Tesla In Peril? Dodgy Hand Built Model 3 Quality Fails To Impress Analyst

re "Tesla In Peril?" -- It all depends on what you mean by "in peril." Tela's modus operandi, since Day-1, has been to depending on government grants and a river of investor cash to stay alive. Was that peril? They've always bled red ink, to the tune of ~$4,000 per car sold, thereby requiring more loans and more investor cash to keep operating. Was that peril? About 2/3 of Tesla Model Ses needed their drivetrains replaced before 60,000 miles. Peril? Analysts have been edgy that Tesla still has no viable plan to ever become profitable, and the SEC expressed "concern" about Tesla's non-compliant accounting practices. Previous analysis have noted that production Teslas routinely have quality issues, like misaligned body and door panels, and electric door handles that fail shortly after they received a new Tesla? Did any of these point at "Tesla In Peril?"

Tesla has an enthusiastic and devoted fan base. Tesla's stock trends up and to the right. No problem. No peril.

For folks who haven't read any of my previous posts pertaining to Tesla, and for folks like BobM, who can only imagine ("see") the worst in others: Yeah, my post on 11/13/2017 1:29:14 PM was sarcasm. I've always thought that Tesla is skating on thin ice as a business. But as long as investors keep pouring money into them, the show goes on.

Wow @BobM, way to show your true colors. Did you just come back from your KKK meeting or something?

SanJoseDriver: +1 :-/

BobM never fails to deliver his quota of hate, derision, and racism. He does Alt.Right proud.

Hey "fiftysix," another Alt.Right-er! I'm sure MDarringer and BobM will enjoy your company. Misery sure does love company :-)

I am continually impressed with how Elon Musk has managed to run Tesla. One innovative product after another, soaring stock prices, and an answer to America's energy problems of the future. He should be commended!

Lets start with the first production EV that people actually purchased, followed by the second. First company to do OTE updates (other manufacturers are still trying to figure this out 5 years later), longest range production EV tech, fastest 0-60 performance of any car and doing it in a sedan. How about cutting the middleman and selling cars directly to consumers without hassle or first car company to vertically integrate energy into their product portfolio.

Whether you are a fan or not - Tesla now has reached the point where it has to deliver BIG TIME on the Model 3 - or face a major crunch.

THe sales of other Tesla cars have pretty much dried up - so there is no cash flow right now. AS a result - they are plowing through their cash at a huge rate - and do not have the ability to go back for more without major cost now. In addition -- every day delayed means other competition will become available from other - larger - companies that actually have a history of making high volume cars. The window closes a little more every day.

However - Hand made prototypes usually have fit and finish problems -and are not indicative of later production - so I do not put much value into the actual basis to the thread. Tesla has had to produce some very expensive cars - and eventually they were able to produce acceptable quality. I would expect the same for the Model 3 - since at its price level - complete perfection is not even requirement.

The final Tesla story will be how long it takes to fix these problems - because they do not have years - only a few months.

@TomM - You are correct. Press cars are known to be early production and can be off by a bit here and there. I have seen video's where the presenter points out deficiencies. You are also right on what needs to be done for them to succeed. The Model 3 needs to be a runaway success and they need to deliver perfect cars in vast quantities to make it so. Even believers need to be shown a miracle now and then (even a small one) to keep the faith.

This will be the car that finally sinks Tesla. The Model X was a stupid stumble and the Model 3 was introduced 2 years before it was ready.

How have sales of Tesla's other cars dried up? Sales of S and X were at an all-time high last quarter?

Tesla's valuation is dependent upon it successfully bringing the Model 3 to market. While it's still early, Tesla better move on fast from making Model 3s by hand if it's to meet its lofty sales targets.

If Tesla continues to face production problems with the Model 3, its stock will see a drop as investors realize the company's forecasts were overly optimistic.

This is my last "tick..tock; tick..tock"

Once the cash dries up, it is just a matter of time.

All you Tesla naysayers are going to look pretty ridiculous in less than a year. Mark my words.

Place your bets and short Tesla (if you're an idiot)

SanJoseDriver: TSLA is one of the most heavily shorted stocks on the exchange. Historically, Tesla shorters have been coming up short (pun intended), though recently, they have made some *small* gains.

I believe Tesla will eventually lose investor confidence, possibly forcing Musk to use one of his more profitable ventures to buy some of Tesla, thereby pour some cash into it to keep going. I wouldn’t dare try to bet on when this might happen, so it’s hard to predict how much longer Tesla shorters will keep getting the short end of the stick.

My hope for Tesla, is that their ongoing angst ends up being just teething pains, and they end up being a raging long-term success story. I hope that a few years, I’m the guy writing “I was wrong about Tesla.” That would be good for everyone!

It is the most shorted stock and also never have investors collectively lost more money on any shorted stock in history. When the Model 3 production kinks get worked out (I hope soon), you can expect to see stock in the $400 range.

It wouldn't surprise me if Rolls Royce hand build more cars "per day" than the model 3, using less people Tesla retrenched a few weeks ago!

Oh, that's cute! Rolls sells about 4,000 cars a year made by about 1,300 employees, while Tesla sold less than 400 Model 3s for the past 3 months and laid off an estimated thousand (not all factory), so you are almost right!