Friday, May 24, 2013

Car wars

The Truth About Cars has an excellent story about how Tesla repaid their DOE loan (!) and then claimed they were "the only American car company to have fully repaid the government."

Four hours later, Chrysler responded: "Not exactly, Tesla."

To which Tesla retorted: "You aren't an American car company and you didn't pay back your loan."  Burn!

3 comments:

Beep said...

The gain so far from the Tesla loan: $12 million in interest to taxpayers, paid nine years early, 3,000 new jobs and hundreds of support jobs, plans to expand to a second assembly line in Texas, the highest Consumer Reports score ever given to a car (99/100 for Tesla's Model S), and a new American-owned technology that is now being licensed overseas to Toyota and Mercedes-Benz.

Or as businessman Mitt Romney called Tesla by name in one of last year’s debates, a “loser.”

Meanwhile, it was announced earlier this week that several American automakers are skipping their industry's traditional two-week summer shutdown this year, partly because of the increased demand for green vehicles. This includes models like the Ford Fusion, the GMC Sierra, and the F-150 pickup.

Eric said...

R U Serious? The Ford Fusion, GMC Sierra and F-150 pickup are "green" vehicles? OMG.

Tesla was able to pay off their loan due to irrational exuberance over their EV vehicles. If I had any cash to play with, I'd be shorting Tesla like crazy. How many people can afford $100K EV cars? Tesla is a laughable bubble.

Beclowning: the right's #1 renewable said...

The F-150 is being turned into a hybrid. The Fusion and Sierra are already there. OMG LOL IMHO AOL CSNY BLT.

"I'm not wrong, I'm right... in the future! If I could put my money where my mouth is, my mouth would show you."

In the real world, the financial press is reporting on the actual investors who'd actually shorted Tesla with their actual money. Many of them closed out their failed bet in the last month, "facing the prospect of unlimited losses."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/tesla-a-risky-way-to-play-electric-car-trend/article12021992/

The "drubbing" is "shaping up to be a case study in the dangers of short selling."

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-15/tesla-the-stuff-of-short-seller-heartburn

You won't see a lot of the same payees coming back to try again with Tesla. However, doubling down on hot air and bravado is still within anyone's budget.