<story><title>Tesla Was Cash Flow Positive Last Week, CEO Musk Says</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-04/tesla-was-cash-flow-positive-last-week-ceo-musk-says.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dave1619</author><text>Tesla Motors is in great shape.  I&apos;ve been following the company for a while and recently drove the Model S.  Amazing car in almost every way.  What struck me was that it&apos;s not an incremental improvement but really a radical (might I say disruptive) improvement in terms of ride quality (super quiet), handling (low center of gravity with skateboard powertrain), electronics (17&quot; touchscreen), cargo space (heard of the frunk?), reliability (electric cars have far less moving parts), and store experience (Tesla retail stores are a way better customer experience than a typical car dealership).  It&apos;s difficult to drive a Model S and NOT say that you&apos;ve driven the future.&lt;p&gt;The Model S is so good that all they need to do is make it into a SUV (Model X) and they&apos;ll have the coolest high-end SUV (coming 2014).&lt;p&gt;Then, they just need to make the Model S smaller (GenIII Bluestar) and then they&apos;ll have the best small luxury sport sedan on the market (ie., BMW 3 series, Lexus IS, Audi A4 market).  Elon Musk has said they&apos;re going after the BMW 3 Series market with the GenIII car, and he&apos;s determined to make a best car in that market.  Just like the Model S is better than a BMW 5 Series in most regards, the GenIII will be better than the BMW 3 Series in most regards.  I know it might be difficult for many people to accept that (especially since the BMW 3 Series is legendary) but Tesla&apos;s got all the right pieces and has proven they can do it with the Model S.  Again, they just need to shrink the Model S and make it more affordable.&lt;p&gt;But GenIII is slated for 2015 at the earliest and it takes a while to dominate a car segment even after you have a stellar car.  I expect Tesla to become increasingly competitive (in terms of # sales) to the BMW 3 series by 2020 and perhaps dominant by 2025 (if not earlier).&lt;p&gt;Elon Musk has repeatedly said that Tesla Motors is not a typical car company but rather a technology company that will innovate at a blistering pace.  As long as they continue to  do that, they&apos;ll be fine.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>yid</author><text>Great comment, thank you. I&apos;d just like to add that the &quot;frunk&quot; isn&apos;t new -- I&apos;ve been stashing my gym bag in my Porsche 911&apos;s frunk for years (it&apos;s a rear-engined car).&lt;p&gt;Edit: While I absolutely live the Model S, I can assure you that exceeding stalwarts of the 5-series category, like the BMW M5, will not be as easy to disrupt as the market the Model S aims for.</text></comment>
<story><title>Tesla Was Cash Flow Positive Last Week, CEO Musk Says</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-04/tesla-was-cash-flow-positive-last-week-ceo-musk-says.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dave1619</author><text>Tesla Motors is in great shape.  I&apos;ve been following the company for a while and recently drove the Model S.  Amazing car in almost every way.  What struck me was that it&apos;s not an incremental improvement but really a radical (might I say disruptive) improvement in terms of ride quality (super quiet), handling (low center of gravity with skateboard powertrain), electronics (17&quot; touchscreen), cargo space (heard of the frunk?), reliability (electric cars have far less moving parts), and store experience (Tesla retail stores are a way better customer experience than a typical car dealership).  It&apos;s difficult to drive a Model S and NOT say that you&apos;ve driven the future.&lt;p&gt;The Model S is so good that all they need to do is make it into a SUV (Model X) and they&apos;ll have the coolest high-end SUV (coming 2014).&lt;p&gt;Then, they just need to make the Model S smaller (GenIII Bluestar) and then they&apos;ll have the best small luxury sport sedan on the market (ie., BMW 3 series, Lexus IS, Audi A4 market).  Elon Musk has said they&apos;re going after the BMW 3 Series market with the GenIII car, and he&apos;s determined to make a best car in that market.  Just like the Model S is better than a BMW 5 Series in most regards, the GenIII will be better than the BMW 3 Series in most regards.  I know it might be difficult for many people to accept that (especially since the BMW 3 Series is legendary) but Tesla&apos;s got all the right pieces and has proven they can do it with the Model S.  Again, they just need to shrink the Model S and make it more affordable.&lt;p&gt;But GenIII is slated for 2015 at the earliest and it takes a while to dominate a car segment even after you have a stellar car.  I expect Tesla to become increasingly competitive (in terms of # sales) to the BMW 3 series by 2020 and perhaps dominant by 2025 (if not earlier).&lt;p&gt;Elon Musk has repeatedly said that Tesla Motors is not a typical car company but rather a technology company that will innovate at a blistering pace.  As long as they continue to  do that, they&apos;ll be fine.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>el_cuadrado</author><text>This is assuming BMW et all stop any innovation. But they won&apos;t. They will offer an electric vehicle the moment it becomes feasible (and I am sorry but 200 miles range is still an exciting and expensive toy).</text></comment>