• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 5 mins GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 5 days The United States produced more crude oil than any nation, at any time.
  • 10 days e-truck insanity
  • 9 days Oil Stocks, Market Direction, Bitcoin, Minerals, Gold, Silver - Technical Trading <--- Chris Vermeulen & Gareth Soloway weigh in
  • 6 days How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 8 days James Corbett Interviews Irina Slav of OILPRICE.COM - "Burn, Hollywood, Burn!" - The Corbett Report
  • 9 days The European Union is exceptional in its political divide. Examples are apparent in Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Netherlands, Belarus, Ireland, etc.
  • 10 days Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs
  • 10 days "What’s In Store For Europe In 2023?" By the CIA (aka RFE/RL as a ruse to deceive readers)

Tesla Turns To Suppliers To Help It Become Profitable

Tesla has asked some of its suppliers to return parts of payments that the carmaker has made since 2016 in an attempt to turn in a profit after years of burning cash, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing a memo sent to at least one supplier by a Tesla global supply manager.

The memo notes the refund was essential for Tesla’s survival and would be an investment in the company to ensure the long-term partnership between it and the suppliers. It suggested that all Tesla suppliers were being asked to make partial refunds, but some of the companies that the WSJ talked to denied any knowledge of such a request.

Tesla itself confirmed sending the memo, referring to it as part of standard procurement operations and describing it as a retroactive request for price discounts on services rendered.

The carmaker is facing growing investor pressure as it struggles to ramp up the production of what is to be its flagship model, the Model 3, and reverse a loss-making streak that has been with it since its inception.

Tesla announced it hit its target of 5,000 Model 3s weekly in late June after several delays, but the market reacted skeptically, with analysts noting hitting that the target was one thing while sustaining it was another.

Related: Anti-OPEC Bill Could Be A Game-Changer For Oil Markets

The Model 3 endeavor is widely seen as the project that will make or break Tesla. The company has been burning cash at worrying rates, with US$1 billion spent during the first quarter of this year alone. As investors started to get restless, Musk kept on making grand promises for future Tesla models and new Model 3 versions, which probably only added investor annoyance.

Yet besides the Model 3 delays, Tesla has also been plagued by unwanted media attention regarding three crashes involving its vehicles with the drivers claiming the Autopilot system was switched on at the time of the accident. Road safety authorities are investigating the crashes, and the company has repeatedly noted that it always warns drivers that the Autopilot does not replace the human at the wheel. Nevertheless, the media noise has not been of any help to the cash-strapped carmaker.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

ADVERTISEMENT

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:



Join the discussion | Back to homepage



Leave a comment

Leave a comment

EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News