Consumer's Report is not so sure about
Tesla's recent overall quality, however. It ranked last in
JD Power's 2020 survey, Kia was second, BTW. Its
TSB's are interesting - missing bolts on suspension components, using a body hammer to realign parts. The Model 3's
paint issues (and
here or on
FB) had Musk advising people
not to buy them.
However, overall profitability is what counts in the long run. If you leave out the non-production expenses it appears the cars are profitable; but once those are included in net profits it's red ink without the credit sales.
Tesla has shown that, for some models, it can sell them for more than it costs to make them. But that's not enough. Tesla needs to be able to ramp up while controlling the rise in non-production costs to become profitable.
If it proves to be profitable a spinoff may be in order so that Tesla can focus on that and stop building cars if they can't make a go at it.
Because that is the only way they will be viable long term once credit sales dry up. Otherwise, at some point, he will run out of money and investors will not be willing to continue to dump money into a money losing enterprise.
It will be interesting to see if Tesla can start making a net profit as a company on cars alone with credits being merely an added bonus.
Apple looks to avoid the high costs of setting up production facilities and the QC learning curve via a partnership. Amongst the ways that reduce's Apple's risk is that teething problems from build a brand new production facility, training workers, etc. should be less since the manufacturer already has processes on place for QC, etc. Tesla started from scratch which meant problems needed to be sorted while trying to push out as many cars as possible. No matter what happens to Tesla long term, it was a pretty amazing accomplishment to start a whole new car company and produce a large number of cars relative to what other startup car companies have done.
Tesla needs to fix its quality issues; ship now and fix later works for software but risks ruining a car makers reputation; especially amongst buyers who don't have to have the latest hot item. Tesla's window of opportunity to establish itself long term gets smaller as the other manufacturers bring out more EVs and hybrids.
Actually, the Germans were better at selling them than making them. Germans could buy a VW by buying stamps and when the book was full trade it for a car; none were delivered, however.
