Good afternoon everyone,
Teslas are rare birds on Delaware streets and highways.
My one encounter came in front of my house in Bear. A self-important looking real estate agent parked a Tesla with Pennsylvania tags. I don’t think he appreciated the photo I took of the sleek car.
Teslas are no big deal in Dublin, California. This week, I stopped counting the army of Teslas that silently prowl the streets of the affluent fast-growing city about a half hour away from the electric automaker’s assembly plant in Fremont
The Bay Area plant that turns out the electric vehicles is the lone survivor among former GM assembly sites on the coasts. Delaware’s Boxwood plant is now undergoing demolition.
The Tesla plant conversion, like the ill-fated effort to build a Fisker electric-gas hybrid at Boxwood, was partially financed by a federal loan.
Tesla paid off its loan early, while Fisker defaulted after the feds pulled the plug on their financing.
The popularity of Teslas in the Golden State is understandable. The price at the pump at many locations in northern California was $4.25 a gallon. And contrary to the views of many detractors, Californians have some money to throw around, despite sky-high housing prices and high taxes.
Tesla, led by Elon Musk, was in the news this week. That’s nothing new for the mercurial CEO who got in hot water with financial regulators for tweets that raised the prospect of the company being taken private.
Tesla posted a $700 million loss for the first quarter as tax incentives for electric vehicles begin to go away and the company struggles with the pricing of the Tesla 3, the company’s first $40,000 vehicle.
There is also the question of how many sedans Tesla can sell in a market that has fallen in love with crossovers, pickups and sport utility vehicles. Tesla has a crossover in the works.
Musk, while expressing disappointment over the financial results, touted the possible use of driverless Tesla taxis that could appear in 2020 or so.
His statement led to some head scratching since autonomous vehicles are years away from making the way to streets and highways. Testing continues in arid Arizona, although any autonomous vehicles carrying passengers have a back-up driver just in case.
One of the big challenges facing driverless vehicles comes in the form of snow, ice and rain, all rarities in the desert.
Then again, Musk started SpaceX, which is already sending satellites and payloads into space.
So far, Wall Street is not counting Tesla out. Despite the big loss, share prices dropped only two percent. The company had forecast softer results earlier this year.
Enjoy your Thursday. Our final newsletter for the week comes out tomorrow from our temporary outpost in Dublin.
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