Photo: Tesla
Tesla Motors may be on a roll lately with the Model S sales success and the expansion of the Supercharger network, but its net loss has reached $61.9 million in the second quarter of 2014 because of research and development costs. That's somewhat expectable because the Palo Alto-based company is currently engaged with the Gigafactory project and two new models: the Model X and the Model III.
By moving record numbers of the highly praised Model S luxury electric sedan, Elon Musk's company was met with a revenue hike of almost 90 percent. In the second-quarter of 2013, that figure stood at $405.1 million, while the same period this year recorded $769.3 million, so it's obvious that Tesla rides the biggest success wave yet. However, there is some bad news for the EV carmaker as well.
Truckloads of green dollar bills have surged the company's net loss greatly these past few months. In total, R&D costs doubled from $52.3 million to a whopping $107.7 million in the second-quarter, and we can understand why. The upcoming Tesla Model X electric crossover is a very complicated piece of kit: Falcon doors, two electric motors, all-wheel drive and an estimated range of 380 miles is what we'd call a very big challenge in the EV world. More so when you consider that the first prototypes are slated for production design validation the next week and the finished product will go on sale in Q1 2015.
That's not the only R&D expense. In recent news, we told you that a BMW 3 Series rival expected to hold a $35,000 sticker price and bear the Model III nameplate is in the works as well, while the gargantuan Gigafactory battery plant gets ever nearer to receiving the green light. In total, the Gigafactory saga will cost Tesla a whopping $4 billion and Panasonic (its main partner) some $1 billion in tech solutions.
Nevertheless, Tesla Motors keeps its hopes high and expects to deliver at least 35,000 examples of the Model S until the end of the current year. More so, the Fremont assembly plant is on track to increase its capacity to 2,500 cars assembled every week as well.
Truckloads of green dollar bills have surged the company's net loss greatly these past few months. In total, R&D costs doubled from $52.3 million to a whopping $107.7 million in the second-quarter, and we can understand why. The upcoming Tesla Model X electric crossover is a very complicated piece of kit: Falcon doors, two electric motors, all-wheel drive and an estimated range of 380 miles is what we'd call a very big challenge in the EV world. More so when you consider that the first prototypes are slated for production design validation the next week and the finished product will go on sale in Q1 2015.
That's not the only R&D expense. In recent news, we told you that a BMW 3 Series rival expected to hold a $35,000 sticker price and bear the Model III nameplate is in the works as well, while the gargantuan Gigafactory battery plant gets ever nearer to receiving the green light. In total, the Gigafactory saga will cost Tesla a whopping $4 billion and Panasonic (its main partner) some $1 billion in tech solutions.
Nevertheless, Tesla Motors keeps its hopes high and expects to deliver at least 35,000 examples of the Model S until the end of the current year. More so, the Fremont assembly plant is on track to increase its capacity to 2,500 cars assembled every week as well.
Google News