Tesla's Lack Of A Dealer Network Becoming A Major Issue For Owners

Wow, this is a big surprise! All the stuff that is happening to Tesla is 100% obvious and 100% predictable.

In other news, Tesla stock is down from a high of $265/sh in April 2016 to $182 today - that's a 30% decline.

Perhaps it is a house of cards.

All auto stocks are down since the beginning of the year:

-50% Ford
-26% Mercedes
-24% Tesla
-22% Nissan
-19% Honda
-18% Fiat Chrysler

Looks like Ford and MBZ are an even bigger house of cards.

Ahhh...but Tesla is not an automobile company; it is a TECHNOLOGY company.

Tesla = Approx enterprise value (EV) = $28B; Revenue $3.8B; Employees 10,161. EV/Revenue = 7.38X / Revenue/Employee = $373,979

Ford = Approx enterprise value (EV) = $152B; Revenue $145B; Employees 187,000. EV/Revenue = 1.05X / Revenue/Employee = $775,401

If Tesla was a true auto company, it would be trading at $26/share (and be down from there this year). If that was the case, it would not exist in its current form.

Well your first statement was based on % decline, while your second statement is based on how you believe a stock should be valued. As a investment %, Ford and Mercedes are down more than Tesla.

Imagine that

I can say that wait times have definitely gone up for service, but the service experience is still great. Free car pickup at work along with a free loaner (usually a performance model). The worst experience I had is when I got a BMW 3-series as a loaner instead of a Model S one year.

Many new service centers will be open before the Model 3 comes out. Some areas are already well-covered (7 in the Bay Area, 7 in LA, 6 in the New York City area, 3 in Chicago). I see 8 are coming soon to the US, all are in new regions not currently served. It is only a matter of time until the gaps are filled. Look at a Supercharger map 2 years ago and look at it today as an example of how quickly Tesla can grow infrastructure.

SanJoseDriver - how close are you to the local Tesla "service center"? While your statement may be good now - Multiply the number of cars by at least 4 - and 6 service centers in the NYC metro area is simply a drop in the bucket. In addition - free pickup and free loaner are being done currently for the Model S and X - but I would say that it will not be true forever -nor will it be true for lower priced Model 3s. Distance to a service center when you are OUT of warranty and not getting picked up will indeed be a BIG problem - one of just many I have already pointed out.

@TomM - I'm about 20min away, so pretty close. Tesla is specifically not trying to make a profit off of service, but is providing it as close to cost as possible. So the real question is are people okay paying an average of $500-$600 per year for service/maintenance at today's service level, or will Model 3 owners demand to pay less in exchange for fewer perks?

In the not too distant future, a Model 3 will be able to drive itself to the service station without a driver and a loaner can be provided the same way. That is one way of getting the same service level without higher costs. I just hope Tesla waits until this is possible before trimming down the perks.

The Model 3 is also designed to require less maintenance. It has at least one thousand fewer parts than the Model S/X and a simpler architecture. If there are 4-6 the number of cars, hopefully only 2-3x the number of centers will be needed. That might be overly optimistic, but I'm sure Tesla will scale the centers along with sales. Most of the backlog right now was due to early Model X defects. The 3 has to be much more refined from day 1 to avoid similar issues.

@BobM - On the Tesla Motors side, that is total BS. Tesla was the first company to actually PAY BACK their loan, and with interest. The taxpayers ate a turd with most of the other loans to traditional American car companies. The $7,500 federal subsidy on EVs is a rounding error compared to our subsidies for oil and gas.

As for SolarCity, I have to admit that I don't know enough to comment on what was spent. I'm sure there are very heavy incentives for solar energy. Since it is one of the energies that will be heavily used in the future, it makes sense for us to invest in innovation to prevent companies in China and elsewhere from dominating future energy markets. I'm sure Trump will kill those subsidies and go with old money special interests, so we'll see how solar does at that point. The solar roof product is a really interesting concept--if it is not much more expensive than a normal roof it will still sell even without subsidies.

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience SanJoseDriver. Getting a BMW as a loaner is insulting, they might as well make you take the bus. Atleast give you a benz or something.