Elon Musk may have sent a car into space just a few days ago, but Tesla isn’t exactly flying high on cloud nine. The company posted its biggest quarterly loss ever, losing US$675.4 million in the three months ending December 31, 2017.
The figure is more than five times the amount of losses the company suffered in the same period last year, which stood at US$121 million. For the entire 2017, Tesla ended the year with losses amounting to almost US$2 billion.
Capital expenditure in Q4 2017 alone was US$787 million, largely attributed to increasing the production capacity for the Model 3 and the company’s Gigafactory. Across 2017, the company’s capex stood at just over US$3.4 billion, significantly more than the US$1.28 billion recorded in 2016. Moving forward, capital needs include the Tesla Semi, Model Y and a factory in China.
While the losses may make Tesla look like it is in trouble, the company still entered the first quarter of 2018 with a cash balance of almost US$3.4 billion. Additionally, the company’s revenue was almost US$3.3 billion for the Q4 2017 period, while it earned almost US$12 billion for the whole of 2017.
Vehicle deliveries stood at 29,967 cars in Q4 2017, with the majority being Model S and Model X vehicles (28,425 units), as production issues continue to plague the Model 3 (1,542 units). In spite of this, those figures represent a 10% growth from Q3 2017 and a 28% growth from the same period in 2016. For the whole of 2017, 101,312 units of the Model S and Model X were delivered – an increase of 33% over the previous year.
Tesla reaffirmed its forecast for Model 3 production at 2,500 units weekly by the end of Q1 2018, with the figure going up to 5,000 units by the end of Q2 2018. Following that, it plans to increase capacity to accommodate 10,000 units weekly. The company has already limited production of the Model S and Model X to just 22,137 units in order to shift resources to Model 3 production.
For the coming year, Tesla expects to “begin generating positive quarterly operating income on a sustained basis.” With more focus on cranking up Model 3 production and its energy storage products, revenue growth this year is poised to significantly exceed last year’s growth rate.
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Basher says must kolos shop now.
Owh, and basher oso says half their factory tido becoz need 2 years for Model3 LHD to RHD conversion. Elon shud have learn how to do it from Frenchies.
P1 sell 71,000 units also don’t close shop, how to close shop when they sell 101,312 units ??!
Some more got orders backlogged while we have thousands in store yards waiting for P1 to give more discounts B4 can ship out.
ha ha ha ha. You are right, Tesla got such high demand and years of backlog orders. Proton got thousands sitting in the yard in the hot sun.
Spot on! Spot on!
Got demand or not is not the problem, the point is its loss is a lot so go close shop
Good luck Tesla. Geely China smarter to pick Daimler ev. Rise of the Dragon!
Daimler and Toyota sold their shares in Tesla.
It’s not just about profiting from capital gain, it’s about loss of confidence. Tesla is in a mess, trying to be jack of all trade, but master of none.
Model X high quality issues, recently an independent 3rd party benchmark consultant studied Tesla Model 3, it’s so sub-par, they even call it as problematic as a 90s Kia.
Well said. Greentech Msia should buy from BYD instead of 100 duty-free Tesla Model S laggards
Tesla, with all its hype, is just a car with the powertrain and quality of a golf buggy.
When Tesla finally bites the dust and Geely decides to go into US, then it will buyout that shell of a former dreaming automotive company.
Finally the showman’s tricks are going to end soon, courtesy of Uncle Trump. No more free US government money for Musk to finance his crazy fantasy dreams.
The only one crying for his demise will be hipster idiots.
Tesla doesn’t win the game in technology, it must win in price competitiveness else it will be swallowed by everybody very soon
Whatever happens, Elon Musk and Tesla will be future legends. If he had thought like everybody else and hid behind internal combustion, electric wouldn’t be accelerating like what it’s doing now. Hats off to the man and his vision.
China will grow large, the Chinese govt will make sure of that, throwing many subsidies.
Tesla is not a product selling company! They are HOPE seller, packages of human hope in next 20 years! EV could help to reduce the use of Oil, and reduce country conflict caused by oil!
Their focus is to gather funds, developing future possibility! Accounting losses in next 3 years will not post anything risk of “Tutup Kedai”!
I rather put my HOPE in Treeletrik https://paultan.org/2018/02/06/treeletrik-t-mv7-electric-lorry-priced-from-rm66000/
At least, its cheap. Really dem cheap.
Body only la dei….battery how much??
Battery included la dei
the future is in china, bless that we have geely.
One of the greatest visionaries of our time….a creator, inventor with intelligence and a heart of a warrior….
He doesn’t plagiarise, copy, rebadge and most of all pretend that everything is ok and above board…
The comments just show how readers are not data savvy at all and take headlines as the entire picture. Tesla will continue to grow and dominate the world!
The loss figure is small for a manufacturer like Tesla…Its expected after a plant or company undergo major expansion in this case their Gigafactory.
Dear Paul Tan Team,
Please include Tesla Inc in your “BROWSE STORIES BY CAR MAKER”
It’s a “Musk”
Sincerely,
Elon Musk Fan.
It’s better to declare loss, because that way tesla pay less tax..the revenue is increasing from previous year..can close shop meh?
growth over profit…With its underutilized ex Toyota plant, they have to re-invest everything they have to growing the company…look at Amazon, they never posted a profit since it started and nobody cared.
Space X is going to ‘take off’, so if Tesla goes under, Musk will be still in business. I’m def interested in the Tesla Y, if and when it comes out.