Tesla faces billions of {dollars} in losses from its new crops, provide chain issues and Covid lockdowns — sufficient for chief government officer Elon Musk to say the potential of chapter.
“The previous two years have been an absolute nightmare of provide chain interruptions, one factor after one other,” Musk mentioned in an interview with a Tesla homeowners group. “We’re not out of it but. That is overwhelmingly our concern is how can we maintain the factories working so we are able to pay individuals and never go bankrupt.”
Musk engaged in hyperbole elsewhere within the interview, and he could have been doing so when mentioning the danger of chapter. For instance, he mentioned that automakers on the whole “desperately need to go bankrupt,” which falls within the class of colourful language somewhat than strict monetary evaluation.
Tesla’s manufacturing facility in Shanghai was shut for weeks because of Covid associated lockdowns within the metropolis. And Musk disclosed within the interview that the 2 factories Tesla opened within the quarter, in Germany and Texas, are costing the corporate billions of {dollars} in losses as a result of provide chain points have left them with “puny” output to date.
“That is all going to get fastened actual quick,” he mentioned in feedback recorded on Might 31, however not launched till late Wednesday. “Each Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic cash furnaces proper now. There is a large roaring sound which is the sound of cash on hearth. Greater than a dumpster [fire]. A dumpster is simply too small. Berlin and Austin are dropping billions of {dollars} proper now. There is a ton of expense and hardly any output.”
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