Citation needed.
The numbers I'm looking at are the following: http://ir.tesla.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1564590-16-18886&...
As of March 2016:
$ 182,482,000 in Research and Development last Quarter.
$ 282,267,000 net loss in the quarter.
So even if we got rid of Tesla's ENTIRE R&D department, they lost $100 Million last QUARTER. The primary cost of Tesla is "Selling, general and administrative", which was around $300 Million.
The only other cost that's larger than their administrative costs were the $779,316,000 spent on parts.
#1 Cost: The parts (~$780 Million)
#2 Cost: Selling, General, and Administrative. $300 Million
#3 Cost: $182 Million spent on R&D.
These numbers are per quarter.
Tesla takes in more revenue than their cars cost to build. It currently is not enough to cover all the other expenses of the company.
Tesla could stop ALL R&D they're doing and they will still be an unprofitable company.
> > They make a net profit on their cars, but they are currently investing it all into aggressive expansion
> Citation needed.
The citation is right in the statement. They make a gross profit, which means they make a profit on their cars. The in turn spend more on activities that do not involve getting cars to customers. The activities that cause the company to have a net loss are not "cost of revenue" activities. Presumably the majority of that non-revenue expense involves expansion of the company.
Yes Tesla's cars are "cool" and everybody wants one, but even the new "cheaper" model costs far more than the average person spends on a car. Right now, Tesla caters to the luxury market, and is viewed as a "cool alternative" to more traditional luxury makes.
Ford, Toyota et al, have models that cover just about every price range and every type of customer, from the extreme budget oriented to the extreme luxury sports car fanatic. Toyota owns Scion, Toyota, and Lexus for example - so if you need a car, chances are one of the Toyota offerings will satisfy your needs and budget. This opens the market potential to include just about every person.
The one thing that has worried me about Tesla for a long while, is Musk's claims that next year they'll sell 30% more cars, every year - something that's now proving to be an impossible feat. At some point, they were going to hit a ceiling of maximum potential sales as they attempted to wedge into the already entrenched high-end luxury sports car market - there just aren't enough buyers to keep that growth at these prices.
Where do you get your numbers from, because this[1] seems to be about right at the Tesla price point.
[1]: http://mediaroom.kbb.com/record-new-car-transaction-prices-r...
The Model 3 (Tesla's cheapest option) starts at $35,000, which means average price point is well above your link's cited $35,000 (remember, those prices in the link are after upgrades, very few people buy a completely stock vehicle).
You know, the same was said about the iPhone.