Tesla Falls Short Of Model 3 Sales Goal In 3rd Quarter Due To Production Bottlenecks

The longer it takes Tesla to ramp up production - the closer Competitors are in bringing more models to compete with them. AND with competition comes an end to the "rigid" pricing schemes that already are being changed.

WHen you add in the advantages of having more sales/service outlets competing with each other - Tesla will eventually have to open A LOT more sales points - and service points or they will lose the competitive advantage they have had. Once it is gone - they will never get it back so they better be really profitable soon. The market is not going to give them another round of financing this time.

Tesla's goal was to build 1,500 Model 3s for Q3 2017 but it only built 260. Talk about a huge miss. The bigger problem for Tesla is that not only did it miss big, but the competition is just months away from competing in the all-electric space.

Audi and Mercedes-Benz are both going to launch all-electric vehicles to market in 2018. They have a dealer network that is several times the size of Tesla's both in the United States and globally.

That Model 3 interior and production schedule better be looked at very hard over the next 6-8 months because the clock is ticking for Tesla to ramp up production.

"Tesla's goal was to build 1,500 Model 3s for Q3 2017 but it only built 260. Talk about a huge miss."

You know what an exponential growth curve looks like, right ? You can split hair all you want, but Tesla is still at the base of the growth - it is not even out of the gate yet. If the steady state planned production rate (2018 and beyond) is 500K or more, then 1000 short fall is "in the mud".

I am still on schedule or even ahead if I can get my Model 3 by end of this year. Even better if it gets here by Thanksgivings.

No one has legitimate competition to the Model 3 in 2018. Model S... maybe if the Mission E is released next year.

So far 0 out of 8 reservation holders at my work got their deposit back--very small sample size but I doubt they are getting more cancellations than new orders at this point. I saw the interior in person, it actually looks amazing and you can rest assured every car in this class will look similar in 4-8 years.

Most of the robots are operational, some parts are still being built by hand but not for long.

By the end of this year, Tesla will have burned through $10 billion in cash without making a single penny in profit. The 'make it or break it' point is approaching very quickly and Musk seems very distracted by Hyperloop, SpaceX, etc.

Their cash burn rate is unsustainable. His plan is to sell more 3s than Honda sells Accords at a transaction price that is nearly double. Several analysts have reviewed their plans and the average transaction price will be about $52 - 54,000. And the tax incentive is going away soon. At this price point, the best selling competitor sells about 70,000 units per year. There are very formidable cars at this price and more coming. I do not see a path to 400,000 per year.

No other car in history received 400k orders 1.5 years before the car even started being manufactured. Would 400k people order an Accord that way? I don't think so. The demand is there, what is missing is manufacturing. I think the demand issue is a harder problem to solve than supply. If they can make 400k a year, they will sell 400k a year.