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Tesla Temporarily Stops Model 3 Production Line (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Tesla is temporarily stopping production of its Model 3 electric car, amid a long waiting list and several missed targets. The company, however, says the shutdown is intended to resolve some of the problems that have contributed to the numerous delays in getting the cars to hundreds of thousands of reservation holders. The automaker said Monday it would halt production of the Model 3 sedan for 4-5 days at its Fremont, California assembly plant, BuzzFeed reported. Tesla, however, says this is part of a planned period of downtime that was similar to another shutdown in February, and it isn't intended to have an affect on the company's current production targets for the car. "Our Model 3 production plan includes periods of planned downtime in both Fremont and Gigafactory 1," a Tesla spokesperson told The Verge. "These periods are used to improve automation and systematically address bottlenecks in order to increase production rates. This is not unusual and is in fact common in production ramps like this."
Why such obsession over trivial and routine manufacturing decisions at Tesla? Are we also going to get "Janitors at Tesla factory had to put overtime to unclog plugged toilet" headlines?
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In other news, Slashdot temporarily shut down it's web site this morning. But no comment on that.
Why such obsession over trivial and routine manufacturing decisions at Tesla?
Experienced automakers wouldn't be going through that. They know how to deal with it. This is yet another sign that Tesla has incompetent management.
Also, Tesla is going to have a huge cash shortfall - enough for it to go bust. Musk seems to think that Model 3 sales will be enough to keep the company afloat - and then this happens - AGAIN. Musk insists that another cash infusion will not be necessary, but it looks like it will be.
See, the obsession is that investors have dumped BILLIONS into Tesla and it has been lost - yes, LOST - period.
The California State Teachers PENSION has a shit load of Tesla stock (WTF were they thinking?!?!) and others have billions in JUNK Tesla bonds on the line - and it ALL rests on Model 3 sales keeping the company afloat.
If the Musk/Tesla fanboys would STFU and actually read and understand a Tesla financial statement they would see the above FACTS.
Tesla is going to go bust by the end of the year and it's going to take out the shareholders and the bond holders.
And everyone who is a member of the California Teachers Pension should start to lawyer up.
Lastly, Musk is an idiot and his fanboys are gullible morons.
Tesla is the most shorted company right now.
The problem with the situation is that most investors *want* Tesla to fail so that they can make money from the short sales.
OTOH, Elon Musk is aware of the shorts and tends to do something to prop up the stock price whenever it drops a little. Like announcing a new model or a new production goal. (The production goals are never met, but the announcements make the stock tick up a couple of percent.)
So right now we're awash in bear market opinions, and many suggestive (but worthless) statements keep making the rounds such as:
"Tesla has never made a profit"
"Tesla loses money on every car they sell"
"Tesla only survives due to government handouts"
"Tesla is so far behind that some people will get their cars $SOMENUMBER years from now"
"Tesla is burning through cash, will be bankrupt in $NUM months"
"Musk is a serial liar"
Those are the highlights - have I missed any?
To analyze #4 as an example ("burning through cash"), note that this is something the CFO and CEO keep track of and anticipate, and are responsible for raising more cash before the bankruptcy actually happens. Also, specifically Tesla predicts that they won't need another round of financing, but that option is certainly open if they need it.
It's nigh impossible to get an accurate assessment of Tesla's worth right now, due to corruption in reporting.
Tesla expects to turn a profit for the first time later this year. Their stock will probably skyrocket when that happens.
When most big automotive companies start regular production, they don't stop unless something is *really* screwed up. First, you do one-offs with the manufacturing engineers watching everything. Then you do a run of engineering samples that get pulled apart to make sure the line is running properly. Then you do a run of pre-production vehicles that usually get sent out for destructive testing. THEN, when all the bugs and kinds are worked out and the end product is thoroughly QA'd, you start regular production AND YOU DON'T STOP.
There are regularly scheduled shutdowns for plant maintenance and line switch-overs (usually in July) but they aren't shutting a brand new, high-demand production line after three quarters of relatively light production for maintenance, even (and especially) for a new model.
The money hasn't been lost yet, ....
Yes, the money has been lost. Salaries, utilities, day to day expenses, insurance, etc .....
That money is all gone - forever.
The money spent on CAPEX, although in tangible assets, won't be worth that much when the company goes bust.
Cite: Every goddamn cash flow statement for the last 15 years. See the huge NEGATIVE number "Cash Flows from operations"
LOST.
You need to learn how to read a financial statement and understand what the numbers mean.
And don't cite CNBC because they all have shit for brains. The Economist, Bloomberg, WSJ (for financial subjects only) are valid sources.
Found the guy that works at Tesla
Or has invested in them :D
Fair point: I am invested in Tesla.
They must need to shut shut down the line to let those robots cool off from that air friction!
Shutdown production because the waiting list is too long? Wow, that will make things even better. Another Obamanation moment brought to you by Millennials, born without a clue.
the shutdown is intended to resolve some of the problems that have contributed to the numerous delays
Translation: They put everything they had into the last couple of weeks in the first quarter to make the numbers look less bad. Now they're out of parts.