Eish, Elon Musk.

Concerns have arisen over Tesla’s future, after the company posted a staggering R8 billion net loss in the first quarter and burned through over R9 billion in cash while struggling to produce its Model 3 mass-market electric car.

Needless to say, Musk got a little testy during a telephonic conference call with analysts. The CEO, although he conceded that the criticism was valid, was still trying to convince them that Tesla would make money and have a positive cash flow in the third quarter.

The Guardian with Musk’s response:

It’s high time we became profitable. The truth is you’re not a real company until you are, frankly. That’s our focus right now.

But Tesla investors clapped back, none too impressed when Musk cut off analysts when they raised the question of future profit potential. This sent shares down by 5%. Still, that didn’t stop Musk from cutting off any further questions.

For example, when an analyst asked what percentage of Tesla 3 reservation holders have started to configure options for their cars, Musk promptly fired back:

“These questions are so dry. They’re killing me.”

Aaaand there goes R25 billion in market capitalisation down the drain.

In its nearly eight years as a public company, Tesla has only had two profitable quarters. When production on the Model 2s started last summer, Musk promised to build 20 000 of them during the month of December.

How many were ultimately produced? Only 2 425 during the entire fourth quarter.

That’s off the mark by a long mile, to say the least.

As The Guardian points out, the Model 3 is – or was – Tesla’s plan to become a mainstream automaker. It was said that the car had more than 500 000 potential buyers waiting to buy one.

But in April, the company admitted that their buyers had second thoughts and cancelled their orders, although they’re tight-lipped about just how many wrote themselves off the waiting list.

Tesla said reservations “remained stable” through the first quarter.

With their financial report looking more than a bit bleak, they’ll be lucky if they have any reservations left.

[source:guardian]