Specialist
Former Director at Tesla Inc
Agenda
- Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) North American and international production and expectations for 2019 roll-outs
- Technology innovation and manufacturing challenges faced by electric vehicles
- Timeline of Model 3, Model S, Model X, and Tesla’s annual production
- Engineering and automation solutions contrasted to human labour
- 2019-20 outlook, emphasising international manufacturing capacity
Questions
1.
Can you begin with your high-level thoughts on the electric vehicle industry, highlighting key trends and themes you think investors should be paying attention to?
2.
How confident are you in Tesla’s ability to maintain a competitive advantage on the charging and battery range front over the next three years?
3.
I’ve heard there’s a law of diminishing returns on the range front where if you get past the 250-300 mile range, the returns diminish for auto makers and Tesla. Do you agree with this assessment?
4.
How have the macro factors you identified at the beginning of this Interview impacted Tesla? How would you characterise the company’s recent performance, especially relative to last quarter’s earnings?
5.
What logistics network improvements might you make if you were still making that decision?
6.
How should we think about Tesla’s ability to continuously make production and manufacturing improvements and, in particular, to reduce manufacturing costs as it scales?
7.
Can you outline how this over-automation, so to speak, has changed the way production and manufacturing planning decisions are made, especially since it seems this is something that Elon and the rest of management have acknowledged as a problem?
8.
You talked about Model S and Model X demand plateauing or declining a little. Should we be worried about Model 3 cannibalising demand for Model S and Model X?
9.
Why do you think deliveries of Model S and Model X declined two quarters ago?
10.
Can you share your high-level thoughts on the China factory, Gigafactory 3?
11.
If Tesla reaches a point where it begins exporting from the China factory to other geographies in Asia, in which areas do you think demand for Teslas would be high?
12.
There have been media reports that cars could come out of the Gigafactory 3 as soon as the fall. Does this seem reasonable or realistic to you?
13.
How long might it take for Gigafactory 3 to start running at full capacity once cars start to come out of it?
14.
Do you have any other comments or thoughts on Gigafactory 3 that you think we should be aware of?
15.
Do you think Tesla has an ability to cut individual unit production costs to create more gross margins in the near term?
16.
Model Y is coming down the pipeline fast. How do you think production and manufacturing will progress for this model?
17.
Do you have any thoughts on why Model Y demand and sales volumes might be higher than Model 3?
18.
Do you expect a large part of Model Y demand to come from current Tesla owners or new customers?
19.
You mentioned the Jaguar I-Pace, but when thinking about the electric vehicle competitive landscape, what legacy OEMs do you think pose the largest threat to Tesla?
20.
There has been much excitement around the Porsche Taycan. Can you discuss this further, as well as what you think is generating demand for this model? Which Tesla model do you think it competes with directly?
21.
How confident are you in Tesla’s ability to maintain a competitive advantage as far as charger availability goes over networks such as EVgo?
22.
Do you think it’s too late for large legacy OEMs to build proprietary charger networks, as you alluded to?
23.
What are your high-level thoughts on Tesla’s Maxwell Automation acquisition?
24.
Is there anything you would add in terms of M&A as it relates to Tesla more broadly, beyond batteries? Do you think there’s anything the company could theoretically make in the next two years?
25.
What are your thoughts on Tesla’s approach to autonomy? There’s been a lot of scepticism about Elon’s promises towards autonomy and full self-driving capabilities. Do you agree with some of this scepticism?
26.
Tesla has had an exodus of a lot of mid-level managers over the last 1-1.5 years. What impact do you expect that to have on its company culture and employee morale?
27.
What do you think is the best- and worst-case scenario for Tesla over the next two years?
28.
Do you have anything else to add regarding Tesla?
Gain access to Premium Content
Submit your details to access up to 5 Forum Transcripts or to request a complimentary one week trial.
The information, material and content contained in this transcript (“Content”) is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice of any type or a trade recommendation and should not form the basis of any investment decision.This transcript has been edited by Third Bridge for ease of reading. Third Bridge Group Limited and its affiliates (together “Third Bridge”) make no representation and accept no liability for the Contentor for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies in respect of it. The views of the specialist expressed in the Content are those of the specialist and they are not endorsed by, nor do they represent the opinion of, Third Bridge. Third Bridge reserves all copyright, intellectual and other property rights in the Content. Any modification, reformatting, copying, displaying, distributing, transmitting, publishing, licensing, creating derivative works from, transferring or selling any Content is strictly prohibited
