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Tesla earns $690M less than expected in third quarter
- outside1234 3y agoNot sure why this is a surprise - they cut margin (by reducing prices) to maintain share.
- mvdtnz 3y agoI searched the article and the comment section for "surprise" and couldn't find anything. What makes you think anyone was surprised by this?
- ksherlock 3y agoIf you search the headline you'll find the word "expected".
- cantaloupe 3y agoI’m far from a financial analyst myself, but I’m pretty sure the people who come up with the “expected” numbers are financial analysts who would be well aware of Tesla’s public pricing changes. So a better way of looking at is that people with a vested interest in correctly estimating earnings based on all available knowledge were surprised to the downside.
- DoesntMatter22 3y agoThat basically sums it up. Year over year their sales are way up but people who guessed (overoptimistically) what the number is are disappointed. Overall the company is doing great but interest rates really are killing any sort of purchase like this right now.
- pclmulqdq 3y agoIf you take an ensemble average of the estimates over all companies and all quarters, they do a pretty good job. Tesla just underperformed the market.
- FireBeyond 3y agoGenerally the goal there is to equal out by increasing volume. Decreasing prices and not making up for it is kinda an oops. And "less than expected" - I mean, people are not unaware of the price reductions, so that says there was some failure along the way.
- wolverine876 3y ago> Generally the goal there is to equal out by increasing volume. The economics are a bit trickier: For any good or service, the demand curve is curved; it's not x * y = R, where R is some fixed revenue number. If you think about it, of course you can affect revenue by changing the price. Otherwise Tesla could charge $1 or $1,000,000 per car and bring in the same revenue and profit. On the curve there's an optimal point where volume * price = maximum marginal profit. The Tesla VP of sales chose the best point that they thought was possible, and it turned out to not work. Now they have shifted to a less potentially profitable point. To sum up: Tesla probably is less profitable at this price point than they planned on for the former price point.
- m348e912 3y agoI guess this was expected with the price cutting of many of their models over recent months. It was an indication that they weren't selling as quickly as they hoped. The wrinkle here is that the cyber truck starts delivery in November, so that could lead to a resurgence in overall sales volume. Not sure if it's wise to short Tesla just yet. (not financial advice obv)
- nilptr 3y agoIt'll be interesting to see how well the Cybertruck sells... it's rather niche mostly because it's fucking hideous.
- red-iron-pine 3y agoand im not sure it can actually "truck" in the same way a F-150 or Chevy can
- nunez 3y agoIMO the Cybertruck is going to end the F150's dominance if it lives up to its expectations. You'll see almost none for the first year, some in two years, and way too many in year three.
- Grazester 3y agoYou're kidding right? The F150 is an actual work truck. Designed as such with parts readily available when it brakes.
- ilyt 3y agoMost people buying them don't buy it for work and maybe use it to move a couch once a year. So I guess shitty EV pickup from overhyped brand might sell there...
- dieselgate 3y agoThey're not uncommon to see as a fleet vehicle
- bottlepalm 3y agoI wonder if they will stop making the S/X, they just don't sell enough of them to warrant supporting the lines. Just make the nice things in those models options on the 3/Y and simplify the business. The best car is no car.
- redox99 3y agoNah, the Model S (especially the plaid) is their flagship. Even if economically it doesn't make too much sense, it elevates the brand.
- fivestarman 3y agoover a year ago, you told me on this platform that elon is an incredible engineer. Do you still think so?
- ClassyJacket 3y agoThey've already stopped producing them for right hand drive countries, which means it's unavailable in Australia entirely. But I can't imagine it's not worth it to produce them at all, they'd be far higher margin than the 3 or Y. Marques Brownlee showing his Plaid off on YouTube constantly has to be about the best marketing that company can get. So maybe, but I doubt it.
- m463 3y agoI don't think it supports the vision to not replace different classes of gas cars. To replace ICE cars, wouldn't you need one for each segment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classification
- ta2234234242 3y agoNo you don't. You just need to provide a luxurious experience at a good price.
- FireBeyond 3y agoI feel like with Tesla's build quality and after purchase service being "polarizing", that may be easier said than done.
- wnevets 3y agoI'm curious to know what their numbers would be if elon didn't completely unmask during his reign of twitter.
- borissk 3y agoThe guy is both a genius (Tesla and SpaceX are amazing companies) and an idiot (antagonizing the liberal audience, that is Tesla's main customer and his own main source of wealth).
- pptr 3y agoor a genius by getting more conservatives to buy electric vehicles.
- borissk 3y agoThe majority of the conservatives have long ago made their mind that global warming is a conspiracy and EV buyers are liberal idiots - don't think there's anything Elon can do to change their mind. Those are the type of people who'd never admit there were wrong.
- ilyt 3y ago"Not admitting they are wrong" is not unique to them, happens to every extreme equally.
- er4hn 3y agoI'm halfway through Walter Issacson's bio on him and I don't get the impression he cares about liberals. He seems to view his companies as something closer to an e/acc vision of saving the world through better technology.
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- FredPret 3y agoI always thought I'd buy a Tesla, and especially the Cybertruck. But then the revelations came out about employees watching people through the cameras, sharing memes, etc. Now I'm sure the customers signed some P.O.S. T&C that has them giving permission for this hidden away in the legalese. But still - I'd buy a dumb petrol car if there was one.
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- arbuge 3y ago> a dumb petrol car if there was one Your only realistic option for that now is to buy an old used one: https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/6/23861047/car-user-privacy-report-mozilla-foundation-data-collection https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/6/23861047/car-user-privacy-...
- 542458 3y agoIs that really true? As far as I can tell Mozilla is saying that car manufacturers typically give bad/no opt-outs or data controls (which is a very legitimate thing to highlight!)… but you can still buy new cars (at least a couple years ago when I last looked) that aren’t really equipped for gathering mass quantities of personal data. It’s not that hard to find a car that doesn’t have an always-active internet connection or internal cameras or whatnot. Buy one of those and you’re essentially in the same place as if you had bought an older car - the manufacturer gets no data unless you physically bring them the car, and even then what they can realistically get is pretty limited.
- seoulmetro 3y agoYes. You would be the dumb one if you thought any complicated piece of machine/software like the cars produced today is not totally tracking you. Dumb cars aren't being manufactured anymore. They are being sold still, hence used.
- orwin 3y ago
- Ancalagon 3y agoI’m envisioning the car Elon is in that is “self-driving” is actually being steered remotely by some director scared to death of losing his job or killing his boss. Not saying it’s not self-driving. That’s just what came to mind.
- ClassyJacket 3y agoI mean it tried to run a red light on a livestream, so if they faked it they either did a terrible job or deliberately added a life threatening mistake.
- er4hn 3y agolatency on controls would be a real killer. I suppose you could stuff the director in the frunk, a la Mechanical Turk, to solve that problem.
- mrmincent 3y agoWe’ve switched from aiming to get a Tesla to just a Mazda PHEV instead, mainly because my wife doesn’t want to bankroll anymore Elon behaviour. Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a few conversations like that around the dinner table these days.
- gwicks56 3y agoSimilar. Waited ages in Australia for the Y to arrive, then Elon went nuts, then real competition started to arrive. Everything from Audi to BYD here now, some even have buttons where buttons make UX sense.
- andrewinardeer 3y agoAn electric Audi in Australia has an entry level 2022 sedan model price of AUD157,000 is hardly "real competition". A Model 3 2023 Tesla entry level 2023 has a price of $61,000. BYD Atto3, sure. Entry level order price is AUD48,011. But if one is so sensitive and basing purchasing options on an American billionaire's behaviour then surely you would also take into consideration that purchasing a BYD is financing multiple multi-millionaires who are members of, and have close ties to, the human rights abusing and despotically led CCP. Which one is the lesser evil here? * https://www.carsguide.com.au/audi/e-tron https://www.carsguide.com.au/audi/e-tron * https://www.tesla.com/en_au/model3/design#overview https://www.tesla.com/en_au/model3/design#overview * https://bydautomotive.com.au/atto-3 https://bydautomotive.com.au/atto-3
- abenga 3y agoIf you tie your company to the your identity person as tightly as Musk has done, you shouldn't be surprised when people make purchasing decisions based on the political and social views you espouse so loudly. Nobody knows who BYD's leadership is unless they look really hard.
- somsak2 3y agoso lack of awareness makes support of that behavior more acceptable?
- jeo123 3y agoMainly because recessions start to pinch USA and in force in China. EU themselves start to see lacking of cheap energy is biting into their gdps.
- borissk 3y agoTesla is preparing for the coming onslaught of Chinese BEVs by lowering prices. Chinese companies have currently over 180 big ships for transporting cars ordered and in production. Very soon the Chinese car makers will take over the auto world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73KmleCuBg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73KmleCuBg