The profitable quarter of Tesla has not been translated by Panasonic

In the third quarter of 2018, Panasonic lost $ 65 million in the business unit that manufactures battery cells to power Tesla's EVs, according to Panasonic. The Wall Street Journal. The company said it needed to increase production and hire workers faster than expected, while Tesla quickly rolled out production of 4,300 model 3 vehicles a week.

In September, the head of the automotive division of Panasonic said that the company was about to complete three new production lines in the Tesla Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada by the end of the year. 39; year. This would bring to 13 the total number of battery cell production lines at Gigafactory.

The ramp-up of Model 3, which weighed in Panasonic's bottom line, did not have the same effect on Tesla, which posted its profitable first quarter for several quarters last week. Shares have skyrocketed.

Panasonic, for its part, does not seem to think that the dramatic increase in spending is futile. According to Reuters, Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga said the company had the intention to continue to invest in the capabilities of the Gigafactory. Tsuga added that Panasonic was focusing on capacity building in Nevada before starting to think about capacity building in the factory planned by Tesla in Shanghai. Tesla bought a lot in the Chinese city earlier this month.

"Investing above 35 GWh for capacity means that Tesla will also have to make substantial investments in vehicle production, so we will align with each other," said Tsuga, according to Reuters.

Tsuga also reportedly said he was concerned about the behavior of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was breaking the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly violating federal securities legislation with his tweets. (Musk recently reached an agreement with the SEC that included terms that will require it to step down as president of Tesla.)

However, Tsuga said that as long as Tesla continues to operate without much conflict, Panasonic will remain a partner. "Although Elon's comments are unpredictable, we will continue to monitor Tesla's operations to avoid any chaos there and work in tune with the company," said Tsuga, a Reuters agency member.