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Tesla in the news again for something that wouldn't be considered news for any other car manufacturer.

danhak 7y ago
Seriously...85 units. A cancellation of a $5.5 million contract would not warrant articles on Reuters and Bloomberg were it any other company.
- dragontamer 7y ago
  Its a cancellation of a $5.5 Million contract on top of news from falling sales in Germany. The overall "plot" being discussed is whether or not Q3 2019 will have more, or less, revenue than Q2 2019. Stories like this point towards "less revenue", which is worrisome for sure.
  - danhak 7y ago
    Can you provide a source for falling Germany sales?
    - dragontamer 7y ago
      https://insideevs.com/news/363047/tesla-model-3-orders-germany-july/ https://insideevs.com/news/363047/tesla-model-3-orders-germa... > Jan: 911 > Feb: 835 > Mar: 811 > Apr: 735 > May: 664 > June: 795 > July: 733 Model S and X sales are also down.
      - danhak 7y ago
        so...pretty stable since Q1 which is when Model 3 deliveries began there.
        dragontamer 7y ago
        Q1 averaged 852 / month. July was 733 / month, or a drop of 14%. That's a double-digit drop from a company claiming to have a growth story.
        bryanlarsen 7y ago
        Q1 includes about 2 years worth of pent up demand.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
        danhak 7y ago
        Global deliveries were up 50% in Q2 vs Q1.
        dragontamer 7y ago
        Mostly because Q1 was a terrible quarter. I don't think anyone should be comparing anything vs Q1 2019, especially if you're considering global numbers. (We have to make due with German numbers, because M3 didn't exist there until Q1) -------- Q2 global deliveries were only up 5% from Q4 2018, and that's after launching Model 3 sales in China and Europe. Worse yet: Q2 2019 revenue is flat lined (compared to Q4 2018) because Tesla had so many discounts going on. $6.32 Billion Revenue in Q4 2018, $6.35 Billion Revenue in Q2 2019. That's 5% more cars sold but only 0.5% more revenue, after expanding to new markets. --------- In any case, German numbers seem to have flatlined. So Tesla isn't going to be relying on Germany sales to boost its numbers. Its all about China and Canada sales at this point.
        luckydata 7y ago
        If only there was some seasonal reason why people in Germany don't buy cars in the middle of the summer... maybe because they are all on the beach in Italy? Europe literally shuts down in August and does very little business in July. I wouldn't worry too much.
isbjorn16 7y ago
My brother-in-law works at a very high end car detailing/film shop. He works on Ferraris and Lambos and McLarens and the like, but also Mercedes and Audi level of cars. He also has to spend a lot of time detailing Teslas. Since his job is literally going every centimeter of the car with the proverbial fine tooth comb, he has come down hard against Tesla regarding the fit&finish compared to cars in the same price range. He geeks out hard over the drive train and performance, but when it comes to the interior and exterior panel fits, he's stated repeatedly how ... uneven everything is. Each car is extremely inconsistent, which he doesn't notice with the Audis and Mercedes and BMWs and such he has come through. Even with all of that, I'd still be interested in a Model S. I would just like for the tolerance levels to be tightened before I do.
- rootusrootus 7y ago
  I remain interested in a Tesla coming to my garage, for me the deal killer right now is uncertainty about their future, and horror stories about service. I have a fairly low tolerance when it comes to being inconvenienced by my car.
- AndrewBissell 7y ago
  It's almost like Silicon Valley "move fast & break things" ideology, applied to auto manufacturing, leads to the manufacture of defect-ridden cars in a tent.
  - isbjorn16 7y ago
    In the abstract, I can see it being a valid strategy; do that, see what parts need improvement, refine your process to address the issues, see if it's good enough yet. I don't think it's reasonable to ask a brand new car company to have the same levels of detail/polish available to companies that have been around for like 70 or 80 years; those companies probably had to learn a lot of shit too. I can see this being a valid thought process. That doesn't mean I want to be the guinea pig.
rchaud 7y ago
What do you consider to be "in the news"? If the company in question was not Tesla, would it even have been posted on Hacker News at all?
rootusrootus 7y ago
They are not just any other car manufacturer, though. They are the leader in EVs and the first potentially viable non-big-three [edit: American] car manufacturer in quite a while. Plus, they have a polarizing CEO who craves being in the news. I am sure he would prefer it was only good news, but that isn't how it works.
ummonk 7y ago
That is true in a lot of cases (e.g. fires) but regarding manufacturing defects and tolerances, Tesla is objectively significantly worse than other car manufacturers.

Seriously...85 units. A cancellation of a $5.5 million contract would not warrant articles on Reuters and Bloomberg were it any other company.

dragontamer 7y ago
Its a cancellation of a $5.5 Million contract on top of news from falling sales in Germany. The overall "plot" being discussed is whether or not Q3 2019 will have more, or less, revenue than Q2 2019. Stories like this point towards "less revenue", which is worrisome for sure.
- danhak 7y ago
  Can you provide a source for falling Germany sales?
  - dragontamer 7y ago
    https://insideevs.com/news/363047/tesla-model-3-orders-germany-july/ https://insideevs.com/news/363047/tesla-model-3-orders-germa... > Jan: 911 > Feb: 835 > Mar: 811 > Apr: 735 > May: 664 > June: 795 > July: 733 Model S and X sales are also down.
    - danhak 7y ago
      so...pretty stable since Q1 which is when Model 3 deliveries began there.
      - dragontamer 7y ago
        Q1 averaged 852 / month. July was 733 / month, or a drop of 14%. That's a double-digit drop from a company claiming to have a growth story.
        bryanlarsen 7y ago
        Q1 includes about 2 years worth of pent up demand.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
        danhak 7y ago
        Global deliveries were up 50% in Q2 vs Q1.
        dragontamer 7y ago
        Mostly because Q1 was a terrible quarter. I don't think anyone should be comparing anything vs Q1 2019, especially if you're considering global numbers. (We have to make due with German numbers, because M3 didn't exist there until Q1) -------- Q2 global deliveries were only up 5% from Q4 2018, and that's after launching Model 3 sales in China and Europe. Worse yet: Q2 2019 revenue is flat lined (compared to Q4 2018) because Tesla had so many discounts going on. $6.32 Billion Revenue in Q4 2018, $6.35 Billion Revenue in Q2 2019. That's 5% more cars sold but only 0.5% more revenue, after expanding to new markets. --------- In any case, German numbers seem to have flatlined. So Tesla isn't going to be relying on Germany sales to boost its numbers. Its all about China and Canada sales at this point.
        luckydata 7y ago
        If only there was some seasonal reason why people in Germany don't buy cars in the middle of the summer... maybe because they are all on the beach in Italy? Europe literally shuts down in August and does very little business in July. I wouldn't worry too much.

isbjorn16 7y ago

My brother-in-law works at a very high end car detailing/film shop. He works on Ferraris and Lambos and McLarens and the like, but also Mercedes and Audi level of cars. He also has to spend a lot of time detailing Teslas. Since his job is literally going every centimeter of the car with the proverbial fine tooth comb, he has come down hard against Tesla regarding the fit&finish compared to cars in the same price range. He geeks out hard over the drive train and performance, but when it comes to the interior and exterior panel fits, he's stated repeatedly how ... uneven everything is. Each car is extremely inconsistent, which he doesn't notice with the Audis and Mercedes and BMWs and such he has come through. Even with all of that, I'd still be interested in a Model S. I would just like for the tolerance levels to be tightened before I do.

rootusrootus 7y ago
I remain interested in a Tesla coming to my garage, for me the deal killer right now is uncertainty about their future, and horror stories about service. I have a fairly low tolerance when it comes to being inconvenienced by my car.
AndrewBissell 7y ago
It's almost like Silicon Valley "move fast & break things" ideology, applied to auto manufacturing, leads to the manufacture of defect-ridden cars in a tent.
- isbjorn16 7y ago
  In the abstract, I can see it being a valid strategy; do that, see what parts need improvement, refine your process to address the issues, see if it's good enough yet. I don't think it's reasonable to ask a brand new car company to have the same levels of detail/polish available to companies that have been around for like 70 or 80 years; those companies probably had to learn a lot of shit too. I can see this being a valid thought process. That doesn't mean I want to be the guinea pig.

rchaud 7y ago

What do you consider to be "in the news"? If the company in question was not Tesla, would it even have been posted on Hacker News at all?

rootusrootus 7y ago

They are not just any other car manufacturer, though. They are the leader in EVs and the first potentially viable non-big-three [edit: American] car manufacturer in quite a while. Plus, they have a polarizing CEO who craves being in the news. I am sure he would prefer it was only good news, but that isn't how it works.

ummonk 7y ago

That is true in a lot of cases (e.g. fires) but regarding manufacturing defects and tolerances, Tesla is objectively significantly worse than other car manufacturers.