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>Tesla forecasted the production of 17,000 cars. Tesla can do no wrong with the SV crowd, as evidenced by your statement of fact being down-voted. If you step
by forgetsusername 10y ago
>Tesla forecasted the production of 17,000 cars.
Tesla can do no wrong with the SV crowd, as evidenced by your statement of fact being down-voted.
If you step away from the hype for a second, Tesla are building some great products, but they play a little fast and loose with their numbers. That's why the Street is skeptical. First it's all about deliveries. Then deliveries falter a bit, so the focus moves to production. Then those numbers are low, so the focus moves to the fact that cars are in transit.
If there was some consistency with how Tesla represented their financials maybe there would be less scrutiny and skepticism. We hear about things (battery swamp, PowerWall), then they are hardly mentioned. But I think the Tesla fans consider this "sticking it to the man" (Wall Street), even though Tesla and some major banks are tight.
- mikeash 10y agoThey produced over 18,000 cars. If they forecasted 17,000, then the statement that "they fell short" surely isn't a statement of "fact."
- forgetsusername 10y agoThey projected 17,000 deliveries, but in fact delivered 14,000. Up to this point their emphasis has always been on deliveries. But, since that missed, the focus turns to production numbers, which they just happened to outperform on (after a big miss in Q1 on the same metric). What numbers matter, then? They promote whatever "looks best". It's not unusual, but it induces skepticism.
- mikeash 10y agoThat's not what the comment above said. So, again, characterizing it as a "statement of fact" does not seem entirely accurate. They roughly doubled their production rate near the end of the quarter. They have a product that takes weeks or months to ship to the customer. What happened is exactly what you'd expect. Historically, Tesla has been constrained by production, not demand. The numbers show that production has substantially improved, and demand has not weakened, so it's good news all around. Why should that induce skepticism? Just because of what they "promote"? If you're skeptical just based on what they emphasize, are you not allowing your thinking to be controlled by them just as much as the mindless fanboy who parrots their lines without thinking?
- forgetsusername 10y ago>demand has not weakened What metric are you basing this off of? Did they not miss sales expectations?
- mikeash 10y agoThey missed delivery expectations. Most of those cars in transit are already reserved by a customer and just need to be delivered to the person who ordered them so Tesla can collect their money. Tesla doesn't build many cars without a buyer already lined up. They build a few for showrooms and service center loaners, but it's not a big number. You might say that demand is falling off and Tesla is just producing a bunch of cars without corresponding orders to try to hide that fact, or whatever. But that's a rather conspiratorial interpretation, and would directly contradict Tesla's statement that the delivery miss was due to the sudden increase in production rates near the end of the quarter and resulting large number of cars still in transit.
- forgetsusername 10y agoI don't know either way, but the first paragraph of this article says they missed sales estimates.
- mikeash 10y agoMy point is that sales equate to deliveries, and deliveries missed expectations because of delays in ramping up production, not decreased demand.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- slavik81 10y agoDid they finish producing the forecasted number of cars given the definition of 'finished' they gave when making the forecast? It sounds like you're comparing two different things, but I may just be confused.
- mikeash 10y agoAs far as I know, the 18,345 number indicates cars that are out of the factory, tested, and ready to be driven. I was not aware that there were even different definitions of "finish" to be played with. I don't see what goalposts you think I'm shifting.