 tax credit); in fact, after it ran through over two years of order backlog in Q3, demand became so low for that model that Tesla eliminated it completely, mandating the purchase of all-wheel drive with the largest Model 3 battery pack. So if a small-battery Model 3 with 90 fewer miles of range will cost $40,000 (my estimate) and only come with an $1875 credit beginning in July (and no credit at all beginning January 2020), why would there be door-busting demand for a $38,175 ($40,000 in January 2020) 220-mile car when there was a glut of 310-mile cars at $42,500? When financing a car, who wouldn’t pay an extra few thousand dollars for an extra 90 miles of electric range? And yet Tesla’s North American backlog of those buyers is gone. The real mass-market Model 3 demand was for a $35,000 car with a $7500 tax credit—a fictional product that Musk lied about to do massive capital raises in 2016 and 2017.
Meanwhile, the Model 3 continues to reveal itself to be a complete lemon (one that’s particularly disastrous in the winter), with the latest survey from True Delta ranking it dead last among all available vehicles. And in September British magazine What Car? ranked overall Tesla reliability so low that it’s in “a league” of its own. And speaking of lemons, although the latest Consumer Reports survey doesn’t have enough Model 3 data to provide a reliability estimate other than “average,” it downgrades the Model S to “worse than average” and thus “unacceptable” while the Model X is once again rated “much worse than average” and makes the “coveted” “10 Least Reliable Cars” list.
Also in December, Tesla appointed two new SEC-mandated “independent” directors to its board, neither of whom know anything about manufacturing or distributing cars and both of whom (you can’t make this stuff up!) had major Theranos involvement, either personally (Larry Ellison) or corporately (Walgreen’s, from which Kathleen Thompson hails). And one of these “independent” directors (Ellison) was recently quoted as saying “I am very close friends to Elon Musk and I am a very big investor in Tesla.” That’s some real independence right there! “Zero Hedge” wrote a perfect summary of this debacle as did my friend Anton Wahlman.
Also in December, Musk made a hilariously defiant (of the SEC) appearance on “60 Minutes”; here’s a great summary, Tesla’s “China factory” that was allegedly going to be producing cars in 2019 was revealed to be nothing more than dirt, and the Wall Street Journal broke a story about how Musk diverted SpaceX funds into his dumb-ass tunnel company without telling SpaceX investors. (Hello jail!) And if you’re getting bored with my monthly “short case for Tesla” letters, here’s a terrific ten-point argument from Credit Bubble Stocks. And finally, Tesla is increasingly besieged by a wide variety of lawsuits for securities fraud, labor discrimination, worker safety, union-busting, sudden acceleration and lemon law violations, and new ones appear on a regular basis. In fact, one could even argue that Tesla is a criminal enterprise.
Meanwhile Tesla continues to downsize its SolarCity division while a civil securities fraud case accusing Musk of using Tesla to bail out his (and his family’s) interests there proceeds; Zero Hedge included an excellent summary of the suit by Twitter user @TeslaCharts in this story about SolarCity’s latest retrenchment which will undoubtedly help fuel that fraud case, as will this later story describing how Tesla sales people have no idea when the solar tiles or PowerWalls used to justify that merger will ever be available. (Remember that when Musk was promoting that merger he used fake solar tiles on a fake house at a movie studio… How appropriate!)
So here is Tesla’s competition in cars (note: these links are continually updated)…
THE NEW ALL-ELECTRIC JAGUAR I‑PACE
2019 Jaguar XJ to be reborn as high-tech electric flagship
Audi e-tron electric SUV is available early 2019
Audi e-tron Sportback comes late 2019
AUDI E-TRON GT FIRST DRIVE: LOOK OUT, TESLA (available 2020)
Smaller Audi electric SUV coming in 2020
Mercedes unveils the 2019 EQC Electric SUV
Mercedes to launch 10 all-electric models by 2022
The 2019 Porsche Electric Taycan
Porsche Electric Mission E Cross Turismo goes into series production
Porsche Aims At Tesla Again With An Electric SUV, Taycan Targa and Possible Boxster EV
258-Mile Hyundai Kona electric arrives early 2019 for under $40,000
240-Mile Kia Niro EV Arrives January 2019 at Under $40,000
The 2020 Kia Soul EV Is More Powerful Than Before and Has 260-mile Range
Kia Europe to have six pure electric models by 2022
Chevrolet Bolt Offers 238 Miles On A Single Charge For $37,495
GM to introduce 3 more electric cars before 2020, battery cells at <$100/kWh
VW to spend $50.2 billion on electric, autonomous vehicles by 2023
Here’s how Volkswagen plans to turn itself into the world’s largest EV maker
VW Is Planning $21,000 Subcompact E-Car to Challenge Tesla
220-mile Nissan Leaf reportedly coming in 2019 for $35,000
Nissan Leaf-based SUV coming in 2020
Volvo Polestar 2: 350-mile range, £30,000 starting price
Volvo To Start Selling Electric Trucks In 2019, Some Will Hit The Road This Year
BMW iX3 electric crossover goes on sale in 2020
BMW i4 confirmed for production in 2021 with 435-mile range
BMW to have 25 electrified models by 2025
Ford plans $11 billion investment, 40 electric vehicles by 2022
Toyota, Mazda, Denso create company to roll out electric cars beginning 2019
Toyota to market over 10 battery EV models in early 2020s
Renault aims to remain EV leader in Europe
Infiniti will go mostly electric by 2021
DS 3 Crossback will give PSA’s upscale brand an electric boost
ALL-ELECTRIC MINI COOPER COMING IN 2019
Smart Will Electrify Its Entire Line-up By 2020
SEAT’s first electric car is due in 2020
Opel/Vauxhall will launch electric SUV and van in 2020
2019 Skoda e-Citigo confirmed as brand’s first all-electric model
Skoda planning range of hot all-electric eRS models
New Citroen C4 Cactus to be first electrified Citroen in 2020
MG E-Motion confirms new EV sports car on the way by 2020
Fiat Chrysler bets on electrification for Alfa, Jeep and Maserati
Maserati offering three fully electric cars between 2020 and 2022
Rolls-Royce is preparing electric Phantom for 2022
Honda will offer full-EV or hybrid tech on every European model by 2025
Bentley mulls electric car to help reduce carbon footprint
Subaru to introduce all-electric vehicles by 2021
Ssangyong e-SIV concept previews 2020 EV
Dyson Moves Ahead on $2.6 Billion Electric Car Plan
Lucid Motors closes $1 billion deal with Saudi Arabia to fund electric car production
Borgward BXi7 Electric SUV Flies Under The Radar
Rivian launches all-electric 7-seat SUV with over 410 miles of range
Rivian Automotive’s electric pickup breaks cover
Detroit Electric promises 3 cars in 3 years
SF Motors reveals two electric SUVs for 2019 with 300 miles of range
Two new electric cars from Mahindra in India by 2019; Global Tesla rival e-car soon
Saab asset owner NEVS plans electric car production
EVelozcity Raises $1 billion For EV Startup
And in China…
BYD Presents All-Electric SUV With 600km Range, 0-100km/h in 4.4 secs @ $37k-$52K
Daimler & BYD launch new DENZA electric vehicle for the Chinese market
BAIC and Daimler to Build $1.9 Billion China Plant
BAIC brings EX5 Electric SUV to market
Daimler to Start EQC Electric SUV Production in China in 2019
Volkswagen makes €15bn bet on electric cars in China
Volkswagen Group China’s mega-factory in Foshan will strengthen e-mobility strategy in China
VW signs deals for EVs, autonomous driving in China
Audi to launch 7 new energy vehicle models in China by 2020
GM China raises new-energy vehicle target to 20 models through 2023
Nissan & Dongfeng to invest $9.5 billion in China to boost electric vehicles
Toyota to Introduce 10 New Electrified Vehicles in China by 2020
Infiniti bringing EVs to China’s luxury car market
NIOS ES8 Electric Crossover debuts with half the Tesla Model X’s price tag
536 HP Nio ES6 Midsize Electric SUV Launches With 317-Mile Range (at 1/2 the price of Tesla X
BMW will develop and produce electric Mini in China
Ford ramps up electric vehicle push in China
Jaguar Land Rover’s Chinese arm invests £800m in EV production
SAIC building factory in China for EVs from Roewe and MG
Renault and Brilliance Automotive to build 3 new electric light commercial vehicles for China
Honda launches new all-electric Everus VE-1 for ~$25,000 in China
Changan building large scale NEV factory
Mazda and Changan Auto join hands on electric vehicles
XPeng kicks-off sales of Tesla-infused EV for €30,000
WM Motors/Weltmeister EX5 Electric SUV Launched On The Chinese Car Market
Geely invests $5 billion into new electric car factory in China
Chery Breaks Ground on $240M EV Factory in China
Chery’s second EV plant open in Dezhou
DearCC Launches ENOVATE Electric SUV
GAC Trumpchi to launch range-extended EVs
Guangzhou Auto To Launch Four New Electric Cars By 2020
Chinese carmaker Byton unveils its fully autonomous rival to Tesla’s electric sedans
Chinese-backed electric car start-up Byton woos CES with model 40% cheaper than a Tesla
Great Wall Launches New EV Brand (ORA) In China
Singulato iS6 Electric SUV Debuts With 249-Mile Range
Singulato, BAIC partner to promote smart new energy vehicles
Hongqi’s first all-electric SUV E-HS3 put into volume production
FAW (Hongqi) to roll out 15 electric models by 2025
JAC’s Electric Car Has A Range Of 500 Kilometers
ICONIQ to build electric cars in Zhaoqing with total investment of RMB 16 billion
Quianu Motor aims to grab share of US electric vehicle market
Hozon Kicks Off Mass Production With All-Electric Neta N01
Aiways to develops 25,000 euro e-SUV
All-electric NEVS 9-3 sedans (nee Saab) being built in China
Youxia Motors raises $1.25 billion to start 2019 EV production
CHJ Automotive buys Lifan for shortcut to EV production
Wanxiang Gets China Electric Vehicle Permit to Make Karma Cars
Qoros Auto’s new owner plans to be an EV power
JMC (Jianling Motor Corp.) Starts New EV Brand In China
Thunder Power Chinese EV manufacturer clinches deal with Belgian investment fund
Leapmotor raises RMB2.5 billion for Series A round to build electric cars
Continental, Didi sign deal on developing EVs for China
Here’s Tesla’s competition in autonomous driving…
Tesla Ranks Last for Automated Driving
What Smart Tesla fans Get Wrong about Full Self-Driving
A Tesla self-driving blind spot that few are focusing on
Waymo Starts First Driverless Car Service
Jaguar and Waymo announce an electric, fully autonomous car
Waymo Expands Chrysler Self-Driving Fleet 100-Fold to 62,000
Uber, Waymo in talks about self-driving partnership
Lyft and Waymo Reach Deal to Collaborate on Self-Driving Cars
Cadillac Super Cruise™ Sets the Standard for Hands-Free Highway Driving
GM ride-hailing fleet would ditch steering wheel, pedals in 2019
Honda Joins with Cruise and General Motors to Build New Autonomous Vehicle
SoftBank Vision Fund to Invest $2.25 Billion in GM Cruise
An Overview of Audi Piloted Driving
Mercedes plans advanced self-driving tech for next S class
Nvidia to test fleet of robotaxis in 2019 with Daimler, Bosch
NVIDIA and Toyota Collaborate to Accelerate Market Introduction of Autonomous Cars
Volkswagen and NVIDIA to Infuse AI into Future Vehicle Lineup
Volvo, Nvidia expand autonomous driving collaboration
Continental & NVIDIA Partner to Enable Production of Artificial Intelligence Self-Driving Cars
Bosch and Daimler join forces to market fully automated, driverless taxis by 2020
Intel’s Mobileye will have 2 million cars (VW, BMW & Nissan) on roads building HD maps in 2018
Volkswagen Group and Aurora Innovation Announce Strategic Collaboration On Self-Driving Cars
Toyota Adds $2.8 Billion to Software Push for Self-Driving Cars
Toyota, SoftBank in first-ever alliance, target self-driving car services
Toyota Invests $500 Million in Uber to Get Self-Driving Cars on the Road
Nissan and Mobileye to generate, share, and utilize vision data for crowdsourced mapping
Magna joins the BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye platform as an Integrator for AVs
Intel collaborates with Waymo on self-driving compute design
Fiat Chrysler to Join BMW, Intel and Mobileye in Developing Autonomous Driving Platform
Ford-Backed Driverless-Car Startup Argo AI Lures Talent
Ford to invest $4 billion in new self-driving vehicle unit
Ford, Baidu to start self-driving road tests in China
Baidu unveils autonomous driving platform backed by 90 global partners
Baidu plans to mass produce Level 4 self-driving cars with BAIC by 2021
Daimler and Baidu to Enhance Strategic Cooperation in Automated Driving
Volvo, Baidu to co-develop EVs with Level 4 autonomy for China
VW taps Baidu’s Apollo platform to develop self-driving cars in China
Lyft, Aptiv (formerly Delphi) partner on driverless ride-hailing at 2018 CES in Vegas
Lyft, Magna in Deal to Develop Hardware, Software for Self-Driving Cars
Hyundai, Aurora to release autonomous cars by 2021
Deutsche Post to Deploy Test Fleet Of Fully Autonomous Delivery Trucks This Year
Byton cooperating with Aurora on autonomous vehicles
ZF plans $14 billion autonomous vehicle push
Magna’s new MAX4 self-driving platform offers autonomy up to Level 4
Bosch Creates a Map That Uses Radar Signals for Automated Driving
Groupe PSA’s safe and intuitive autonomous car tested by the general public
Tencent, Changan Auto Announce Autonomous-Vehicle Joint Venture
JD.com Delivers on Self-Driving Electric Trucks
NAVYA Unveils First Fully Autonomous Taxi
Fujitsu and HERE to partner on advanced mobility services and autonomous driving
Lucid Chooses Mobileye as Partner for Autonomous Vehicle Technology
First Look Inside Zoox’s Autonomous Taxi
Apple Is Focusing on Making an Autonomous Car System
Samsung, Harman gear up for self-driving automobiles
Mitsubishi Electric Develops Automated Mapping For Autonomous Driving
Hitachi demonstrates vehicle with 11-function autonomous driving ECU
DENSO and NEC Collaborate on Automated Driving and Manufacturing
Nuro’s Robot Delivery Vans Are Arriving Before Self-Driving Cars
Here’s Tesla’s competition in car batteries…
LG Chem targets electric car battery sales of $6.3 billion in 2020
LG Chem to build $1.8 bln EV battery plant in China
Samsung SDI Unveils Innovative Battery Products at 2018 Detroit Motor Show
SK Innovation to boost EV battery production capacity more than tenfold by 2022
New Toshiba EV Battery Allows 320km Charge in 6 Minutes
Daimler starts building electric car batteries in Tuscaloosa – one of 8 battery factories
Panasonic Opens New Automotive Lithium-Ion Battery Factory in Dalian, China
Panasonic forms battery partnership with Toyota
CATL’s Chinese battery factory will be bigger than Tesla’s Gigafactory
CATL to set up battery cell manufacturing in Germany
BYD to quadruple car battery output with lithium site plants
GM inaugurates battery assembly plant in Shanghai
Volkswagen plans entry into battery cell production
VW Wants to One-Up Tesla With a Next-Generation Battery
Honda Partners on General Motors’ Next Gen Battery Development
Energy Absolute Plots Asian Project Rivaling Musk’s Gigafactory
France’s Saft plans production of next-gen lithium ion batteries from 2020
ABB teams up with Northvolt on Europe’s biggest battery plant
Chinese Battery Maker to Open Factory Next to Swedish EV Plant
Sokon aims to be global provider of battery, electric motor, electric control systems
BMW Group invests 200 million euros in Battery Cell Competence Centre
BMW Brilliance Automotive opens battery factory in Shenyang
BMW announces partnership with solid-state battery company
Toyota promises auto battery ‘game-changer’
VW increase stake in solid-state batteries with $100M investment
Hyundai Motor developing solid-state EV batteries
Continental eyes investment in solid-state batteries
Wanxiang is playing to win, even if it takes generations
UK provides millions to help build more electric vehicle batteries
Rimac is going to mass produce batteries and electric motors for OEMs
Elon Musk Has A New Battery Rival (Romeo Power) Packed With His Ex-Employees
Bracing for EV shift, NGK Spark Plug ignites all solid-state battery quest
ProLogium Technology Will Produce First Next Generation Lithium Ceramic Battery For EVs
Here’s Tesla’s competition in storage batteries…
Panasonic
LG
AES + Siemens (Fluence)
NEC
Hitachi Chemical
ABB
Saft
EnerSys
Kokam
Sharp
Kreisel
Leclanche
UET
ENGIE
Bluestorage
Blue Planet
Clean Energy Storage Inc.
Younicos
Powervault
Schmid
24M
Ecoult
And here’s Tesla’s competition in charging networks…
EVgo Installing First 350 kW Ultra Fast Public Charging Station In The US
Tritium’s First 350-kW DC Fast Chargers Coming To U.S.
Porsche plans network of 500 fast chargers for U.S.
ChargePoint To Equip Mercedes Dealerships With 150kw Charging Stations For EQC
Recargo Ultrafast West Coast Charging
BMW, Daimler, Ford, VW, Audi & Porsche form IONITY European 350kw Charging Network
E.ON to have 10,000 150KW TO 350KW EV charging points across Europe by 2020
Enel kicks off the E-VIA FLEX-E project for the installation of European ultra-fast charging stations
Europe’s Allego “Ultra E” ultra-fast charging network now operational
Allego & Fortum Launch MEGA-E High Power Charging network for Europe’s Metropolitan areas
ChargePoint Secures $240 Million in Additional Funding; $500 million raised in total
UK’s Podpoint installing 150kW EV rapid chargers this year; 350kW by 2020
UK National Grid plans 350kW EV charge point network
Fastned building 150kw-350kw chargers in Europe
Deutsche Telekom to build electric car charging network in Germany
ABB powers e-mobility with launch of first 150-350 kW high power charger
Shell buys European electric vehicle charging pioneer NewMotion
BP buys UK’s largest car charging firm Chargemaster
Total planning EV charging points at its French stations
Yet despite all that deep-pocketed competition, perhaps you want to buy shares of Tesla because you believe in its management team. Really???
Elon Musk Settles SEC Fraud Charges
Elon Musk, June 2009: “Tesla will cross over into profitability next month”
Tesla SEC Correspondence Shows A Pattern Of Inaccurate, Incomplete & Misleading Disclosures
Tesla: Check Your Full Self-Driving Snake Oil Expiration Date
As Musk Hyped and Happy-Talked Investors, Tesla Kept Quiet About a Year-Long SEC Probe
The Truth Is Catching Up With Tesla
With Misleading Messages And Customer NDAs, Tesla Performs Stealth Recall
Who You Gonna Believe? Elon Musk’s Words Or Your Own Lying Eyes?
How Tesla and Elon Musk Exaggerated Safety Claims About Autopilot and Cars
When Is Enough Enough With Elon Musk?
Musk Talked Merger With SolarCity CEO Before Tesla Stock Sale
Tesla Continues To Mislead Consumers
Tesla Misses The Point With Fortune Autopilot Story
Tesla Timeline Shows Musk’s Morality Is Highly Convenient
Tesla Scares Customers With Worthless NDAs, The Daily Kanban Talks To Lawyers
Tesla: Contrary To The Official Story, Elon Musk Is Selling To Keep Cash
Tesla: O, What A Tangled Web We Weave When First We Practice To Deceive
I Put 20 Refundable Deposits On The Tesla Model 3
Tesla: A Failure To Communicate
Elon Musk Appears To Have Misled Investors On Tesla’s Most Recent Conference Call
Understanding Tesla’s Potemkin Swap Station
Tesla’s Amazing Powerwall Reservations
So in summary, Tesla is losing a massive amount of money even before it faces a huge onslaught of competition (and things will only get worse once it does), while its market cap tops that of Ford and GM’s despite selling approximately 300,000 cars a year while Ford and GM make billions of dollars selling 6 million and 9 million cars respectively. Thus this cash-burning Musk vanity project is worth vastly less than its roughly $70 billion enterprise value and—thanks to its roughly $31 billion in debt and purchase obligations—may eventually be worth “zero.”
