“We’re going to YouTube”, Musk replied, apparently referring to the nickname of a caller.
Advertisement
Tesla posted a record $709.6 million net loss in the first quarter and burned through $745.3 million in cash while struggling to crank out large numbers of its Model 3 mass-market electric auto.
Given the tumult of recent weeks, the main focus will likely be on production of the Model 3, the key to Tesla’s plan to bring electric vehicles to the masses and eventually reach profitability.
“We now expect to reach a module production rate of 5,000 auto sets per week even before we install the new automated line designed and built by Tesla in Germany”, the company said.
Tesla posted a record $US709.6 million net loss in the first quarter, which amounts to a loss of $US4.19 per share.
Mr. Musk has acknowledged that Tesla erred in trying to build a highly automated production line to assemble the Model 3, noting that getting robots and other machinery to work in harmony has proved to be more hard than he expected.
“These questions are so dry”.
Currently, Tesla is delivering a long-range rear-wheel drive Model 3 to customers for a starting price of $44,000. Another analyst asked about a capital requirement before being cut off. There’s also the case where another person died in a crash involving its Autopilot feature, which has prompted regulators to question the system’s capabilities. “Based on every measurable metric, Model 3 is already the highest quality vehicle we have ever produced, and this is unquestionably due in large part to automation”, Tesla stated in their Q1 Update Letter. With no profits in sight, pessimists worry that Tesla will find it hard to raise still more money-money it may need to complete its production ramp-up of the Model 3. But that didn’t stop the eccentric gear head from upping his ultimate Model 3 production goal to 10,000 a week.
During the call, Musk also elaborated on the Model 3’s trend towards being the dominant midsize luxury sedan in terms of sales in the USA, besting competitors like the BMW 3-Series and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Musk said the company is also working on reducing its spending this year and Tesla expects to spend less than $3 billion on capital expenses this year, compared to $3.4 billion in 2017. That beat analyst predictions for $3.2 billion, as polled by Zacks Investment Research.
Tesla lost $709 million in the first quarter.
Wall Street brokerages expect Tesla, Inc. Total production rose 40% sequentially and Model 3 output rose by a factor of 4.
Advertisement
Still, the loss is up from $3.04 a share in the last quarter and $1.33 in the same quarter a year ago. Then the burn rate declined, and Tesla actually saw positive cash flow in the third quarter of 2016. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,382,553 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,053,158,000 after acquiring an additional 494,761 shares in the last quarter.
