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Elon Tweets that Tesla Will Build Gigafactory in Berlin

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Elon has tweeted that Tesla will build batteries, powertrains, vehicles starting with Model Y in a new Gigafactory in Berlin.

Tesla has indicated that the European gigafactory should be operational in 2021.

Elon Musk was in Berlin at “Das Goldene Lenkrad” Awards. Tesla Model 3 won the midsize premium category, obtaining more points than any car in any other category.

Elon took the opportunity to announce the GF4 would be in the “Berlin Area” and also announced a planned R&D center, obviously taking advantage of the German Engineers who are presumably watching.

Shanghai Gigafactory Ramping to Mass Production

The Tesla Shanghai gigafactory is producing vehicles and is ramping up production.

Elon Musk has said that the Shanghai factory will produce at least 1,000 cars per week by the end of the year, and eventually a weekly rate of 3,000 vehicles.

26 thoughts on “Elon Tweets that Tesla Will Build Gigafactory in Berlin”

  1. Before the merger, Porche had more money than WV. How come? Well, Porche had a margin on their car production of 30% and WV had ..5%?

    That’s why Porche almost bought WV back in the days, despite being a small producer. Porche overreached and ended up being swallowed by WV instead when interests increased.

    But the moral of the story is that it is profit, not sales which is the important metric. And Tesla has a definite lead in self driving. I think – you can never be 100% sure – this will make Tesla insanely profitable.

  2. You are right. I guess Tesla corporate culture is one of high pace and innovation. You would not want to buy one of the slow movers and have to spend the next decade changing their corporate culture.

  3. I have the greatest respect for your knowledge in nuclear matters, but would it kill you to read up just a bit about Tesla?

    Tesla was profitable the last quarter. And no, it was not just deferred revenues. The gross profit margin on their automotive production was an astounding 22.5%. That’s industry leading right there.

    Right now, only Tesla can produce and sell EVs at a profit. Perhaps Toyota will wipe them out, perhaps not.. But we have not seen any real competition to Tesla yet..

  4. did someone really just share an article or shorting a stock from october 19th on november 13th ? huh? lol yikes.. world moves fast yo…

  5. The Shanghai factory is a cash gusher, just in time for the crash in Chinese car sales. Elon is paying through his nose to Shanghai officials for the opportunity to lose his shirt.

  6. That article was posted when the stock was at $262 at Oct 19th. If you sat on a short at that date you’d have succeeded at suffering what’s called a “face ripper” at current price.

  7. Considering the epic mess that is Tempelhof airport in Berlin, I wonder if Musk would try to pull a fast one and build there, despite the assorted issues plaguing the site…

  9. No, that would be not be smart. Just steal a few of their car body employees; the ones that know how to adjust designs to get the most efficient robotic assembly.
    And I am impressed by the ability of some of the German assembly lines that are capable of major made to order variation. Getting that going for Tesla would mean a lot less guesswork as to what people will order and less cars sitting around that are not anything anyone is ordering.
    Some car handling experts might be good too. Not enough to have good power, it needs to feel very good on a track for good reviews and sales.

  10. I didn’t tell you to buy TSLA, I’m refuting your conclusions. There’s no reason TSLA won’t last 100 more years.
    The difference with how investors treat Honda is it has taken 10 years to grow revenue 30%. EDIT: Inflation makes that growth an actual 11% or so.

  12. Ya see, I don’t really know what you are talking about with ebitda… I presume the $350/share stock price has something to do with it. Like the worth of faith/hype/fanboy-fluffer-love or such things. If Honda’s revenues were $141B and Tesla’s revenues were $21.5B in 2018, then market capitalization is truly an abstract concept not related to actual value. I wish nuclear energy could find a way to pump it’s “market capitalization” like Tesla. Seriously. Nuclear doesn’t need a Musk to turn it around technologically (as everyone believes); it needs a Musk to pump the stock and maybe put some flush mount door handles and LED lights on it. Seriously, Mr. Pulsifer… you speak of hard financing – a dollar is a dollar is a dollar – when discussing the cost of new plant construction, insurance costs, competitiveness vs. methane, etc…, but when it comes to Tesla, it is ok for the value to be divorced from the services, sales volume, whatever other tangible thing? I’m quite glad that I stick to the physics and don’t try to understand the monetary system… house of cards. Worse than religion, unless it’s a commodity – then value is straightforward.

  15. Did you actually look at the numbers though?
    https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/F/ford-motor/ebitda-margin
    https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/TSLA/tesla/ebitda-margin
    With that ebitda margin Tesla can continue on indefinitely “losing money” as you call it, even though their margin is higher than Ford’s .
    And Ford has $100B in debt, with revenue of $160B. Revenue dropping.
    https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/F/ford-motor/long-term-debt
    vs. 11.3B debt for Tesla, with revenue of 25B which is about to increase 40% with China factory.
    https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/TSLA/tesla/long-term-debt

  17. Nice point. I believe Tesla should be swallowed by Honda or BMW or even Ford (not the other way around). If Tesla has enough valuation to buy one of the old makers, then the world is truly coming to an end.

  18. Part of that loss comes from a lack of those historic companies IMHO.

    I saw a video on Youtube detailing a teardown in which they praised the electrical platform design of Tesla to the heavens, but when they came to the basic chassis/frame type physical stuff the teardown people seemed baffled by how inefficient the design was, not to mention likely weaker than conventional designs from historic makers because of these strange choices.

    Tesla could really benefit from swallowing one of these old makers to benefit from their experience, it would likely improve both their finished product, and their total output per week.

  19. Ever wonder why REAL automobile manufacturers, with their 100-year histories, global supply chains, global talent pool, and in many cases state backing, are leaving this market to Tesla? Because Tesla operates at a loss. It doesn’t make money and subsides on direct/indirect subsidies and has a market valuation buoyed by fanboy hope. The army of Toyota would wipe the floor with them, yet Toyota does not engage. Hmmm.

  20. Never underestimate the power of government incentive deals, similarly I would have thought building a semicon fab in NY would be insane, but it did happen.

  22. The area the factory is presumably to built on is here: https://goo.gl/maps/Ffw72cogDkZBjjZv6
    Those premises were first intended for a never-built BMW plant and have since not been used much. This means there is already dedicated land for such a large factory, allowing for a somewhat faster approval process.

  23. Having a factory in Europe? Salaries in Germany may be slightly above us salaries, but you won’t have to pay the import tariffs, so I don’t see how it will increase the price of a Tesla for European customers..

  24. Agreed, the permits and what not alone will take some time. Not to mention getting environmental approval… But if they make it to 2021 it would be pretty impressive.

  26. It will be fun to see whether the Germans can be as fast as the Chinese at building that factory. Something tells me that they won’t.
    I am 100% certain that it would take A LOT longer in the US, for sure. It has taken them 8 weeks (so far) to dig six 4×4 foot holes in my road and they have not even started filling them in yet.

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