Tesla Earnings Call Transcript Q1 2014 – Complete Conference Call

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Rahul Chadha – UBS: Hi this is Rahul Chadha on behalf of Colin. Amm, can you help us understand the difference in the variable cost structure for the Model S, compared to aaa…a comparable luxury sedan like aaa…maybe a BMW 7 Series. And other than battery, which are the key areas where you’ll be able to cut costs as you go ahead and achieve scale?

Elon Musk: Well we don’t really know what the gross margin as of individual product lines in other companies, so it’s difficult for us to make an exact comparison there. Amm, the aaa…I just don’t know how to answer that question exactly. As far as cost reduction, the cost of our vehicle is not just in the battery pack, battery pack is one portion of the car, amm…it’s…but it’s aaa…you know, but it’s…it’s maybe a quarter to the value of the car, it’s not…it’s not like – this is not the overwhelming portion of the car. So amm…you know, cost reductions really come across the board.

Rahul Chadha – UBS: Are there any specific amm…amm…components which amm…you know, you see a bigger opportunity to cost…cut cost and or amm…the process?

Elon Musk: Aaa, I…I…I think a single cost reduction with same Q fout this year would be related to labor and overhead, amm…which, you know, I guess as mentioned earlier in the call we have a much more efficient production line that’s going to come online in July, aaa…which, you know, has more automation aaa…and it’s just set up in a better way and, you know, that’s making the car with greater labor efficiency is the biggest single improvement. Amm, but there…there are really hundreds of improvements across the board aaa…and it…it work when really comes on to this you make aaa…you know, from like a five dollars to, you know, a hundred dollars improvement here, there and everywhere and it adds up to a significant number. I wish there was like one place where…this is where…this was this one incredibly super expensive thing that if we fixed would suddenly make car cheap that…that is preference and not the case.

Rahul Chadha – UBS: Thank you, and then do you have any update on the…the dispute with dealer body?

Elon Musk: Aaa, oh, I think there was something that happened just today, I mean the stuff tends to be reported real time, so we are sort of like just I mean we know that, there is not public information, but amm…I think the…the appeal in Massachusetts aaa…from the dealers was aaa…denied today. So there was…oh, hearing there is a hearing.

Jeffrey B. Straubel: (Indiscernible)

Elon Musk: All right well then so no update on the (indiscernible).

Rahul Chadha – UBS: Okay. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

Jeffrey B. Straubel: All right. Hey Patrick I apologize I cut of amm…Craig Irwin there, if he is back in the question, we could take another question from him. Anything in the queue.

Operator: We have Craig Irwin in queue, Wedbush Securities. Your line is open.

Jeffrey B. Straubel: Go ahead Craig, I’m sorry about that.

Craig E. Irwin – Wedbush Securities: Thank Jeff. No, not a problem, not a problem. So I really appreciated the amm…the comment in the shareholder letter about ten percent sequential growth in orders in North America. We understand you’re, you are obviously capacity constrained and you have got great demand, amm…but one of…one of the points of controversy is the potential for amm…declining shipments into North America. Can you maybe give us a commentary about your year-over-year amm…order rates in North America, amm…whether or not you expect to amm…continue selling Model S vehicles, at similar volumes, aaa…once you have started to satisfy amm…some of the European and Asian demand?

Jeffrey B. Straubel: Aaa, and we would rather not make any additional predictions about deliveries. Aaa, I mean I…I see demand in North America, I mean I can tell you aaa…definitely what we see as we see a steadily increasing demand in North America, that’s the information that we have. We don’t have amm…something that’s more predictive than that.

Craig E. Irwin – Wedbush Securities: Okay, that’s…that’s helpful. Thank you.

Jeffrey B. Straubel: Thanks.

Operator: Thank you.

Jeffrey B. Straubel: All right. Thank you Patrick for getting Craig back on the line, I appreciate that. So this concludes our call. Thank you everyone for joining us this afternoon. We look forward to seeing many of you this month in New York. Next Monday, we’ll be at the Deutsche Bank Cleantech Conference and on Tuesday we’ll be at the Wedbush Transformational Technologies Conference and finally at the end of May we are presenting at the Friedman Billings Ramsey Energy Technology Summit. So we hope to see some of you at some of those conferences. Thank you everyone and have a great day. Bye, bye.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for participating today program. This concludes the program. You may all disconnect.

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