Request for clarification: aren't Tesla sourced loans and leases detrimental to the fast cash conversion cycle? Rather than receiving sales price for a car before paying suppliers, they instead carry the cost along with future revenue stream.
Or can this be offset by 3rd party revolving credit facilities? A $5 Billion line of credit, expandable to $7 B, was established earlier this year with Citigroup.
Tesla TSLA May Get Up to $7B Credit Line, Indicating It’s Nearing Investment-Grade Status
You've answered your own question. Under FASB lease transactions are recorded over the lease life, not as immediate income. Hence they definitely do depress immediate income.
Securitizations can be used to change that, BUT, a huge BUT, in order to do so there can be no recourse to the originator. In several parts of Europe that is done with lessors buying their vehicles outright. Loans are a different matter.
Frankly I expect to see some serious innovation from TSLA. With quite a bit of experience designing leases I have both biases and ideas. I'm quite confident that Zach and Elon already know what they might do.
Specifics I do expect in coming months:
-specialized fleet sales including police, taxi, rental and corporate tailors products;
-products that include Supercharging and other tailored support services;
- products oriented to specific vehicles especially Semi, Cybertruck and Models S and X;
-Continuing Tesla Energy innovation (already advanced with utility-level) including more grid services packaging links such as have already been done in several markets.
-packaging vehicles with property management and development. (already happens in a very small and ad hoc way in a handful of locations)
There will be containing innovation, much of it that will optimize treatment within various tax jurisdictions and much that will be optimized by specific buyer classes. These things already happen in many places around the world, but Tesla may be unique because they known pecisely what to do in each place, because of the direct sales model.
Then we can expect Tesla to have more clever ways of sales, service and financing in places that prohibit direct sales. Some of their approaches will surprise us. Tiny hint: look at the Hertz/Uber driver deals.