Model 3 [Official] Tesla Model 3

[EnI]

Tesla seeks $1.5 billion in junk bonds to fund Model 3 production

#TECHNOLOGY NEWS
AUGUST 7, 2017 / 12:20 PM / 25 MINUTES AGO

Nick Carey


DETROIT (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) said on Monday it would raise about $1.5 billion through its first-ever high-yield junk bond offering, as the U.S. luxury electric car maker ramps up the production of its new the Model 3 sedan.

The debt offering marks Tesla's debut in the junk-bond market and the company will start road-shows on Monday, IFR reported, citing lead bankers on the deal.

So far, Tesla has been raising money through a combination of equity offerings and convertible bonds, which eventually convert into shares.

Following the announcement, Standard & Poor's reaffirmed its negative outlook for the automaker and assigned a "B-" rating for the bond issue - deep into junk credit territory. S&P also maintained its "B-" long-term corporate credit rating on Tesla.

"The affirmation reflects Tesla's improved liquidity cushion, which in our view somewhat offsets the substantial risk related to the rapid scale-up of its Model 3 production and the significantly high debt burden on its balance sheet," S&P said in a statement on the bonds. "Given the recent launch of the Model 3, scale of Tesla's battery manufacturing investments, the public perception of its technology, and its access to the capital markets, the company's financial commitments appear sustainable for now - albeit with significant execution risks."

Elon Musk-led Tesla is counting on the Model 3, its least pricey car, to become a profitable, mass market manufacturer of electric cars.

Pre-orders for the Model 3, which has a $35,000 base price, have surpassed half a million, averaging about 1,800 per day since its launch late last month.

At the launch, Musk however warned that Tesla would face months of "manufacturing hell" as it increases production of the sedan.

Tesla had over $3 billion in cash on hand at the end of the June quarter, compared with $4 billion as of the previous quarter and $3.25 billion a year earlier.

Tesla's cash burn, expected to top $2 billion this year, has prompted short-sellers like Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn to bet against the Palo Alto, California company.


Musk said last week the company was considering debt to expand cash on hand.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and RBC are the book-runners on the bond offering, IFR reported.

Shares of Tesla, which have risen 67 percent this year, were down $1.92 or more than 0.5 percent at $354.99.

Reporting by Narottam Medhora and Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar and Nick Zieminski

Wall Street ends higher as Dow edges to latest record

The Dow edged up to its ninth record closing high in a row while the S&P ended slightly higher on Monday, with consumer and technology sector gains offsetting losses in energy.

www.reuters.com

 

[Zonda]

Information is mostly readout during service. That is why the OEMs want and need their customers in their authorized repair shops: it is the only place to make money (selling cars is not the most important source of revenue anymore) and it is where all the data comes together. As mentioned above, permanent data collection would not be accepted by most customers.
And here we are again, with our different premises: you test the others by Tesla standards, and I compare Tesla to industry standards.

This sounds like an excuse to keep the current business model alive at all costs because "it's how we currently make money". Or in other words, judge Tesla by industry standards.
EVs require far less service than ICEs which also means a change in business model which naturally the dinosaurs will resist at all cost. To keep it only to save money is a short term solution, eventually competition will drive the service model out.

What will the new business model be? We have yet to see but a likely scenario could be that a large chunk of revenue will be made from the price tag, and additional revenue will come from the car's app store. Tesla will have an app store, as will BMW and the rest. EVs will become so good vehicles that deciding factors for costumers will be looks, available apps and UI(and of course price). Much like the deciding factor between Xbox and PS is what games you prefer and what platform your friends use.
Either way, the revenues from service will quickly go from stream to trickle.

 

[Busty]

This sounds like an excuse to keep the current business model alive at all costs because "it's how we currently make money". Or in other words, judge Tesla by industry standards.
EVs require far less service than ICEs which also means a change in business model which naturally the dinosaurs will resist at all cost. To keep it only to save money is a short term solution, eventually competition will drive the service model out.

What will the new business model be? We have yet to see but a likely scenario could be that a large chunk of revenue will be made from the price tag, and additional revenue will come from the car's app store. Tesla will have an app store, as will BMW and the rest. EVs will become so good vehicles that deciding factors for costumers will be looks, available apps and UI(and of course price). Much like the deciding factor between Xbox and PS is what games you prefer and what platform your friends use.
Either way, the revenues from service will quickly go from stream to trickle.

Your conclusions are pretty spot on. The business model of the big OEMs still relies heavily on the maintenance-associated revenues. And yes, I also judge Tesla by industry standards in this domain. Obvious advantages for Tesla. I see similar advantages in the field of customer relations. These are the areas that I mostly think of when I claim that the old OEMs need to take major steps in new directions.
All I wanted to say in my posts above is that in order to keep the discussion 'clean', you need to be clear about which paradigm you're referring to. When jumping back and forth between paradigms, conclusions will necessarily be flawed and unbalanced. For me, the paradigm still is ICE car, for others it is BEV Tesla-style. And those latter ones should also be willing to hear and acknowledge certain critical words about what they consider the ne plus ultra without trivializing the former and their arguments.

The future model you propose seems highly likely. I'm also putting my money on elaborated car sharing models. I guess that in 2025 there will already be much less individual ownership and more membership in shared pools, instead. This in turn will change the requirements (range, comfort, etc.) for different drivetrain types.

 

[tristatez28lt1]

Electric Vehicle News and Analysis | InsideEVs

Read the latest EV news from the U.S. and around the globe including new model reveals, business news, industry insights, latest technology, and more.

insideevs.com

Here’s What Happens When You Cancel A Tesla Model 3 Reservation

Let’s says you’ve got a Tesla Model 3 reservation, but following the reveal (or perhaps even long ago) you decided to cancel. What happens next?
According to Tesla’s website, you’re free to cancel your reservation at will, but it specifically says that “refunds can take up to three weeks depending on your country of delivery.”

Well, apparently some individuals who’ve cancelled their Model 3 reservations have been waiting much longer than 3 weeks for refunds. As Teslarati explains:

“A recent piece by Wired did a deep dive into the topic, and found that some people have been waiting longer than those 3 weeks to receive their refund.”

“Shashank Chitti, a former Model 3 reservation holder, told the outlet that he was done waiting and frustrated by Tesla’s lack of transparency. He canceled his reservation more than two months ago, but still hasn’t received his refund.”

Chitti says he’s reached out to Tesla multiple times and that each time he’s been kinda pushed aside. Chitti stated:

“Every time I reach out I get the same explanation: They have a lot of cancellations to process, they’ll prioritize my request, and that my refund should go out in the next batch.”

It’s not just Chitti though. Similar complaints have surfaced on Reddit too.

Reddit user UnDosTresPescao posted:

“It has been three months. I have called/emailed them several times over the last month and a half asking about status. Every time they ask for my address and say that a check will be promptly on its way. The check never comes.”

Meanwhile, others report having received their refunds immediately through an all-online process.

Wired’s deep dive revealed that out of the 23 individuals seeking refund that were interviewed, the breakdown went something like this:

• 6 received within three weeks
• 2 were reimbursed within 21 business days
• 7 received refunds after 6 weeks or more
• The remaining claim to have not received a refund still after waiting 2-plus months

Clearly this is something Tesla needs to correct as soon as possible. Refunds should be immediate, as delays (for whatever reason) only serve to hurt the company’s image.. There’s no reason why a credit card refund should take more than a few seconds, let alone weeks or even months.

Source: Teslarati, Wired


Sponsored Content

 

[DjordjeC63]

 

[sako97]

I don't drive my wife's Tesla already because of the touchscreen functionality for almost everything, I can't imagine dealing with this nonsense. The twitter poster is a big Tesla investor, so of course he's praising it.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Either improve the UI to take into account road imperfections or give it a Rolls-Royce suspension.

 

[Sunny]

^Ha, the direction of air would actually be a good thing to control using gesture. And pretty cool in a nerdy way -

 

[Cashmere]

Just as I thought, driver profiles will all be hosted in the cloud. Drivers will never have to worry about adjusting air conditioning, mirrors settings, seat settings, nav address book, radio presets, music playlists as all car settings will simply sync across any other Tesla which the owner drives, regardless of whether it is a model S,3 or X. This feature will be a game changer when Tesla launches its self driving car network.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Rainer271]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Matski]

Just as I thought, driver profiles will all be hosted in the cloud. Drivers will never have to worry about adjusting air conditioning, mirrors settings, seat settings, nav address book, radio presets, music playlists as all car settings will simply sync across any other Tesla which the owner drives, regardless of whether it is a model S,3 or X. This feature will be a game changer when Tesla launches its self driving car network.

Mobilizing a network of shareable level 5 autonomous cars is a technological marvel... not having to tweak the HVAC controls for a moment when you get on-board, isn't, IMHO. A lot of people (myself included) use their phones/tablets as an audio source and for nav already so I'm really not sure I'd consider the labour-saving on such trivial things as mirror or seat position as a "game changer", especially as those two things are perhaps less important in a self-driving car - but that's just me I guess.

 

[Yaz]

Current keys can be setup to store all your preferred settings. Nothing new here, except you're just using an app on your phone instead of a physical key.
Does this mean you still have to launch your app everytime you need to unlock/lock your car? What about when you're at the beach with no signal?

 

[Cashmere]

First Model 3 Long Range (LR) delivered to a forum member on Model3ownersclub.com

 

[Centurion]

I'm so excited about buying this car but will wait for the Model Y for the added practicality of higher seating position and bigger boot. Hopefully Tesla can build the Model 3 and Y on the same production line as I predict the SUV will be more popular in some markets - and will retain it's value better too. However, it means that I might need to wait until mid-late 2019 to replace the X3 depending on how soon the Model Y will be available in the UK.

It's funny how radical and out of touch the single touch screen looked at launch, but now it makes more sense than the dual(triple?) screen setup in the Velar and A8.

 

[SCOTT27]

Ah the first signs of Autumn.

 

[Cashmere]

Rear wheel drive
Rear mounted engine (motor)
Naturally aspirated

Sign me up!

 

[klier]

A shame it's such a disgusting little chubby thing with hideous interior

But I do love the tech and effort.

 

[mini_cooper4]

The above pictures are a wet dream but as Klier points out it's far from pretty and sports an interior that IMO takes simplicity so far it reaches a point where it simply looks cheap and soulless.

 

[Yaz]

No more stuck pop-out door handles.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Centurion]

To those who are still salty about the lack of a speedometer in front of the driver, all Minis have everything but the Rev counter off centre from the driver. Yet millions have been sold.

 

[Matski]

To those who are still salty about the lack of a speedometer in front of the driver, all Minis have everything but the Rev counter off centre from the driver. Yet millions have been sold.

View attachment 423841View attachment 423842

This is no longer the case, the latest generations have the speedo and the tach in the usual place.

But besides that, the lack of speedo directly infront of the driver is (to me at least) not the only issue.

The design and ergonomics of the III are certainly questionable, and are never going to be to everyone's taste - as is the case with most car interiors I'm sure - however the Model III has taken both things quite far towards one extreme. That doesn't make it inherently worse, but it does mean a larger number of people are going to look at it, and simply not like it - no need for salt.

Allied to the fact I personally don't like the look of the Tesla interior, and I think overuse of touchscreen controls in cars is a folly - what really turns me off it in the Tesla is that I suspect strongly it's all a cost saving measure.