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Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) CEO Elon Musk predicted Wednesday that the automaker will make one million electric vehicles by 2020, double Tesla’s prior forecast. Musk said on a post earnings call with analysts that 1 million cars that year was his “best guess.” He said Tesla could hit that target using its lone Fremont, Calif., plant and its under-construction Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, but added that such a strategy might not be optimal. Tesla moved up its prior target of 500,000 vehicles by two years to 2018. Musk said some 100,000-150,000 might be Model S or Model X, with the rest the yet-to-be released Model 3. For perspective, Tesla hopes to produce 80,000-90,000 vehicles this year, after delivering just 14,820 in the first quarter. Some analysts are skeptical that Tesla can ramp up to 500,000 in the next few years, let alone one million, especially at a high level of quality. Tesla faces complaints about errors — bad paint, doors not closing correctly, etc. — but there are few hard numbers about Tesla’s quality and reliability. Tesla touted that it just had its first error-free Model X production last Friday. But deliveries began in September. Before the market close, Tesla confirmed that two production chiefs were leaving the company. Musk was a little less confident on self-driving cars. He said that regulators will need “billions of miles” of mapping data to be convinced that autonomous vehicles are safe. Alphabet, Mobileye Join Crowded Autonomous Road Alphabet ( GOOGL ) this week reached a deal with Fiat Chrysler on self-driving cars. Alphabet’s self-driving unit will develop autonomous versions of Fiat Chrysler minivans. Mobileye ( MBLY ), which provides advanced camera-based driver assistance software to Tesla and several other automakers, reports earnings Thursday morning. Nvidia ( NVDA ), which makes chips for Tesla and other automakers, reports next week. Tesla stock rose about 3% in late trading Wednesday, but that’s after closing down 4.2% on the stock market today , undercutting its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Mobileye closed down 2.6%, just above its 200-day. Nvidia slid 2.3%, ending just above its 50-day line. Both rose fractionally late. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News