Bloomberg.com: News
Quote:
``We did have a burn rate that was out of control last year,'' said Musk, 36. ``The board and I have taken steps to make the appropriate changes in senior management to correct that situation.''
Uh huh.
And how much of the overspend was due to the need to employ four different outside companies to try to get the two-speed transmission working? ( http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/news-articles-events/776-my-town-hall-notes.html ) Presumably it was only when the fourth one failed that Elon realised that his insistence on a two-speed solution to achieve the necessary performance specs was unrealistic under the present time and financial constraints. At least Tesla seems to have gained some useful IP from the process.
Given the wider redundancies it's ironic that it was TESLA'S OWN ENGINEERS who saved the situation by adapting technology intended for Whitestar, allowing for a single-speed solution that matches the original specs.
And we've all learned that Elon is smart and quick-witted enough to capitalise and gain politically from situations caused by a conflict between Elon's ideas and Elon's money.
I guess that's his definition of engineering.
______________________________________________________________________
It is disingenuous of Elon to imply that last year's overspend was something that he was not aware of at the time or that he had not voted on. Key elements of the Tesla Plan would appear to have been devised with his explicit involvement and, as he likes to remind us, a significant amount of funding for Tesla continues to be from his own pocket.
"The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market, where customers are prepared to pay a premium, and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model."
"In keeping with a fast growing technology company, all free cash flow is plowed back into R&D to drive down the costs and bring the follow on products to market as fast as possible."
Tesla Motors - think
To what extent has the work at Tesla during 2007 been driven by those four words: As Fast as Possible?
Interestingly, things now seem more cautious: "Prior to beginning series production, our intent is to build
production cars in limited quantity throughout the first half of 2008."
Tesla Motors - think
Looks like "as fast as possible" is out of favour.
So thankyou Elon for "saving" Tesla from a reckless and headlong overspend caused by incautious management requiring/encouraging Tesla employees to work as fast as possible on a wide variety of disparate projects (Tesla Energy Group, Whitestar plant, Whitestar development, Tesla Stores, Left-field marketing such as Game tie-ins and cross-country trips, Roadster production) which threatened to derail the company.
Thank heavens you uncovered this and took control in time. What a good job you stayed immune to all this frantic activity and took several months to appoint the new CEO.
Quote:
``We did have a burn rate that was out of control last year,'' said Musk, 36. ``The board and I have taken steps to make the appropriate changes in senior management to correct that situation.''
Uh huh.
And how much of the overspend was due to the need to employ four different outside companies to try to get the two-speed transmission working? ( http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/news-articles-events/776-my-town-hall-notes.html ) Presumably it was only when the fourth one failed that Elon realised that his insistence on a two-speed solution to achieve the necessary performance specs was unrealistic under the present time and financial constraints. At least Tesla seems to have gained some useful IP from the process.
Given the wider redundancies it's ironic that it was TESLA'S OWN ENGINEERS who saved the situation by adapting technology intended for Whitestar, allowing for a single-speed solution that matches the original specs.
And we've all learned that Elon is smart and quick-witted enough to capitalise and gain politically from situations caused by a conflict between Elon's ideas and Elon's money.
I guess that's his definition of engineering.
______________________________________________________________________
It is disingenuous of Elon to imply that last year's overspend was something that he was not aware of at the time or that he had not voted on. Key elements of the Tesla Plan would appear to have been devised with his explicit involvement and, as he likes to remind us, a significant amount of funding for Tesla continues to be from his own pocket.
"The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market, where customers are prepared to pay a premium, and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model."
"In keeping with a fast growing technology company, all free cash flow is plowed back into R&D to drive down the costs and bring the follow on products to market as fast as possible."
Tesla Motors - think
To what extent has the work at Tesla during 2007 been driven by those four words: As Fast as Possible?
Interestingly, things now seem more cautious: "Prior to beginning series production, our intent is to build
production cars in limited quantity throughout the first half of 2008."
Tesla Motors - think
Looks like "as fast as possible" is out of favour.
So thankyou Elon for "saving" Tesla from a reckless and headlong overspend caused by incautious management requiring/encouraging Tesla employees to work as fast as possible on a wide variety of disparate projects (Tesla Energy Group, Whitestar plant, Whitestar development, Tesla Stores, Left-field marketing such as Game tie-ins and cross-country trips, Roadster production) which threatened to derail the company.
Thank heavens you uncovered this and took control in time. What a good job you stayed immune to all this frantic activity and took several months to appoint the new CEO.
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