The Tesla statistics announced at the end of the first quarter made many investors confident that the demand for electric vehicles has slowed down its growth, and without the previous pace of sales of this type of product, the company does not have many chances to return to breakeven, to realize all future ambitious projects, yes and just stay afloat. Moreover, Elon Musk himself has repeatedly emphasized that the ability of Tesla to provide itself with the capital necessary for further development depends on the success of the Model 3 mass electric car.
However, among the stock market experts there are those who do not see the limited demand for electric vehicles as Tesla's main problem. Piper Jaffray Analyst Alexander Potter with skeptics who see declining demand for electric vehicles as the main constraint to further growth of Tesla's business. In fact, he argues, the Model 3 sedan is often being looked at by buyers who, in its absence on the market, would have limited themselves to purchasing a more affordable vehicle. More than half of Tesla Model 3 buyers have moved from lower price niches to the premium segment precisely due to the unique combination of qualities of this electric car.
According to Piper Jaffray, Tesla will release and ship about 289 Model 3 electric vehicles to customers over the course of the year. And yet, according to the expert, Tesla has problems with product sales. First, he claims, over 3 potential buyers of the more expensive Model S and Model X each year opt for the more affordable Model 3, and that's just in the US. Internal βcannibalismβ leads to a decrease in profit margins, since Tesla earns much more on older models than on Model XNUMX.
Second, until Tesla starts operating a facility in China, the company will not be able to achieve significant success in the local market, since the prices of competing locally assembled electric vehicles are more attractive. The Shanghai facility will start supplying locally assembled electric vehicles to the Chinese market in six or nine months, and prices have already been announced - the cars will be 13% cheaper than imported ones.
Wedbush analysts, however, do not have much confidence in Tesla's ability to increase deliveries of electric vehicles to 90 units in the current quarter, which is what investors who were disappointed in the pace of production expansion in the previous quarter expect from the company. To return to profitability, Tesla will have to seriously increase the production of electric vehicles in the coming quarters.
Source: 3dnews.ru