Tesla raises the prices for its models Model X and Model S by eliminating the previous entry-level variants with a 75 kilowatt-hour battery.
Robyn Denholm inherits Elon Musk
Tesla makes a profit
Tequila and games
Possible successor to Elon Musk
Musk leaves Tesla Board
Danger for Tesla because of Trump’s trade war
As always came the message from Tesla boss Elon Musk via Twitter: The entry-level variants of the SUV Model X and the large sedan Model S accounts for Monday the 14th January 2019. These are the models with 75-kilowatt-hours battery , Tesla is still accepting orders for the two models until Sunday night. Why the entry-level variants omitted, does not justify Tesla.
No e-car bonus
As of Monday, only the models with the large 100-kilowatt-hour battery can be ordered. This is accompanied by a massive increase in costs for the customers: Was the Model S with a small battery for 69,019 euros, the version with a large battery costs 108,420 euros – a price difference of 39,401 euros. Not quite as drastic but still high is the price difference in the Model X: Was the entry-level model for 97,400 euros to have, the customer now shell out 115,000 euros – 17,600 euros more than before. The German Elektroautopremie is only available on vehicles with a new price up to 60,000 euros and therefore was not valid for entry-level versions of Model X and S.
Smallest variants account for more often
The elimination of model variants with a smaller battery could be a tradition at Tesla: Already in 2016, the Model X version disappeared with 60-kilowatt-hour battery from the market, new entry-level model was the now declining Model X with 75-kilowatt-hours battery. However, the price jumps are considerably larger – at that time the difference between the models was 12,000 euros.
Start of construction of Gigafactory in Shanghai
Currently there are only mud, mud and a few piles of stacks, the first Tesla Model 3 is expected to roll off the line at the end of the year: Company President Elon Musk has arrived in person to start construction of the largest Tesla factory outside the USA. The buildings near Shanghai are supposed to stand until summer. Both the cars and the associated batteries are built in the factory. Musk announced, as usual via Twitter, that the mass production will start in 2020 – a maximum of an annual output of half a million vehicles should be possible. Tesla is already active in Shanghai, where the Americans run a center for research and development.
Cheap variants for China
While the SUV Model X and the large Sedan Model S continue to roll off the production line for the Chinese market in Fremont, California, the more compact Model 3 and the planned 2020 crossover model Y are also being produced in China – in cheaper versions for the Chinese Market.
According to Tesla, the construction of the Chinese plant costs two billion dollars (currently about 1.74 billion euros). Tesla is the sole owner of the production facility – this has been allowed for foreign electric car manufacturers since 2018. So far, foreign automakers always had to bring a Chinese partner with a stake of at least 50 percent on board. By 2020, this constraint will also apply to commercial vehicle manufacturers, and by 2022 to all car manufacturers.
Record production for Tesla in 2018
In the final months of 2018, Tesla produced 61,394 copies of Model 3, up 15 percent from the third quarter. The production of the large sedan Model S and the SUV Model X summarizes Tesla: 25,161 of these car models ran in the fourth quarter off the line.
Tesla delivered 90,700 electric cars in the fourth quarter of 2018. 63,150 of these were the Model 3, which represents an increase of 13 percent over the previous quarter. From Model X 14,050 copies went to the customers, the model represented with 13,500 vehicles, the smallest share of the sales cake. According to Tesla, there are still 1010 Model 3 and 1.897 Model X / S on the way to the customer.
Strong production growth
In total, Tesla emitted 245,240 cars in 2018, including 145,846 Model 3 and 99,394 Model S / X. Tesla himself comments that by 2018 alone one would have delivered almost as many vehicles as in all previous years together.
Tesla points out that more than three-quarters of Model 3 orders came from new customers in the fourth quarter of 2018. From February 2019, the Model 3 is also in Europe and China on the market – the years of tormenting production problems Tesla boss Elon Musk seems to have now under control. Cheap even the basic version of the Model 3 is not: In Germany, the prices start at 57,900 euros.
The new Audi boss Bram Schot expressed in an interview in the face of the success of Tesla self-criticism: It was complacent – Tesla had shown that the car business is also different. Improvements have to be quick and consistent.
Tesla sells more than Audi in the US, which means almost nothing
Despite quite high prices of at least $ 49,000 (the equivalent of about 43,195 euros), the Tesla Model 3 continues to sell like sliced bread, there are still long waiting times and in Europe the compact electric car is still not available. After much effort, Tesla has managed to increase the Model 3 production to more than 5,000 copies per week – which also benefits the sales. In August 2018, Tesla sold for the first time more than Audi (20,907), with 23,175 cars on the US market, according to Carsalesbase. Also in September and October Tesla is ahead of Audi. However, October was not a good month for both brands: sales at Tesla were down sharply from the previous month, pushing the e-car farmer behind its rivals in terms of growth, according to Carsalesbase. For Audi, a growth curve lasting more than nine years came to an end in October. In 2018 (including October), however, Audi is still well ahead of Tesla (134,862) with 183,476 cars sold.
Although the passing of Tesla to Audi in the sales on the US market is a nice headline, the US market shares of both manufacturers give an indication of the relevance of these numbers. In 2017 Audis market share was 1.3 percent, Tesla was at 0.29 percent. At the top are brands like GM, Ford and Toyota, all of which have a market share of more than 14 percent each. So sold Ford in the US market in October alone with 184,108 vehicles more than Audi and Tesla so far throughout 2018. Only of the F-series Ford sat in October from 70,438 copies, on all models, the manufacturer from January to October 2018 with 1,987,481 vehicles.
Other manufacturers considerably stronger
According to US vehicle appraisal and automotive research firm Kelley Blue Book, US models sold three models in the first six months of this year: the Jeep Cherokee with 39.8 percent, the Toyota Tacoma with 22.9 percent and the Jeep Wrangler with 34.9 percent. In the top ten models with the highest growth, only vehicles from GM (Chevrolet), Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Chrysler (Jeep, Ram) and Honda romp around.
The Tesla since August 2018 more cars sold in the US market as Audi is indeed a reference to the growth of the Americans, but this fight is currently taking place at the bottom of the sales statistics. It is difficult to predict whether Tesla will succeed in advancing to the top third in the sales – the path is still very far.
Robyn Denholm inherits Elon Musk
Robyn Denholm takes over the post of Tesla Board Chief from her predecessor Elon Musk. The 55-year-old Australian comes from the Australian telecommunications provider Telstra, where she is currently still working as head of finance. In addition, she has been a member of the Tesla Board of Directors since 2014, but is considered someone who is not as close to Elon Musk as many other board members.
Elon Musk has been forced to vacate the position following an agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for influencing the price of Tesla shares with misleading tweets. Immediately following this message, the first names for a Musk successor were traded. James Murdoch, son of media entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch and also Tesla board member, Al Gore, under Bill Clinton US Vice President, and former Boeing CEO Jim McNerney were considered promising candidates.
Denholm already had contact with the automotive industry in her earlier career: From 1989 to 1996 she worked in the finance department of Toyota Australia. She has also worked in the tech industry, including computer and software maker Sun Microsystems and network equipment provider Juniper Networks. Denholm was appointed Chief Financial Officer at Telstra on 1 October 2018 – she will continue to work in parallel until her notice period expires on 6 May 2019.
Finally, profit again
“As I said earlier this year, I believe we will be spending more money than spending in all the other quarters,” Musk said in a statement on 2:11. 2018 podcast of the US technology blog “Recode”. “You should never be complacent, so we have to keep working hard – but I think we’re over the mountain.”
After months of having problems with the start of production of its first large-volume electric vehicle, Tesla reported $ 312 million in net profit for the year, out of $ 6.8 billion in third-quarter revenue, in line with the strict GAAP balance sheet.
Cheaper Model 3
Tesla must finally make money as a notorious loss machine. Therefore, there was the celebrated as electric car for the mass market Model 3 so far only in comparatively expensive equipment from $ 86,000 (currently converted about 75,144 euros). When the hope for the base model for 35,000 dollars (30,582 euros) is fulfilled, is in the stars. But Tesla seems to feel a certain price pressure – now offer the Americans at least a version for $ 45,000 (39,320 euros).
The new entry level model visually does not differ from its more expensive siblings. The lower price is due among other things by a battery whose housing is just as big as in the other Model 3, but contains fewer cells. Thus, the range decreases by 81 to 418 kilometers. In addition, the customer has to live with losses in performance: the acceleration time from zero to 97 km / h (60 miles per hour) increases from 4.5 to 5.6 seconds and the top speed is reached at 201 instead of 233 km / h. As drive exclusively rear-wheel drive is provided, all-wheel drive is only available for the more expensive variants. And those who want the misleading “autopilot” assistant package for rudimentary semi-autonomous driving, must pay $ 5,000 (€ 4,369) extra.
The new entry-level version of the Model 3 can now be ordered on the Tesla website. The deliveries are scheduled to start in February 2019 – but the American manufacturer is known for massive delays, announced dates are often postponed by months behind.
Tequila from Tesla
In January of this year, Tesla boss Elon Musk announced to sell flamethrower for $ 500 the copy (about the equivalent of 434 euros). The Pyromanen equipment marketed under the brand “The Boring Company” (Musk founded tunnel construction and infrastructure company) is now delivered and should have brought in 3.5 million dollars (3.04 million euros). Now the next blow: As always via Twitter, Musk announces a tequila called “Teslaquila”. Already on October 8, 2018, Tesla had the US Patent and Trademark Office protect the brand for future use. Under the brand, agave schnapps (mezcal) and blue agave schnapps (tequila) are to be sold.
Perhaps Elon Musk was inspired by US actor George Clooney: In June 2017, he sold the Tequila brand Casamigos, founded by him and his friend Rande Gerber, for 700 million dollars (608 million euros) to the British beverage company Diageo. Depending on how well Casamigos Tequila sells over the next three years, could add up to 300 million dollars (260 million euros) again. So if Teslaquila is successful, Musk could win a sizeable profit when selling the brand. Piquant detail on the edge: George Clooney was one of the first Tesla customers, he claims to be buyer number five. In 2013, he complained in interviews that his Tesla would often be left with a breakdown on the roadside. Elon Musk tweeted angrily,
Teslaquila was born out of an April Fool’s joke: on April 1, Musk tweeted that Tesla was broke. Now he is unconscious and surrounded by Teslaquila bottles.
More games for Tesla drivers
In addition, Musk is currently looking for game developers. With the current Tesla software update, several Atari game classics are already coming into the car, which are played with the steering wheel as a joystick replacement or via the touchscreen. With Missile Command (Shoot ’em up or “Ballerspiel” / 1980), Asteroids (Shoot’ em up / 1979), Lunar Lander (Simulation, Atari version of 1979) and Centipede (Shoot ’em up / 1980) Tesla can Inmates now plunge into the arcade slot machines of the late 1970s / early 1980s. Tempest (Shoot ’em up / 1980) and Pole Position (Cult Racing Simulation by Nacmo and Atari / 1982) could follow. This is how Tesla should become the most entertaining vehicle on the market.
James Murdoch acted as Musk successor
According to a Financial Times report, James Murdoch already sits on the board of directors as an independent member, who is otherwise mostly staffed by family members and friends of Elon Musk. Murdoch has already signaled interest in the chief post, according to the Financial Times – by mid-November, the place should be occupied. Murdoch previously held posts in the controlled by his family media company 21st Century Fox. The group is selling large parts of its business to Disney, whereupon Murdoch wants to leave the company.
James Murdoch is the fourth child of Rupert Murdoch. The 45-year-old was born in London and has both British and American citizenship. He dropped out of film and history studies at Harvard University, then made a career in his father’s business. He supports the Clinton Foundation of ex-President Bill Clinton, who has dedicated himself to climate change, development aid and medical care.
However, James Murdoch is not the only one who is traded as a Musk successor: Al Gore, under Bill Clinton US Vice President and until today climate protectors, and ex-Boeing CEO Jim McNerney are also considered candidates.
Musk leaves Tesla Board
Elon Musk has been reluctant in the dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission: Although he may remain Tesla CEO, but is at least three years presiding over the parent board. In addition, he and Tesla each have to pay $ 20 million (equivalent to about 17.2 million euros).
On August 7, 2018 Musk announced via Twitter, Tesla at a price of $ 420 per share from the stock market. As an indication, he added “funding secured”. Tesla shares gained ten percent in value. As the doubts about the project grew stronger, the course broke again – three weeks later, Musk dropped the plan. This called the powerful SEC on the plan. In a lawsuit, she accused Musk of deliberately or recklessly deceiving investors. Investors would have had to go out of Musk’s Tweet of a deal decided, which encouraged them to share purchases. Musk, however, had only informally talked with potential donors about the stock market retreat, there were no court decisions. The total of $ 40 million Musk and Tesla are intended for the injured investors.
Musk’s position weakened significantly
With the current agreement, the SEC withdraws its claim. This could have had far-reaching consequences for Musk. For example, the stock market supervisor initially urged him to be suspended for life on supervisory boards in all listed US companies. However, his position is now weakened. He will be replaced by an independent chairman on the board and two new independent members will join the council. According to the SEC, the committee should also closely monitor Musk’s communication with the investors – after all, his tweet also came as a surprise for his colleagues in the Tesla boardroom.
The board of directors is not only a controlling body for US companies, it also determines the future corporate strategy. Elon Musk as boss always had the advice behind him and thus the complete control over Tesla. This has now been over for at least three years – according to a New York Times report, he could have got away with a two-year ban. Musk, however, failed the originally proposed deal, prompting the SEC to file a lawsuit. In addition, threatens him more adversity: Thus, according to US media reports, the US Department of Justice investigates the announced stock market retreat. And after Musk had several times explicitly labeled the British diver Vernon Unsworth, who was involved in the rescue of the cave-enclosed Thai football team, as a pedophile,
Danger for Tesla because of Trump’s trade war
The attempt of current US President Donald Trump to protect the domestic industry with punitive tariffs, of all the US electric car maker Tesla hard. The trade war, which has been broken due to the punitive tariffs with China, leads to a massive slump in sales of Tesla in the People’s Republic, as the rating and analysis company S & P Global determined. In July, the export of electric cars from the US to China fell by 82.8 percent compared to the previous year. As a retaliatory measure for increased tariffs on Chinese products, China raised tariffs on import cars from the US by 25 percentage points to 40 percent.
Most of the decline is likely to hit Tesla, as no other US manufacturer exported significant quantities of electric cars to China. In addition, China is the most important market for Tesla after the USA. In 2017, the Californians were able to double their sales there. As a first measure, Tesla has raised prices for Model S and Model X in China. In addition, a gigafactory will be built in Shanghai – but it will take years before it starts production.
Not attractive to executives
Meanwhile, Tesla boss Elon Musk must cope with the departure of other key executives. At the beginning of September 2018, Chief Accountant Dave Morton Tesla left office after only a month in office. As a reason he gave the immense public interest in the car maker and the high pace of work. Now Justin McAnear, another high-ranking employee from the finance department, is taking the plunge. In addition, hiring manager Gaby Toledano leaves the company.
In the meantime, Musk loosens in public: during a live webcast event with stand-up comedian Joe Rogan, Musk drank whiskey and stoned – marijuana smoking is now legal in some US states, including California. On the stock market, this behavior was not good: The share collapsed by nine percent.
Model 3 profitable according to US engineer
Meanwhile, US engineer Sandy Munro claimed that the Model 3 for Tesla is a highly profitable car, could generate more return than BMW with the i3 or Chevrolet with the Bolt. In early February 2017, Murno, chief of the engineering bureau Munro & Associates, Inc., founded by him, very skeptical of the Tesla Model 3, which he just examined. This is how the ex-Ford engineer described the video in a video from the US online station Autoline Access to the interruption of the power supply and the lack of mechanical door opener in the rear as a security deficiency. He also bothered by the varying and sometimes lush gaps of the Tesla as well as the poorly processed door seals. In a new video, Murno is now turning 180 degrees.
Enthusiastic about the electronic components
For security and processing of the Model 3 Munro now loses no word. He has completely disassembled the electric car at his company’s Auburn Hills location (55 kilometers northwest of Detroit, Michigan) and is thrilled with the individual components. Murno sings praise for the deep integration of the electronic components. In addition, he is convinced of the battery: There are new cells of the type 2170 installed. These cells are 20 percent larger than the predecessor battery (from Model S and Model X) and provide 50 percent more power thanks to a new chemical composition.
Model 3 margin should be at 30 percent
In addition, Sandy Murno wants to find out that Tesla can build the Model 3 with a profit margin of 30 percent. The reason is in addition to the high integration of electronic components, the use of very favorable components. Thus, the interior mirror of a Model 3 would cost only 29.48 dollars (25.19 euros), while the parts of the BMW i3 with 93.46 dollars (79.87 euros) and the Chevrolet Bolt with 164.83 dollars (141.59 Euro) are much more expensive. Immediately afterwards, Munro holds a sheet of paper in which a comparison of the interior mirror weights can be seen: The Tesla component weighs 370 grams, the mirror of the BMW 800 grams and the Chevy 910 grams. The reason for the different prices and weights is that the Tesla mirror works without frames and functions that can be operated via buttons. The BMW mirror has two buttons and the mirror of the Bolt is also provided with a display for the rear view camera. Murno has long been a fan of making systems less complex – in his opinion, this increases quality.
Financial situation very tense
As the Wall Street Journal reports, Tesla asks its suppliers to repay sums already paid. These bills date back to 2016. Noteworthy: Tesla emphasizes that these repayments are important in order to continue the business – the money is an investment in a common future with shared growth. So far, nothing is known about the amount of the required amounts. Consultant Dennis Virag, founder and CEO of Automotive Consulting Group, Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan, calls desirability for subsequent discounts desperate and ridiculous, as Tesla is concerned with its own profitability and not with the profitability of its suppliers Make thoughts.
Tesla has never given liquidity problems. The startup of the Model 3 production has apparently become expensive for the Group. In return, the sale of the coveted Model 3 currently does not seem to throw enough profit. The economic news service Bloomberg wants to have calculated that Tesla in the first quarter of 2018 $ 7,430 (converted about 6,349 euros) per minute has consumed, which would amount to a capital outflow of one billion dollars (855 million euros) in the period. Skeptical analysts are now asking aloud if Tesla could run out of money this year, investment banking firm Goldman Sachs believes that by the end of 2020, the manufacturer will need $ 10 billion (8.55 billion euros) of fresh capital.
As late as May 2018, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was optimistic that he would be able to cover the capital requirements with rising sales figures, and he promised profits for the second half of the year. Meanwhile, the discussion about the Model 3 pre-orders has once again flared up. The occasion is an analysis report, based on which the New York investment bank Needham & Company downgraded Tesla shares from “hold” to “sell”. Compared to the US economic channel CNBC, an analyst told the bank, the cancellations and thus the refunds would have overtaken the number of new orders and thus down payments. Reasons include the unavailability of the $ 35,000 base model, the phasing out of tax incentives in the US and the long waiting period. Musk counters that it was 5 weeks earlier, minus cancellations.
High price for production increase
Why Tesla despite the potentially high profit margin in Model 3 writes daily losses, the expert does not comment. Most recently, Tesla boss Elon Musk had trampled off to finally build the long-announced 5,000 Model 3 a week. In the last week of June, it finally worked out, even if the price was high: From Germany were flown over the expensive airway machines, a third production line was created in a tent, workers were deducted from the now halting Model-S production and the California Occupational Safety and Health is a permanent guest at the plant in Fremont, California. Production is expected to rise to 6,000 in the middle of August and 8,000 copies per week in the medium term. For comparison: VW built 2017 more than 18,570 golf per week.
420,000 model 3 pre-orders have not yet been processed. The $ 35,000 base variant is still unavailable. And although anyone who has pre-ordered a Model 3 has already paid $ 1,000 in advance, anyone who wants their car to be built faster should now spend another $ 2,500.
Investors want more peace and work
Elon Musk’s nervous condition suffered increasingly during Model 3 production problems. So he subordinated via Twitter the media blanket false reporting. To rescue the youngsters recently locked up in a Thai cave, he presented a submarine, which was classified as unfit on site. The British diver Vern Unsworth, involved in the successful rescue, pulped Musk’s submarine as a PR stunt. Musk then responded via Twitter with a statement that might be insulting. In the meantime, Musk apologized for that. Muscle’s behavior is slowly becoming less appealing to his investors: For example, James Anderson of the Tesla boss wants more peace and focus on the work. Anderson’s fund holds four billion dollars (about 3,
Tesla announces withdrawal from stock market retreat
For 17 days, Tesla boss Elon Musk kept the financial world in suspense with his daredevil plan of an e-car pioneer’s stock market retreat. Now the foolhardy plan to take Tesla off the stock market has been buried again after just over two weeks. As Wirtschaftswoche reports, this action could have serious legal consequences. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already sent subpoenas for misleading statements and possible market manipulation, according to the US media, also threatens a lawsuit. Over 15 law firms drumming together shareholders who are mistaken by Musk. As the Wall Street Journal reports, a possible VW commitment might well be behind Musk’s plan change. VW was supposed to invest $ 30 billion in Tesla with other investors, including Silver Lake. But Elon Musk refused,
Previously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wanted to take his company from the stock market. “I think it’s the best way forward,” he wrote to the staff of the electric car company on Tuesday (7.8.2018) in a round mail. Tesla published the letter under the maximum pressure of the financial markets – Musk had previously caused such turmoil in the stock market with its tweets that trading in the stock has since been stopped. The Financial Times has reported that the Saudi State Fund has entered Tesla on a large scale and holds up to 5 percent of the Tesla shares. Then Musk announced in a tweet he was considering privatizing Tesla at a stock price of $ 420, so taking it out of the stock market. The financing for it is already secured. A final decision had not yet fallen.