California based electric car producer, Tesla Motors Inc, has recently reported that it made a loss of $293 million in the second quarter of 2016. The loss was greater than it was in the previous quarter.
Tesla has said that it plans to build around 80,000 EVs in 2016. The car maker will be significantly increasing its output over the next few years, as it enters the mass market with its new and affordable (priced at just $35,000 before any incentives applied) Model 3 EV. The Model 3 vehicle was unveiled on the 31/03/2016.
Tesla Motors Inc has typically focused on the luxury segment of the market, only selling a few thousand cars per year. However, it has been reported that they will need to sell around 500,000 to make a profit.
CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, admitted that his company hasn’t built enough cars so far this year. In a conference call, he said “We were in production hell for the first six months of this year.” Musk also suggested that Tesla could be launching a fully-autonomous vehicle soon. Specifically, he said “Full autonomy is going to come a hell of a lot faster than anyone thinks it will. What we have under development is going to blow peoples’ minds. It blows my mind.”
Elon Musk has tried to reassure shareholders that the issues with production will be resolved, and he even promised to meet with a supplier that was struggling. Tesla is now entering a crucial phase, as it moves away from being just a car manufacturer, to an all-round, clean tech firm (after the $2.6 billion merger with SolarCity.)
As the NASDAQ closed on the 03/08/2016, Tesla Motors Inc’s stock was down by 0.62% (equivalent to $1.41), trading at $225.79 per share. The corporation has a total value of (by market cap) $32.54 billion. Musk has previously said that he believes that Tesla could have a market cap of around $700 billion by 2025.