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It's a question all Tesla customers should be asking, and not just for "FS"D: Roadster deposits? Deposits opened in 2015. That's more than half a decade ago.
by tenpies 5y ago
It's a question all Tesla customers should be asking, and not just for "FS"D:
Roadster deposits? Deposits opened in 2015. That's more than half a decade ago. The Roadster is still vapourware as far as anyone can tell. Barely gets mentioned anywhere except for the occasional outrageous Musk tweet lie "it will have rockets!".
Tesla Semi? Deposits opened a couple years ago and the design isn't even finalized. The line to produce these does not exist yet.
Tesla Cybertruck? At least the deposit is just $100, but this was a shift in interest-free capital raising by Tesla (volume instead of quantity). The design has not yet been completed, never mind the line - the pre-requisite line to produce the batteries this vehicle will use doesn't even exist yet.
Now imagine if you had put any of those deposits in an alternative investment. Roadster deposit holders could be millionaires just off not putting down a deposit and instead putting it on anything - including Tesla stock.
The stock is Tesla's real product. Everything else is something on the way to meeting the performance milestones so Musk can get hits bonuses, but the good news is he can help you get a bonus too since you could have bought shares.
- bitexploder 5y agoIf you were making a deposit on a Roadster you were probably already a millionaire (initial deposit was 250k). Also, in an index fund doing 7-8% interest you couldn’t even double that 250k in 5 years. It’s not really fair to make that statement based on actual performance. Your other claims are accurate, but do people care? Tesla fans have shown a lot of patience and they have always delivered eventually. On everything but FSD.
- Hamuko 5y ago>Tesla fans have shown a lot of patience and they have always delivered eventually. On everything but FSD. What happened to the battery swaps and tentacle porn charging cable?
- bitexploder 5y agoNo idea. I only follow things at a high level. Wife likes her Model 3. Great performance and value for the price. She hasn’t tried autopilot once and we never paid for FSD. I don’t think the market really cares about FSD. Tesla is the first modern and new auto maker in decades to really see any significant cultural and market penetration. I’ll give Elon a pass, or rather Tesla a pass for Elon’s overhyping everything. What they have done and delivered is quite amazing to me.
- nickik 5y agoThe cable was never a product. It was basically R&D project. Battery swap works fine on early Model S but they changed strategy very quickly after showing it off. It was only ever announced as a pilot program. It just doesn't make sense and they rather invested in Superchargers. All cars after Model S were not announced to be able do do swapping. Even on the Model S the added a shield under the car to protect the battery even if you drive big debris at high speed. Seems like these are kind pedantic examples.
- dragonwriter 5y ago> Tesla fans have shown a lot of patience and they have always delivered eventually. And a bunch of other things (many mentioned innthe post you respond to), that may or may not get delivered in the future, but factually have nor yet been delivered. I mean, Tesla’s still better than Möller, but...
- jjeaff 5y agoYou are talking average returns. $250k in the s&p 500 in 2015 with dividends reinvested would in fact be worth about $500k today.
- bitexploder 5y agoAverage returns are what you should base a decision like that on right? Looking back it’s easy. But you can’t assume outsize performance when making such a decision.
- halotrope 5y agoAll true. But you could argue that deposits for roadster or semi are made by people who have a lot of excess cash or are able to make their own due diligence on the subject. Neither can be said about the average Joe who shelled out 10 grand last year in expectation that his car will drive itself in a couple months.
- sendbitcoins 5y agomore like "shelled out 10 grand in the expectation that the car will pay for itself as it outcompetes Uber when he's not using it".
- ghaff 5y agoDid anyone actually believe that you'd be able to rent out your Tesla for money? I know there are a lot of gullible people but that doesn't even pass the sniff test.
- itsoktocry 5y agoYes, they did, including this very forum. And it isn't the only thing. What about the solar roof "printing money"? Now they are jacking up prices. Funny how the sentiment is shifting to "no one actually believe this, do they?"
- jjeaff 5y agoThe ceo of a major, publicly traded company said you would be able to. Doesn't seem far fetched to believe him.
- ghaff 5y agoGood one. Because CEOs never misrepresent things even when it's in their financial interest to do so.
- sendbitcoins 5y agoCathy Wood did for one.