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Comment by Zanni | Hacker News Reader

"Saloon" as a British-ism for "sedan" is a new word for me. As for the article, likely needing to "raise additional capital during the second half of 2019" is a far cry "uncomfortably close to the truth" of totally bankrupt.

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If you read the original Moody's announcement, Tesla needs a capital raise this year and next year. A company that needs annual multi-billion dollar injections of capital to survive is indeed, uncomfortably close to bankruptcy.

They don't need billions of dollars to survive, they need billions of dollars to expand

So you haven't read it then. It is indeed to survive, as in in order not to run out of cash. Their biggest liabilities being debt payments coming up.

And why do you think they have a lot of debt?

The original plan was to use profits to fuel the expansion. However, there was no profits and they used debt and capital raises instead. Unfortunately, the expansion generated no profits of its own, only huge losses, requiring even more debt to expand further. Eventually, there was a vicious cycle of debt, losses, and more debt need to expand further, leading to the situation you see now.

Because they lose money and need to borrow more? But in any case, regardless of why they have it, whether they keep expanding or not: they need to pay back that debt and they won't have the money for it. It's as simple as that. Does that make sense? So no, they can't survive if they stop expanding. The only way to survive is to either be profitable within the year or raise more capital.

A boutique carmaker with 11 billions in long-term debt is dead in the water. They must expand to survive.

"Estate" is British-ism for station wagon, too. (A model S wagon would be pretty nice...)

Such a thing does exist[1], though it's a custom build. Incidentally, "shooting brake" is yet another British-ism for station wagon.

[1] http://www.fullychargedshow.co.uk/tesla-model-s-shooting-bra...

I like the term "shooting brake" - seems crazy today, but makes sense when you know the history.

Re: "saloon", by happenstance Jalopnik posted an article on the subject a couple of hours before your comment.

https://jalopnik.com/this-is-why-we-call-cars-sedans-limousi...

Hadn't seen that. Thanks!

> "Saloon" as a British-ism for "sedan" is a new word for me.

I believe it derives from the saloon ( main passenger accommodation ) of a bus, versus the open deck of a charabanc. In turn borrowed from the maritime sense of a large weather-protected cabin for passengers.

In British car terms it indicates a car with 'separate' accommodation for the passengers i.e. not integrated with the boot / trunk as found in a hatchback.

tyres, bonnet, lorry, debt financing: some things lost in translation.

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