Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Tesla’s growth ambition comes with a $175 billion price tag

Tesla’s growth ambition comes with a $175 billion price tag

CEO Elon Musk sees infinite demand for Teslas, provides little insight into next-generation vehicle

Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. spent around $28 billion to cement itself as the world’s most valuable car company. It is now preparing to invest roughly five times that as it strives to meet the next objective: Becoming the world’s largest car maker by volume.

Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn said publicly for the first time on Wednesday that Tesla could need to spend nearly $150 billion more to achieve its long-term goals, which includes selling 20 million vehicles a year. Today’s largest auto maker sells roughly half that annually, while Tesla delivered around 1.3 million vehicles to customers globally last year.

Tesla leadership, in their presentation to investors gathered at the company’s Austin-area factory, spoke to both the scale of the company’s ambitions and how they had overcome hurdles, including reducing manufacturing costs. What stood out, as much as anything, was what they didn’t talk about in detail: a new vehicle.

A man wearing a face mask following the coronavirus disease (1COVID1-19) outbreak walks by Tesla Model 3 sedans and Tesla Model X sport utility vehicle at a new Tesla showroom in Shanghai, China May 8, 2020. 


Tesla hinted at coming models, displaying a slide with two vehicles cloaked in sheets, without sharing specifics. Wall Street had been clamoring for details on when Tesla might introduce a new, less expensive car that would expand its reach.

Wells Fargo analysts called it disappointing that "there was no reveal, timeline, or even basic product description of the next gen model."

The company currently offers four-passenger vehicles, with a fifth—the Cybertruck pickup—slated to hit the market later this year. The least expensive of those offerings is priced at more than $40,000 in the U.S.

Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk stands in front of the newly unveiled all-electric battery-powered Tesla's Cybertruck at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019.


It would be jumping the gun, Mr. Musk said, to discuss a coming vehicle, saying the company would have a separate product event. However, he and others underscored the importance of affordability.

Any new, more affordable model is unlikely to contribute meaningfully to Tesla’s sales until 2025 at the earliest, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi Jr. said in a note to investors. In the meantime, he said, Tesla will need to lower prices to hit its growth targets.

Tesla shares slumped more than 6% in Thursday trading.

Tesla Gigafactory Texas on Jan. 17


Mr. Musk, the chief executive, confirmed plans to build a new factory in Mexico while expanding the company’s existing plants. Tesla currently makes vehicles in the U.S., China and Germany. Mr. Musk has said the company is likely to need roughly a dozen factories to meet its long-term sales goal.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the location of the company’s new global engineering headquarters. The facility will be in the former computer-maker Hewlett Packard building in Palo Alto. Photo: Tesla

Tesla will build its next-generation vehicle in Mexico and elsewhere, the company indicated.

Mr. Kirkhorn, the CFO, said his investment forecast of up to $175 billion, including around $28 billion already spent, was intended to illustrate the feasibility of Tesla’s goals.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, left, talks to Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, at the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. The first European factory in Gruenheide, designed for 500,000 vehicles per ye



"We may choose to vertically integrate more into things. We may find efficiencies elsewhere," he said.

Meanwhile, Tesla is getting into the business of making the materials needed to produce the battery cells that power its electric vehicles. It broke ground on a lithium refinery near Corpus Christi, Texas, and is building a battery materials facility in the Austin area, said Drew Baglino, the company’s senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering.

"We are also trying to accelerate the pace of the industry by trying some new things that are a little bit more scalable and de-risking certain innovations that improve productivity," Mr. Baglino said.


Tesla is expanding from a position of relative financial strength. The company has weathered periods of extreme financial strain, narrowly avoiding bankruptcy in 2008 and again roughly a decade later as it struggled to ramp up production of the Model 3 sedan, Mr. Musk has said. Now, Tesla is sitting on a war chest of around $22 billion in cash and short-term investments.

The company, which has reported 14 profitable quarters in a row, slashed vehicle prices earlier this year—some by nearly 20% in the U.S.—amid concerns about sagging demand. It has since nudged some prices back up. Tesla found that "even small changes in the price have a big effect on demand, very big," Mr. Musk said.

He again dismissed the notion that Tesla could struggle to find buyers. "Demand for our vehicles, in terms of desire to own them, may as well be infinite," he said.

Unleashing that demand will require cost reductions, though, Tesla powertrain engineering leader Colin Campbell said. "If we want to make EVs more accessible to people, they have to be cheaper," he said. "We can make lower cost products that are still efficient and compelling and we can make them at scale."

Shanghai, China - August 1, 2020: Exterior view of automobile plant Tesla Gigafactory 3 located in Pudong District, Shanghai, China.


Scaling up manufacturing hasn’t always been easy for Tesla. The company faced "production hell" in the early days of making the Model 3. At one point last year, Mr. Musk called the company’s new factories in Germany and Texas "gigantic money furnaces." It has taken Tesla two decades to produce four million vehicles.

On Wednesday, Mr. Musk reflected on the challenge ahead.

"The hard part is building the cars and the entire supply chain that goes with the cars. This is a logistics challenge of extraordinary difficulty," he said.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
×