WSJ tesla Flashcards

1
Q

What is a major problem at Tesla at the moment?

A

Tesla, meanwhile, has people jumping off the boat at an abnormally high rate.

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2
Q

Who has left for instance?

A

The recent departure of the company’s well-regarded engineering chief, Doug Field, is part of a broader exodus that has claimed at least 50 vice presidents or higher-ranking executives over the past 24 months.

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3
Q

Where is Teslas second biggest market after the US?

A

China

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4
Q

Where does Tesla buy a factory?

A

The electric-car maker will set up and own the plant that is expected to produce 500,000 vehicles a year sometime next decade, the Shanghai authorities said. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk was in Shanghai to sign the agreement, authorities said.

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5
Q

What is so special about it?

A

Tesla is doing something that no foreign auto maker has done before: build a factory and a network of suppliers in China without the support of a local joint venture partner. Also, the current U.S.-China trade dispute poses a risk to Tesla if the issues should create consumer backlash against American products.

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6
Q

How many cars did Tesla sell in china last year?

A

China is already Tesla’s second-biggest market after the U.S. The auto maker sold about 17,000 cars there last year, compared with roughly 50,000 in the U.S. and 103,000 globally.

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7
Q

How long will it take until the factory produces?

A

A Tesla spokesman said it would take about two years until the factory begins producing vehicles, and another two to three years before the facility is hitting its annual capacity of 500,000 vehicles.

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8
Q

Which companies are severely affected by the tariffs as well?

A

In recent years, foreign auto makers BMW AG BMW 0.31% , Daimler AG DMLRY 0.24% and China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding’s Volvo Cars have invested billions to expand U.S. factory production with the goal of exporting a significant number of vehicles to China and other markets world-wide.

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9
Q

to what did china raise its tariffs of imported cars?

A

On Friday, China raised to 40% its tariff on auto imports from the U.S. as part of a broader retaliation against the Trump administration’s move to impose duties on $34 billion in Chinese-made goods.

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10
Q

Which company is building its cars in china already?

A

Among the U.S. auto makers, General Motors Co. is a large player in China but builds virtually all of the cars it sells there at factories in the country. Ford Motor Co. and Tesla Inc. have a smaller sales presence in China but still export vehicles that would be subject to the 40% tariff.

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11
Q

How much has Tesla increased its prices over the weekend?

A

Tesla, which exported 17,000 vehicles to China last year, increased vehicle price listings on its Chinese website by nearly 20% over the weekend. The company on Tuesday announced plans to build a factory in Shanghai.

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12
Q

Who is particularly vulnerable?

A

BMW and Daimler are particularly vulnerable to the tariff dispute. Both German auto makers have massive factories in the U.S. South that employ thousands of workers and build luxury sport-utility vehicles for export to China and Europe, as well as sale in the U.S. The tariffs will force the companies to either charge customers in China more or absorb the added costs.

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13
Q

Ho could the tariffs influence the carmakers?

A

However, the tariffs could discourage these car makers from proceeding with planned expansions, analysts and executives said.

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14
Q

Where did Volvo built a factor

A

Volvo Cars opened a $1.1 billion plant near Charleston, S.C., last month to produce its S60 midsize sedan for North American markets. In the next three years, the company plans to add an SUV model that will be sold domestically and exported, including to China, and boost employment to more than 4,000 workers from the current 1,200.

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15
Q

How does BMW for instance get affected?

A

BMW last year sold 385,900 vehicles made at its factory in South Carolina. Of those, 87,600 were shipped to China, while another 112,900 were sent to Europe. Any new vehicles BMW ships from its U.S. factory to China will be subject to the 40% tariff, making them more expensive than the models that rivals build in Europe and then ship to China.

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16
Q

What does a basic Sedan now cost?

A

A basic Model S sedan now costs roughly $128,400, up from $107,300 last week, while a Model X sport-utility vehicle costs $140,100, compared with $117,100.

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17
Q

Who has left Tesla already?

A

Doug Field, who had been senior vice president of engineering, stepped away from his work overseeing product development at the Silicon Valley auto maker in early May.

18
Q

Why were Tesla workers celebrating in early July?

A

But to some analysts, the rising number of electric vehicle leases in the industry could be cause for concern to bond investors.

19
Q

Why is the number of electric vehicles a risk for bond investors?

A

That’s because the uncertain resale value of the cars could increase risk for investors who buy bonds composed of pooled auto leases, according to an analyst at S&P Global ratings.

20
Q

How many cars do electric vehicles make?

A

Electric vehicles comprise less than 2% of all auto sales, but their leases are increasingly being securitized, or bundled together and sold as bonds to investors, according to a recent comment by Jennie Lam, lead analyst on auto lease ABS at S&P.

21
Q

Can the risk profile be enhanced?

A

The leases from these vehicles, along with resale revenue, fund interest payments to investors over the course of the bond. When pools are composed largely of leases on electric vehicles, their risk profile may be enhanced, Lam wrote.

22
Q

Why?

A

“Pools of auto leases that finance a significant number of electric cars shed light on operational risks and manufacturer linkages not often observed in the auto lease ABS market,” Lam said in the comment.

23
Q

Why do analysts do not see an increased risk f default of these loans?

A

Some of the risk derives from the relatively brief resale history for electric vehicles compared to more traditional cars. Analysts don’t see an increased risk of default with the cars, since most are leased to customers with relatively high credit scores. But the short history of electric vehicles creates uncertainty around their residual value—an estimate of their worth when their leases are up. That value, along with interest rates and taxes, determines monthly lease payments.

24
Q

Why is the asset backed security market increasingly popular for these companies?

A

The asset-backed securities market has been an increasingly popular destination for companies who want to raise capital quickly and use high demand to secure low interest rates. Tesla in February closed a deal for $546 million in bonds backed by lease payments on its Model X and Model S cars. The largest tranche of that deal carried a 0.3 percentage point spread above the benchmark swap rate.

25
Q

What is a residual value?

A

A company owns a machine which was bought for €20,000. This machine has a useful life of five years which has just ended. The company knows that if it sells the machine now it will be able to recover 10% of the price of acquisition. Residual value would be 2000

26
Q

What about the residual value of electric cars?

A

“We’ve noticed over the last six to 12 months that auction values of electric vehicles have actually ticked up,” Ibara said. “It may be that electric vehicles have finally found footing and more customers are willing to buy, or it might be a lull in electric vehicles going to market.”

27
Q

What is also a concern of some analysts?

A

The novel nature of some electric car technology, and the possibility that it advances so quickly it makes older vehicles particularly undesirable is also a concern for some analysts.

28
Q

How much ABS did Tesla sell in February?

A

Tesla Inc. sold $546 million of bonds backed by lease payments on Model X and Model S vehicles on Thursday, the latest sign of how yield-hungry investors continue to soak up corporate debt of all flavors.

29
Q

When did Tesla issue corporate bonds for the first time?

A

The electric-car company’s inaugural visit to the asset-backed-securities market came roughly six months after it sold traditional corporate bonds for the first time. Once again, Tesla found eager buyers, allowing it cut interest rates on the multi-part deal from the levels initially floated to investors.

30
Q

What do buyers think of ABS of car loans?

A

Buyers are betting on continued strength in the auto leasing business, where securitization has picked up in recent years. Bondholders are repaid from lease payments on the Tesla vehicles, as well as the resale value of the cars once those leases are up.

31
Q

Does that insulate the risk from investors?

A

While that insulates investors from some of the challenges facing Tesla at the moment, it still exposes them to the risk those cars can’t be resold for as much as expected, analysts say. Battery-powered vehicles don’t have as long a track record for resale value as traditional vehicles whose leases are commonly securitized. Investors could take losses if resale values are substantially below expectations or if the economy turns south, causing a selloff across asset classes.

32
Q

Who were the underwriters of the deal?

A

Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG were lead underwriters on the deal.

33
Q

What was said about the yields?

A

“Spreads are tight in the ABS market,” and the yields in this case were “relatively attractive,” he said.

34
Q

How as Tesla doing at the end of last year?

A

Tesla remains a darling of the stock market and an increasingly accepted presence in the debt markets, despite burning billions of dollars of cash over the past four quarters and repeatedly missing financial forecasts. The company is coming off its worst financial quarter ever in the three months that ended Sept. 30, when it posted a loss of $619 million attributed to common shareholders. Its results for the final three months of the year are due out next week.

35
Q

How many cars does Tesla normally produce per week?

A

The average for the quarter was about 2,200 cars per week. That means Tesla built on the gains made in the last week of the first quarter, when it produced 2,020 Model 3s. But the company said that nearly 40% of the total Model 3s produced in the most recent quarter have not yet been delivered to customers, a larger percentage than in previous quarters.

36
Q

How many cars does GM make?

A

General Motors Co. , whose market value is nearly the same as Tesla’s, produces about 10 million vehicles annually. Tesla made roughly 100,000 vehicles last year.

37
Q

How have Tesla shares fared over the last year?

A

Tesla’s shares are down about 3% over the past 12 months after rising roughly 70% over the year-earlier period. The stock is among the most shorted as investors bet against Mr. Musk’s ability to pull off his gamble that he can make a profitable mass-market car.

38
Q

What other problem does Tesla afce?

A

Tesla’s dwindling cash piles have raised questions among investors and analysts, especially as Mr. Musk says he doesn’t want to raise more money. The company ended the first quarter with $2.7 billion of cash on hand as its negative free cash flow exceeded analysts’ expectations during the period.

39
Q

As what do some see his climate change thin (Elon musk)?

A

Elon Musk is not stupid. He knows this. His preachments about climate change, to put a rational gloss on it, were a sales pitch. It added to the considerable allure of his cars, which they also get from being fabulous gadgets, status symbols and eligible for government subsidies.

40
Q

For how much of emissions do personal vehicles amount?

A

not even 10%