Reuters reports that Elon Musk, speaking at an industry conference in Detroit, said Tesla may not be profitable until 2020 but that Tesla plans to boost production of electric cars to "at least a few million a year" by 2025. Musk told attendees at the Automotive News World Congress that "we could make money now if we weren't investing" in new technology and vehicles such as the Model 3 and expanded retail networks.
Musk does not see the Chevrolet Bolt as a potential competitor to the Model 3. "It's not going to affect us if someone builds a few hundred thousand vehicles," said Musk. "I'd be pleased to see other manufacturers make electric cars." On another topic, Musk said he was open to partnerships with retailers to sell Tesla vehicles, but not until after the company no longer has production bottlenecks. "Before considering taking on franchised dealers, we also have to establish (more of) our own stores," said Musk adding that "we will consider" franchising "if we find the right partner." Musk did not elaborate, but said Tesla "is not actively seeking any partnerships" with other manufacturers "because our focus is so heavily on improving our production" in Fremont. Last year, Tesla delivered about 33,000 Model S sedans and said the current wait for delivery is one to four months. Tesla has already presold every Model S X that it plans to build in 2015. “If you ordered a car today, you wouldn’t get it until 2016."
[Update] The above links presented conflicting reports as to whether it was the Model S or the Model X whose 2015 orders were sold out. According to Tesla Motor's own web page, it was the Model X :
The delivery estimate for new reservations is early 2016.
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Sunday February 01 2015, @02:41AM
Electric cars compete at a significant disadvantage to hydrocarbon cars. This is because electric cars carry the deadweight of discharged batteries whereas spent hydrocarbons (mostly) become vapor. This disadvantage doesn't apply to electric trains because they don't carry the deadweight.
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