Topic: Tesla bonds assigned "junk" status by S&P

[rrocket]

Its shares may be the darling of Wall Street, but Tesla Motors Inc. on Tuesday received a far less rousing recommendation from bond raters at Standard & Poor’s Corp. -- which assigned the electric-vehicle maker a B- rating, or “junk” status.

Companies are given junk-bond ratings when Wall Street determines there is an increased possibility of default.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140527/OEM05/140529882/tesla-bonds-assigned-junk-status-by-sp

[johngenx]

I don't get why such a company would be a Wall Street darling.  I love Tesla, but the reality is that they're a tiny company operating in cut-throat industry that takes massive amounts of capital and large sales volumes to really be profitable in the long term.

What is the definition of risk?  Variance.  What is the probability that Tesla will experience large variance in their income and earnings?  High.  Therefore, it's a very risky venture. Risk means higher interest has to be paid on debentures.

[mmret]

A very exciting, and very unproven company. So B- (or a few notches either way) makes sense enough.

If you're holding Tesla bonds you've got to wonder...if they do default, what collateral have you got? A bunch of technology that probably isn't particularly viable (else they mightn't have defaulted).

[bye]

A very exciting, and very unproven company. So B- (or a few notches either way) makes sense enough.

Don't underestimate "lust". 

Apple didn't get as big as it is by making a low end consumer product, it has consistently priced itself at the top of the range, which it can justify with it's renowned ease of use and "it factor".
Apply was once a B- rated company, before the iPod...

Times are changing.  Tesla looks to be the first new US auto-mobile manufacturer for decades that actually has a chance of success long term.

[Ex-airbalancer]

This story will not help
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093713_tesla-model-s-drive-unit-replacements-how-big-a-problem

[X-Traction]

This story will not help
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093713_tesla-model-s-drive-unit-replacements-how-big-a-problem

Perhaps.  Tesla is, after all, still a new company with new technology.  Marketing studies have shown that if Tesla owns up to the problem and makes things right for the customers, customer loyalty grows more than if they'd had no problems to begin with.  In what I think is the unlikely event that Tesla leaves customers with beyond-warranty failures in the lurch, a lawsuit will resolve it.  Tesla obviously is on record that the failures are design/manufacturing problems, and new cars have to meet a standard of reasonable provision of what they were sold to perform.

[Snowman]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/02/11/tesla-earnings-sales-stock/23240599/

[Snowman]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/news/trans-canada-highway/why-consumer-reports-called-its-127000-tesla-undriveable/article24488402/

[tpl]

I would prefer that Mr Musk spent more time on SpaceX and stopped wasting his efforts on electric cars.   He is close to a man rated capsule to LEO which will allow the USA to service the ISS itself.

[rrocket]

I would prefer that Mr Musk spent more time on SpaceX and stopped wasting his efforts on electric cars.   He is close to a man rated capsule to LEO which will allow the USA to service the ISS itself.

So you want him to stop catering to the wealthy and focus on the obscenely, filthy, wealthy?

[tpl]

No I want him to do his space thing.  He isn't offering hops to space like Branson, he is trying to start a commercial business of people ( who will all be ISS astronauts initially) and cargo to LEO with a reasonably reusable rocket.   Something the facking US congree seems to be incapbale of funding via NASA.

[bye]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/news/trans-canada-highway/why-consumer-reports-called-its-127000-tesla-undriveable/article24488402/

What a farce.  Three other door handles worked, including the passenger side.   I've had trouble getting into other cars I've owned, including Ford and Mercedes.  Once in the car, pretty easy to drive it.

Consumer Reports click bait, then Globe click bait == laughable.

Sad what Globe has become.  Pathetic.

[rrocket]

What a farce.  Three other door handles worked, including the passenger side.   I've had trouble getting into other cars I've owned, including Ford and Mercedes.  Once in the car, pretty easy to drive it.

You have a link for that?  The articles I read said they couldn't get into the car PERIOD.

[Snowman]

I'm starting to think Tesla is a gigantic ponzi scheme. It will never make money.

[me_2]

What a farce.  Three other door handles worked, including the passenger side.   I've had trouble getting into other cars I've owned, including Ford and Mercedes.  Once in the car, pretty easy to drive it.

You have a link for that?  The articles I read said they couldn't get into the car PERIOD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPVuG5hj08  0:24 "... No matter what we did, we couldn't get the driver's door open"

[rrocket]

What a farce.  Three other door handles worked, including the passenger side.   I've had trouble getting into other cars I've owned, including Ford and Mercedes.  Once in the car, pretty easy to drive it.

You have a link for that?  The articles I read said they couldn't get into the car PERIOD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPVuG5hj08  0:24 "... No matter what we did, we couldn't get the driver's door open"

Yea.  But where does it say all the other doors functioned properly?  In my Lexus, I could walk up with the keyfob and ONLY the drivers door would unlock automatically if I touched it.  None of the other doors.

I'm guessing same thing here.

[me_2]

What a farce.  Three other door handles worked, including the passenger side.   I've had trouble getting into other cars I've owned, including Ford and Mercedes.  Once in the car, pretty easy to drive it.

You have a link for that?  The articles I read said they couldn't get into the car PERIOD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPVuG5hj08  0:24 "... No matter what we did, we couldn't get the driver's door open"

Yea.  But where does it say all the other doors functioned properly?  In my Lexus, I could walk up with the keyfob and ONLY the drivers door would unlock automatically if I touched it.  None of the other doors.

I'm guessing same thing here.

All handles come out simultaneously **, you can see the rear door handle is out even if the driver's isn't on previous YT link

** See 1:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HtlmNzqQdo

[rrocket]

What a farce.  Three other door handles worked, including the passenger side.   I've had trouble getting into other cars I've owned, including Ford and Mercedes.  Once in the car, pretty easy to drive it.

You have a link for that?  The articles I read said they couldn't get into the car PERIOD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPVuG5hj08  0:24 "... No matter what we did, we couldn't get the driver's door open"

Yea.  But where does it say all the other doors functioned properly?  In my Lexus, I could walk up with the keyfob and ONLY the drivers door would unlock automatically if I touched it.  None of the other doors.

I'm guessing same thing here.

All handles come out simultaneously **, you can't see the rear door handle is out even if the driver's isn't.

** See 1:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HtlmNzqQdo

But if the actuator is pooched...do they all not come out?  Or is it possible that it can be programmed so only one comes out?  Again..this was something I could program in my Lexus.

I'm still not clear if ALL of them were inoperable. Wish I knew for sure so I would know who to be annoyed with...Tesla or CR.   

[me_2]

What a farce.  Three other door handles worked, including the passenger side.   I've had trouble getting into other cars I've owned, including Ford and Mercedes.  Once in the car, pretty easy to drive it.

You have a link for that?  The articles I read said they couldn't get into the car PERIOD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPVuG5hj08  0:24 "... No matter what we did, we couldn't get the driver's door open"

Yea.  But where does it say all the other doors functioned properly?  In my Lexus, I could walk up with the keyfob and ONLY the drivers door would unlock automatically if I touched it.  None of the other doors.

I'm guessing same thing here.

All handles come out simultaneously **, you can't see the rear door handle is out even if the driver's isn't.

** See 1:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HtlmNzqQdo

But if the actuator is pooched...do they all not come out?

I'm still not clear if ALL of them were inoperable. Wish I knew for sure so I would know who to be annoyed with...Tesla or CR.   

Can't say for sure on that one 

[ThePointblank]

But if the actuator is pooched...do they all not come out?

I'm still not clear if ALL of them were inoperable. Wish I knew for sure so I would know who to be annoyed with...Tesla or CR.   

Can't say for sure on that one 

What CR is saying is that the driver-side door handle failed to pop out, which was an annoyance. What made the car actually undriveable was the car wouldn't stay in Drive, perhaps misinterpreting that the door was open due to the issue with the door handle. So, CR was correct in saying that their P85D was undriveable; the vehicle didn't want to stay in Drive. So, they had to call Tesla to get the vehicle serviced, and a Tesla technician came, and fixed the door actuator. The technician had to replace the drive side door-handle control module, which includes the sensor and motors that popped out the door handle.