From the WSJ's Corporate Intelligence blog:
An Idea Henry Ford Would Be Proud Of: Tesla’s “Giga Factory”
Tesla Motors Inc.TSLA +0.92% Chief Executive Elon Musk said Tuesday the world doesn’t have enough lithium-ion battery factories to supply his planned high-volume “Generation III” electric car, expected to hit the market in 2016 or 2017.I had planned a post-earnings-post titled "Tesla It Was the Vehicle Deliveries Wot Killed Us (But Wait 'til Q4)" pointing out our rather cryptic one line mention of production this morning:
So Tesla may just build the “giga factory” it needs, he said during a call with analysts Tuesday evening after the company released third quarter results. Tesla’s stock fell 10% in after hours trading as some investors apparently were disappointed in the company’s pace of deliveries.
Mr. Musk took a much longer view. The Generation III Tesla could push the company’s sales to 500,000 cars a year, he said. That’s about 25 times current sales volume. The biggest obstacle to hitting that sales target is the lack of batteries, Mr. Musk said
“If we are to produce 500,000 vehicles a year… we need cell capacity commensurate, which is bigger than all lithium- ion production today,” he said.
Mr. Musk said Tesla is exploring “a lot of different options,” including what he called a “giga-factory…raw materials coming in” and finished battery packs coming out. Tesla could build such a plant with partners, he said. “That factory would most likely be in North America.”
“We’re talking about something comparable to all lithium ion production in the world, in one factory,” he said....MORE
Deliveries are guesstimated at 5800 to 7500 (VIN tracking) vs guidance of 5000 and Q2 actual of 5100....And comparing it with Barron's Après-release commentary:
...So what do inventors find so discouraging? Perhaps, it’s deliveries and fourth-quarter guidance.
Tesla says it delivered 5,500 Model S vehicles during the third quarter to beat its own guidance of 5,000 vehicle deliveries. Analysts, however, expected more than 5,500 vehicle deliveries. In fact, analysts at Deutsche Bank and Wedbush each factored 5,850 deliveries into their third-quarter financial models.
Tesla predicted 6,000 Model S deliveries and upped its full-year delivery forecasts to 21,500 from its previous forecast of 21,000....but that's old news whereas the Corporate Intelligence post is definitely forward looking.
See also:
Tesla Is Buying Batteries for How Many Cars? (TSLA)
Tesla Has Helped Bring Panasonic Back From the Dead (TSLA; 6752)
Tesla: Elon Musk's Robot Army (TSLA)
