It has to do with the leases. If you just sell the car, then you record revenue in the amount of the sale * as soon as the buyer takes possession (typically th

It has to do with the leases. If you just sell the car, then you record revenue in the amount of the sale * as soon as the buyer takes possession (typically this is a dealer, and the dealer takes possession when the car leaves the factory gate). Since Tesla is doing their own lease transactions with a guaranteed repurchase price, the GAAP rules state the lease payments must be treated similar to rental income. In the long term, it will balance out, but Tesla is providing non-GAAP accounting because changes to the lease/buy-outright mix will cause massive swings to the GAAP numbers, but that isn't really representative of the underling health of the company. The non-GAAP numbers basically assume all cars are bought outright. * less expected warranty cost.