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Because they also need money now, so they started leasing Model 3 and telling lessees that Tesla will be keeping the car after the lease expires. They get mone

Because they also need money now, so they started leasing Model 3 and telling lessees that Tesla will be keeping the car after the lease expires. They get money now and keep the car for use as a robo-taxi.

hi5eyes 7y ago
"use as a robot-taxi"
- moduspol 7y ago
  They're calling them robo-taxis, and who knows if they'll succeed, but I did want to point out that what they're doing isn't inconsistent with a company that genuinely believes in its near-future autonomous capabilities but also needs cash.
  - loceng 7y ago
    Likewise, they can still compete: as a driver would you rather be "driving" in a 99% of the time self-driving vehicles that's a Tesla, and as a passenger: would you rather order a vehicle from Tesla Network and know you're guaranteed to be picked up in a Tesla - with cameras for safety, security - in a quiet vehicle, etc. Tesla owning/controlling the whole supply line and at the scale they're ramping up for gives them advantage. And if they do reach fully self-driving first - and someone will have to lead the way and prove it enough for regulators to allow them on the roads - then they'll have everything else already in place to relatively speaking own/efficiently capture a large portion of the market.
specialp 7y ago
What an outrageous hedge story that I am shocked anyone believes. Tesla needed to lease model 3s because - They were horribly late in delivering the car (and now claim they are going to have fully autonomous taxis by next year when they couldn't even deliver on a basic car on time) - They can't make the $35k car they promised without losing money - They have exhausted the market of people that will pay 50k for an electric car knowing the fuel savings will never make up for the premium so they have excess inventory - They now are low on cash, high on inventory so they make up this moonshot story to get people to invest in them again. Simply saying they are doing standard leases would be too honest. The day is going to come soon where the amount of people that believe the hype will dwindle and the debt will pile up even more where there is a liquidity crisis. It is essentially a legal pyramid scheme. I have to hand it to them though being able to convince a good amount of people that their leasing is actually ensuring a future supply of robo taxis is impressive. One day people will laugh at the outrageousness of that.
- hi5eyes 7y ago
  its pretty entertaining how people fall into musks scams tbh i hope the scam keeps going
- griffordson 7y ago
  Every day I see young people dreaming about owning a Tesla someday instead of the ICE dream cars of the past (Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, etc.) I don't know what the value of that is, but it ain't nothing.
  - BoorishBears 7y ago
    No, it’s nothing. If Tesla was aiming to be the size of Porsche (not VAG) or Lamborghini it’d be something. But the same “conversion” rates from young person wanting a dream car to old person affording dream car apply regardless of if it’s an EV or a ICE, because the limiting factor is money. So “stealing” the kind of volume that Porsche and Lamborghini get from... daydreaming young people, isn’t worth anything in the long run if you’re talking about keeping up Tesla’s 40B dollar market cap
  - empath75 7y ago
    Dreams can’t pay for cars.
  - selectodude 7y ago
    Tesla already builds the same number of cars every year as Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini combined. Unless Tesla figures out a way to start selling these things for $200,000 I’m not sure that’ll be enough.
- agumonkey 7y ago
  > - They can't make the $35k car they promised without losing money Reminds me a tiny tiny bit about rpis. They were said to be a little smaller and a little cheaper. But truth is, you have a lot more chance getting a rpi+options at 50$ than a 10$ rpi w. That said, the momentum is so huge, it doesn't matter anymore.. maybe this will apply too ?
empath75 7y ago
If that’s seriously their plan, the company is doomed. Their self driving tech isn’t close to ready for prime time.
- moduspol 7y ago
  The first leases aren't up for three years, and the fate of the company doesn't rest entirely on self driving tech. It's not "their plan," it's just an additional way to bring in cash. If the cars can't be robo-taxis in three years, they'll let lessees buy them out or sell the cars used.

hi5eyes 7y ago

"use as a robot-taxi"

moduspol 7y ago
They're calling them robo-taxis, and who knows if they'll succeed, but I did want to point out that what they're doing isn't inconsistent with a company that genuinely believes in its near-future autonomous capabilities but also needs cash.
- loceng 7y ago
  Likewise, they can still compete: as a driver would you rather be "driving" in a 99% of the time self-driving vehicles that's a Tesla, and as a passenger: would you rather order a vehicle from Tesla Network and know you're guaranteed to be picked up in a Tesla - with cameras for safety, security - in a quiet vehicle, etc. Tesla owning/controlling the whole supply line and at the scale they're ramping up for gives them advantage. And if they do reach fully self-driving first - and someone will have to lead the way and prove it enough for regulators to allow them on the roads - then they'll have everything else already in place to relatively speaking own/efficiently capture a large portion of the market.

specialp 7y ago

What an outrageous hedge story that I am shocked anyone believes. Tesla needed to lease model 3s because - They were horribly late in delivering the car (and now claim they are going to have fully autonomous taxis by next year when they couldn't even deliver on a basic car on time) - They can't make the $35k car they promised without losing money - They have exhausted the market of people that will pay 50k for an electric car knowing the fuel savings will never make up for the premium so they have excess inventory - They now are low on cash, high on inventory so they make up this moonshot story to get people to invest in them again. Simply saying they are doing standard leases would be too honest. The day is going to come soon where the amount of people that believe the hype will dwindle and the debt will pile up even more where there is a liquidity crisis. It is essentially a legal pyramid scheme. I have to hand it to them though being able to convince a good amount of people that their leasing is actually ensuring a future supply of robo taxis is impressive. One day people will laugh at the outrageousness of that.

hi5eyes 7y ago
its pretty entertaining how people fall into musks scams tbh i hope the scam keeps going
griffordson 7y ago
Every day I see young people dreaming about owning a Tesla someday instead of the ICE dream cars of the past (Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, etc.) I don't know what the value of that is, but it ain't nothing.
- BoorishBears 7y ago
  No, it’s nothing. If Tesla was aiming to be the size of Porsche (not VAG) or Lamborghini it’d be something. But the same “conversion” rates from young person wanting a dream car to old person affording dream car apply regardless of if it’s an EV or a ICE, because the limiting factor is money. So “stealing” the kind of volume that Porsche and Lamborghini get from... daydreaming young people, isn’t worth anything in the long run if you’re talking about keeping up Tesla’s 40B dollar market cap
- empath75 7y ago
  Dreams can’t pay for cars.
- selectodude 7y ago
  Tesla already builds the same number of cars every year as Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini combined. Unless Tesla figures out a way to start selling these things for $200,000 I’m not sure that’ll be enough.
agumonkey 7y ago
> - They can't make the $35k car they promised without losing money Reminds me a tiny tiny bit about rpis. They were said to be a little smaller and a little cheaper. But truth is, you have a lot more chance getting a rpi+options at 50$ than a 10$ rpi w. That said, the momentum is so huge, it doesn't matter anymore.. maybe this will apply too ?

empath75 7y ago

If that’s seriously their plan, the company is doomed. Their self driving tech isn’t close to ready for prime time.

moduspol 7y ago
The first leases aren't up for three years, and the fate of the company doesn't rest entirely on self driving tech. It's not "their plan," it's just an additional way to bring in cash. If the cars can't be robo-taxis in three years, they'll let lessees buy them out or sell the cars used.