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TSLA in some ways reminds me of Amazon at the beginning. Way overpriced, but kept reinvesting into new things as it went and the stock price kept going up and p

TSLA in some ways reminds me of Amazon at the beginning. Way overpriced, but kept reinvesting into new things as it went and the stock price kept going up and profits stayed zero forever while the company kept building itself bigger and bigger. So I can see the bull perspective. However... Car manufacturing is not the same as slinging books online. Profits are consistently thin and Tesla's only edge is in battery tech and being a status symbol. So it is trying to be the Apple of cars but also grow like Amazon. And their aren't breakeven without credits, so it is kind of like if 2004 Amazon was able to reach breakeven only because Barnes & Noble had to pay Amazon for not having a website. Also, I am unconvinced that one car brand will be the "Apple of cars" since there is no ecosystem lock-in and at the end of the day it is a fashion/trend symbol - precisely when unemployment is nuts and the economy is in the shitter. It quickly could become more of a overly flashy negative than cool aspirational thing, kind of a rich-is-bad type of reach that Hummer had with gas-is-bad. Maybe Elon pulls it off, but at this price it is really investing in a future that hasn't been built or even imagined yet.

agumonkey 6y ago
is it battery tech only ? I heard they were using non traditional electric motors too (switched reluctance ?) Also note that 'only battery tech' may become extremely important in the post fossil fuel world.
lazyjones 6y ago
> Car manufacturing is not the same as slinging books online. Profits are consistently thin Margins in retail shopping used to be consistently very thin, that's not generally the case with cars (think Ferrari...).
dawnerd 6y ago
> Tesla's only edge is in battery tech and being a status symbol. You might want to do some research into Tesla if that's all you think they have going for them. Their software, energy generation, and charging infrastructure are also setting them way apart from everyone.
michalxnet 6y ago
They can go on energy market where you can create local decentralized energy hubs running as franchise where they rent the infrastructure and you can throw internet package to the offer.
Dumblydorr 6y ago
They're not just a car company, that is a poor comparison. They sell batteries which is much higher margin, and they take advantage of green EV policies which no other car company is well positioned to do. These two advantages alone set them far above other car companies.
spectrum1234 6y ago
No, their edge is their factories (manufacturing innovation). This is the real product. The cars don't really matter. Seriously.
- fomine3 6y ago
  Factories not for cars but for batteries?

agumonkey 6y ago

is it battery tech only ? I heard they were using non traditional electric motors too (switched reluctance ?) Also note that 'only battery tech' may become extremely important in the post fossil fuel world.

lazyjones 6y ago

> Car manufacturing is not the same as slinging books online. Profits are consistently thin Margins in retail shopping used to be consistently very thin, that's not generally the case with cars (think Ferrari...).

dawnerd 6y ago

> Tesla's only edge is in battery tech and being a status symbol. You might want to do some research into Tesla if that's all you think they have going for them. Their software, energy generation, and charging infrastructure are also setting them way apart from everyone.

michalxnet 6y ago

They can go on energy market where you can create local decentralized energy hubs running as franchise where they rent the infrastructure and you can throw internet package to the offer.

Dumblydorr 6y ago

They're not just a car company, that is a poor comparison. They sell batteries which is much higher margin, and they take advantage of green EV policies which no other car company is well positioned to do. These two advantages alone set them far above other car companies.

spectrum1234 6y ago

No, their edge is their factories (manufacturing innovation). This is the real product. The cars don't really matter. Seriously.

fomine3 6y ago
Factories not for cars but for batteries?