Search A Look Under the Hood of Tesla Motors In his typical style, Elon Musk, Tesla Motors’ chief executive, laid out grand ambitions in a government filing Friday: He wants to make all-electric sport utility vehicles, vans and coupes once he is done with Tesla’s sports car and sedan.But it might be too soon to plan for new cars.The filing, made with the Securities and Exchange Commission as the first step to selling stock to the public in an initial public offering, revealed that Tesla is behind on achieving its goal of producing the Model S sedan, on which the company’s survival hinges.In March, when Mr.Musk unveiled the Model S prototype, he said it would be produced in 2011 and that Tesla was very close to signing a deal to build it at a Southern California plant.filing said that Tesla has not yet selected a site for the facility, nor has the design of the Model S been completed.The Model S will not be on the road until 2012 or later, the filing said.People who had reserved a car have already canceled orders, as they did with the company’s first vehicle, the Roadster sports car, when it was delayed.

Musk has a major incentive to start selling the Model S. This year, he was granted about $22.3 million in stock options, with another $22.3 million available once he meets goals for production of the Model S.So far, he has been accepting only a $1 salary each year (along with $175,000 last year in fuel and landing fees to fly his private jet on Tesla business.)Musk remains the largest shareholder in Tesla.Other investors owning more than 5 percent of the company are Blackstar Investco, an affiliate of the German car company Daimler AG; VantagePoint Venture Partners; Valor Equity Partners; and Al Wahada Capital Investment, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government’s water and electricity authority.btc express bitcoinHere are some other highlights from the Tesla filing: Tesla plans to stop selling the current version of the Roadster in 2011 because of changes at a supplier and will not start selling the next generation of the car until at least a year after the Model S is out, which will be 2012 or later.ucan bitcoin

That means a long period without significant revenue from selling cars.Before then, Roadster sales could taper off.The long wait list for the car has dwindled to 220 people.Many of the original owners were friends of Mr.Musk and the very rich, including Silicon Valley types like Google‘s founders.That group is close to saturated, and a “significant number” of other people who reserved cars have canceled their orders, the filing said.bitcoin faucet every hourTesla has had a controversial practice of accepting down payments on cars before they are ready and using that cash for general purposes.bitcoin chessThe company has $24.8 million in such payments, including $5,000 each from 2,000 people who have reserved the Model S. However, it turns out that California law restricts auto dealers from taking deposits before cars are available, according to the filing.bitcoin forum kurs

After high-profile resignations at the company in the past, including that of the co-founder and former chief executive, Martin Eberhard, two more executives recently resigned.Jon Sobel, general counsel, left in December, and Michael Donoughe, executive vice president of vehicle engineering and manufacturing, left in September.Daimler, through Blackstar Investco, has invested in Tesla and ordered 1,000 electric batteries and chargers from Tesla for Daimler electric vehicles.bitcoin double spend attackBut the relationship goes even deeper: Tesla cannot sell to another company without giving Daimler the chance to make an offer, and Mr.bitcoin sell in pakistanMusk cannot transfer any of his stock to another car company without Blackstar’s consent.bitcoin podcast reddit

With Bitcoin cracking $2,500 per coin recently, it seems everyone has an opinion on what the future of the cryptocurrency is and whether it is a worthwhile investment.The hard truth though is that no one with an opinion on bitcoin is making an informed decision.Rather they are all speculating, not investing.While there can never be an investment free of any speculation (nothing is guaranteed and has perfect information), recently society has blurred the lines of what qualifies as an investment.ethereum rate in usdAn investment is based on information that justifies either an increase or decrease in value, whereas speculation is based merely on instinct, even if it believes it has information backing it.Horseracing is a common speculation since betters believe they can tell “good horses” from “bad horses” and in turn are making informed decisions.In reality, they have no idea what is going on in the horse’s mind and cannot predict the outcome of any given race.

Conversely strong investments are able to look at assets and prove beyond a certain level of doubt that a given valuation is justified.Bitcoin is notorious for its astounding runs in prices.When the currency first had a major breakout back in 2013 the price moved from just under $200 to over $1,000 in less than a month and dropped back down to $500 in less than two weeks.Recently, it has surged from under $1,000 to over $2,500 in about 7 weeks.The biggest problem with Bitcoin is that nothing justifies its value.Unlike with stocks where you actually own a piece of a company that generates revenue, Bitcoin does not exist.There is not money backing it and it can be erased, as happened in 2014 when the major bitcoin exchange at the time was hacked.Betting on Bitcoin is similar to betting on the roll of a dice.Past rolls have no influence on future outcomes, so realistically at any point the floor could drop out or the price could spike and both scenarios would make perfect sense.Irrational exuberance, where the mind makes you believe trends are present, is more likely to push the prices up and down than any justifiable value.

However, this means a small waiver in price could result in a massive crash.One of the most common phrases people use when they refer to real estate, is that “real estate is always a good investment.”  Yet if you actually examine the data, the average house price appreciation in the United States is about 0% per year.Even more so, whatever price appreciation does happen is about 90% correlated to the land value and not the home itself.With this information, can you actually justify buying houses or even land to sit on, while you wait for increases in value?If you are doing real estate “speculation” you are flipping a coin to see if you are one of the lucky who does above average.However, too many people do not understand this is what they are doing when they sink thousands or millions of dollars into these “investment properties.” This type of irrational behavior is what caused the 2008 housing crisis.People across the nation truly believed house prices would always increase and were continuing to build and buy homes without taking the time to analyze the data.

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, but if people are to be intelligent investors and minimize risk, while maximizing returns, they ought to take more time to base decisions on data rather than gut instinct and speculation.Unfortunately, there is not an entirely clear distinction between speculation and investing.Who could have predicted the rise of Facebook back when Mark Zuckerberg first founded it back in his Harvard days?Who could have seen Apple rebound, overtake Microsoft, and become the most valuable corporation on Earth?In even the best researched investments, there is a certain level of analysis for market trends that cannot rest on computation.Tesla Motors has recently cracked the $300/share price point and become the most valuable American car company.Yet, when you drive around, how often do you see a Tesla on the road?If you talk to the top Wall Street analysts, you will have starkly split opinions on whether Tesla is under or over-valued.Those who subscribe more to tech will say that Elon Musk is one of the most brilliant minds of our time and has proven he is able to achieve the impossible.

They will note the brand value of Tesla, its investment in a powerful infrastructure, its driverless car technology, and the percentage of cars that will be electric in the future.All of these metrics have clear value, but tell a different story than what is presently occurring.Analysts who are more focused on automotives and manufacturing will talk about the lack of sales, struggles of car supply chains, problems on incoming competitors, and high price point of Teslas.These individuals are certain Tesla’s $300+ price per share is a drastic overvaluation and caused by irrational exuberance, but those in favor of Tesla will say this is just the beginning and Elon’s vision and investment in the future of the company will lead to an increase in value.Just as with Bitcoin, only time will tell which camp is correct, but the difference is that each analyst has a base of data backing their beliefs.If you struggle to identify what the value of the investment is or use vague trends and personal beliefs to justify the action, then you are likely speculating rather than investing.