Tesla Currently Running Several Weeks Behind On Model 3 Deposit Refunds

DEFINITION of 'Unsecured Creditor'

An individual or institution that lends money without obtaining specified assets as collateral.

This poses a higher risk to the creditor because it will have nothing to fall back on should the borrower default on the loan.

Tesla Deposit Holder = Unsecured Creditor

More from the financial press..things are indeed looking increasingly dire for Tesla...

"Late Friday Tesla released their quarterly 10-Q filing to the SEC. At first it was odd that neither the Investor Update Letter or the conference call broke out the Model S and X sales by model. The 10-Q also did not shed any light. Now we may know why. The biggest drop is U.S. deliveries was in the flagship Model S where sales are projected to have fallen by over 1,000 units in Q2 from Q1, down from 6,100 to 5,095 units (source: InsideEVs.com). Tesla only seems to appreciate transparency when it illuminates "good things."
Tesla recently announced a $3,000 price reduction on the Model X. No company on this planet lowers prices when demand is rising. They only lower prices when demand is falling, having exhausted all sales at the higher price point. This is exactly what is happening with both the Model S and X. With worldwide auto revenues falling (as you will see below) Tesla must act quickly to boost revenues.
The real shocker was Tesla has slipped 0.9%, 72-month financing into the order pages for both Model S and X on Tesla.com. The big players use this routinely to move slow inventory. If Tesla is doing so well with sales, why are they now subsidizing financing of new vehicles? We can assume some of the $1.5 billion in bond money now being raised will be spent financing new car sales. This completely erases any doubts that Tesla is now demand constrained."

Refunds are always slow to come, but even less surprising when come from an unprofitable business.

In addition - we know that Tesla has not been using Generally accepted accounting procedures for its disclosures - and this MIGHT indicate that he has LESS actual Cash on hand than we are lead to believe. YOu can also add in that there may be more requests for refunds - as well as actually less deposits than suggested.

I do not know what state that TESLA is in - but in many - a "deposit" is not money that can be co-mingled with operating money - and must be held in a separate account.

A key indicator for this would be a "going concern" letter issued by Tesla's auditors. This happens when there are not 4 quarters of cash available and the probability of getting new funds is low. For example if the current bond issue struggles and the Model 3 has a lot of production/delivery hiccups things might get dicey mid 2018.

Tesla more likely would be sold before it goes bankrupt. However merging Solar City into Tesla complicates a sale as it is no longer a pure play for a potential automobile company acquirer. You have to wonder if Musk did that deliberately to insure he hangs on.

Musk probably spent the money on speedos for poster shots for the fanboys assuming that no one would dare to back out.

It's OK, you are in the anger stage of mourning the loss of the internal combustion engine. The hardest is depression, but that will pass soon too. It will be fine, electric propulsion is great and it will save the personal automobile. Once you see it this way it will be easier to accept.

"You may be right, we may be crazy" Billy Joel.

If you count plug-in hybrids its clear many, not all, of the folks here would be part electric. As for Pure EV, folks on the site have been pretty clear on the conditions that have to met before they would consider them as their vehicle of choice. It would seem by the data that the majority of the car buying public echos us. Fix the electric "issues" and we'll see.

If Tesla vehicles were, say 25%, cheaper than they were on average, I wonder if it would've sold 25% or more vehicles, perhaps saving the company.