Tesla News [Feb 5, 2023]

Tesla (TSLA) investors closed off the week with the stock gaining +6.71% the last 5 days, which means it sits at +75.74% YTD.

Here's this week's news for Tesla, let's go through it together.

LEGEND: Positive News | Neutral News | Negative News

A Tesla Model S in California has allegedly spontaneously caught fire.

The fire took 6000 gallons of water to put out. The reason for this much was blamed on battery cells of the car continuing to combust even after the initial incident.

Fires with Tesla's have been an issue that usually surfaces a few times a year. However it's important to note, Tesla now sells over 1 million cars per year, and these incidents are relatively insignificant.  

The media however will have a field day with this because Tesla news (especially negative) sells!

Ford is cutting prices of its Mustang Mach-E by $5,900. 

This is in direct response to Tesla after their recent price cuts. Competition is getting tougher (and margins tighter!).

A new Gigafactory in Mexico could be coming soon.

There's rumblings around a plant near one of Mexico's international airports (AIFA) which would help Tesla transport vehicles quicker via air once produced.

There's nothing confirmed yet, but this is looking like a highly probable future location for another Gigafactory.

Tesla recorded a $204 million loss on Bitcoin.

Back in 2021, during the crypto craze, Tesla (and a few other companies) bought Bitcoin and added it to their balance sheet. And while it initially started off as a good idea, it quickly turned into more of a burden.

Tesla initially invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, but the latest filing as of December 2022 states the company now holds around $191 million.

We should expect to see little to no Bitcoin adjustments in future earnings as this is quite insignificant now compared to the revenue and FCF Tesla brings in annually.

Tesla has opened their Supercharging network to other vehicles in Australia. 

This is still a pilot program before they bring it permanently to North America, but this is the first country outside Europe to test the program. 

This could be a good source of revenue for Tesla as EV adoption globally keeps growing, but it comes at the cost of owners potentially having to wait longer for charges. Keep an eye on how Tesla manages these customer complains when they inevitably come up.

Tesla plans to spend between $6B-$8B this year and $7B-$9B in 2024 and 2025 - that's a lot of dough!

This is an increase in spending compared to previous years, but does make sense as more Tesla's continue to be sold worldwide. They are not afraid of reinvesting back into their business with a proven model.

The spending will include things like new offerings, new Gigafactory, expanding existing Gigafactory's, and more battery cell development.

Tesla is incentivizing existing Model S/X owners to purchase another Tesla.

The incentive is to trade in your Model S/X and receive a $3,000 discount or 3 years of free supercharging. 

There's no word on when this offer ends, but it should result in some incremental sales for new Tesla's.

Tesla now has a $5 Billion revolving line of credit (with 5 year maturity), implying their credit status is strong. There's also reports that tis could increase by another $2 Billion - for $7 Billion total.

This gives Tesla tons of liquidity to get through the current economic slump we're seeing, and completely diminishes the possibility of them going bankrupt anytime soon. This is essentially $5-$7 Billion they can use like cash at any time.

Tesla is looking to increase Giga Shanghai's capacity in a response to strong demand.

Tesla cut prices recently in China, and as expected, this has resulted in a slew of new orders - pushing demand well past supply. In the last ER, Elon Musk also noted January 2023 YTD had the strongest start for Tesla orders - ever.

The plan with this expansion is to spend 2 months to meet demand, producing 20,000 units per month in February and March. 

Brace yourself for a stellar Q1 2023 from Tesla, especially in China.

Tesla's Model Y is the 4th best selling car of 2022. 

This includes all cars - not just EVs, so it's quite an achievement for Tesla (but no surprise as I'm sure most of you notice a ton of Model Y's on the road today!).

The #1 spot is held by Toyota Corolla with 1.12 million units sold in 2022, and the Model Y sold 758,792 units - but the cost of a Corolla is significantly less than a Model Y! At this rate of growth, the Model Y could surpass Toyota for the #1 spot in the next year or two.

Tesla is lobbying the Ontario, Canada government on the plan to spend $91 million for EV infrastructure.

As of right now, Tesla's superchargers are not included in this program and Tesla wants to change this.

Canada is a successful Tesla market - with them having 1,490 fast charging connectors available to customers for over 130,000 units delivered to this market.

The DOJ is investigating Tesla's Autopilot and FSD software.

There's nothing further to report here but we are likely to see what comes of this investigation in coming months (which could add volatility to the stock).

Tesla is taking applications for Solar Roof Partners to expand this segment.

Solar is kind of a hidden monster at Tesla - it has a ton of potential but hasn't really been executed well to date. That might all be changing though.

In the recent 10-K filing from Tesla, they mention that they are focusing on Solar Roof - both with installation and price. As a result, they're looking to expand their partner network to get these roofs deployed to spec.

Tesla appears to be opening a new office in Silicon Valley to hire local talent for their AI development.

It's still unclear on the full details however this is something that should be announced very soon as signage and a street address has already been posted.

This is good news for local talent as other tech giants have been laying off engineers by the thousands!

Tesla sold 66,051 units in China in January.

This results in a 10.37% YoY increase in unit sales - despite the challenges seen at the Shanghai Giga with recent shutdowns. 

2023 is setting up to be a strong year (again) for Tesla China.

The court ruled that Elon Musk is not held liable for his tweet in 2018 about funding secured for Tesla.

This has been a long battle back and forth that Musk faced over the years, however it appears the Jury has spoken with a (unanimous) decision here.

This saga can finally be put behind him and Tesla investors as well.

The Cybertruck is the most anticipated release in years from Tesla.

We got some new leaked images and a video this week on the truck, and a new piece of information on a unique feature - the Cybertruck will have a triangular shape for it's side mirrors and they will be removable as well.

We look forward to spending a few minutes with you next Sunday for some new Tesla news!

Disclosure: I am a Tesla (TSLA) shareholder at the time of publishing.