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The Californian manufacturer of electric cars has already achieved its stated goal and posted a profit in the third quarter. Tesla shareholders could for the moment relax, if Elon Musk had not already announced his next adventure: Tesla wants to start carpooling.
Christiane Hanna Henkel, New York
On September 17, 2018, Elon Musk, Tesla's boss and founder of SpaceX, announced that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa would be the first space tourist to launch a lunar orbit for five years in a new monster rocket. (Image: Chris Carlson / AP)
As Elon Musk announced in August on the occasion of the announcement of the second quarter financial results Tesla reports show earnings and positive free cash flow in Q3 and Q4, which is particularly skeptical. The company, which has been publicly traded since 2010, has so far only recorded twice a quarterly profit. And the high cost of building a factory in which the high-end niche car manufacturer first wanted to achieve the difficult production of high volumes would instead lead to further losses and to the use billions more. In any case, this has been badumed by many observers.
Sales doubled
On Wednesday, Tesla boss Musk was able to better teach several of his skeptics: the Californian manufacturer announced a profit of 312 million dollars for the third quarter, after a loss of 718 billion dollars in the previous quarter. Free cash flow was $ 881 million, down from $ 740 million in the prior quarter. Revenues almost doubled to $ 6.1 billion from second quarter
Of course, despite the difficult process of building a production line for Model 3, Tesla was able to control its costs in the third quarter. Behind the figures is also a clear success in the construction of mbad production: during the last week of the quarter, the volume of production had increased to 5,300 pieces.
In addition, Model 3 is a success in the market. Approximately 50,000 units were sold during the three-month period. According to Tesla, Model 3 was the car that generated the highest sales in the United States – and the fifth largest in terms of unit sales. Also make good progress in China. The production site of Model 3 will already produce cars next year for the local market. Next year, the car will also be offered in Europe.
Image slightly rehabilitated
What do the quarterly numbers mean now and what do they not mean? First and foremost, Musk's failed credibility has been restored to some degree. His image had suffered not only growing losses, but also his tirades on Twitter and his foul behavior towards badysts. Since then, he has been monitoring stock market monitoring more closely. The latter recently ordered him to resign as Chairman of the Board; Musk has been able to save himself the position of CEO until now and he will remain on the board of directors.
The debate over a possible imminent bankruptcy or forced sale, for lack of funds from Tesla, must first be set aside. After all, the group now has about $ 3 billion in cash, after $ 2.2 billion at the end of the second quarter. And Musk stressed on Wednesday again that he was banking on a fourth-quarter profit and positive free cash flow.
Despite good growth in the third quarter, Tesla's long-term success is uncertain. Although it may seem that production technology is moving from a niche to a mbad market, it is still far from certain that demand will be sustainable. Will Tesla be able to sell enough versions of Model 3 whose price promises high margins? And how is the competitive situation evolving? Almost all car manufacturers are entering the electric-powered segment, including companies operating in the higher price segment or the luxury segment, such as Tesla.
Musk wants to compete with Uber
In this context, Musk spoke Wednesday another vision for the manufacturer: Tesla would soon enter the business of Ride Sharing and compete directly suppliers Uber and Lyft. The group will give owners of autonomous Tesla models the opportunity to drive cars as part of the Tesla Ride Sharing platform; If the demand for driving services exceeds the supply of cars, Tesla will use its own cars.
Tesla shares rose 9% after trading hours in New York.
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