Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[LesPalenik]

Musk sold 10 billion dollars of his Tesla stock. What does he know that the rest of us don't?

This has been over reported and over analyzed at nauseam in the last 2 months. Nothing fishy there.
Firstly, he had had to generate some cash to pay for his 100 millions of vested Tesla shares which will expire soon.
Secondly, he got pissed off by Sanders, Warren and other politicians who want to tax the billionaires even for unrealized gains, so he sent out a Twitter survey to his followers and asked them if he should sell 10% of his shares. They said yes.
Thirdly, he will need money to build TITS (Texas Institute of Technology and Science) and maybe also to fund the Starship project at SpaceX and possibly also to spin off the Starlink company.

[digitaldog]

Musk sold 10 billion dollars of his Tesla stock. What does he know that the rest of us don't?

You mean that you don't know. Speaking for others, everyone again, assuming 'we' know as little about this and that, as you do.... Nothing new here.

Nov 15 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk has sold $930 million in shares to meet tax withholding obligations related to the exercise of stock options, U.S. securities filings showed on Monday.

Musk sold 934,091 shares after exercising options to buy 2.1 million stocks at $6.24 each on Monday. Tesla shares closed at $1,013.39. He is required to pay income taxes on the difference between the exercise price and fair market value of the shares.

This is the second time in a week that the billionaire has exercised his stock option. Last Monday, he sold another 934,000 shares for $1.1 billion after exercising options to acquire nearly 2.2 million shares

Indeed, some don't read what's reported sadly, they just post more assumptions.

This has been over reported and over analyzed at nauseam in the last 2 months. Nothing fishy there.

[Alan Klein]

This has been over reported and over analyzed at nauseam in the last 2 months. Nothing fishy there.
Firstly, he had had to generate some cash to pay for his 100 millions of vested Tesla shares which will expire soon.
Secondly, he got pissed off by Sanders, Warren and other politicians who want to tax the billionaires even for unrealized gains, so he sent out a Twitter survey to his followers and asked them if he should sell 10% of his shares. They said yes.
Thirdly, he will need money to build TITS (Texas Institute of Technology and Science) and maybe also to fund the Starship project at SpaceX and possibly also to spin off the Starlink company.

I give Musk more credit and smarts than that.  When he sold Tesla's partial stake in Bitcoin, he raised their earnings for that quarter. It would have been nothing or very little without it.   He claimed he sold it to try to see what effect it would have on Bitcoin's price.  That was BS. The reason he did it, in my opinion, was that based on the higher Tesla's earning because of the sale, he received a windfall in additional Telsa stock by contract he had with his corporation.  I suspect he's selling Tesla stock now is to assure that he has higher profits just in case Tesla's price plummets when we go into a recession. 

[LesPalenik]

I give Musk more credit and smarts than that.  When he sold Tesla's partial stake in Bitcoin, he raised their earnings for that quarter. It would have been nothing or very little without it.   He claimed he sold it to try to see what effect it would have on Bitcoin's price.  That was BS. The reason he did it, in my opinion, was that based on the higher Tesla's earning because of the sale, he received a windfall in additional Telsa stock by contract he had with his corporation.  I suspect he's selling Tesla stock now is to assure that he has higher profits just in case Tesla's price plummets when we go into a recession.

Looking into 2022 and beyond, Tesla price trajectory will keep going up (nothwistanding constant fluctuations). In the next 2 months, there are several catalysts which will push the price higher.

[Alan Klein]

Looking into 2022 and beyond, Tesla price trajectory will keep going up (nothwistanding constant fluctuations). In the next 2 months, there are several catalysts which will push the price higher.

I was listening to some guy on one of those stock market programs who think it's going to a $10 trillion valuation.  I don't know.  Once the other car companies start competing seriously, Tesla will have to up their game.  Right now their cars are ugly, small, and don't look classy.  Features you expect on expensive cars don't seem to be there. I'd rather get $10,000 in features, size, and class in a gasoline-fired auto rather than a $10,000 battery. 

[Robert Roaldi]

What bolstered sales more than the NRA is when politicians, the left media, and anti gun proponents suggest limiting their sales and confiscating them.   Then sales increase by the millions as gun enthusiasts stock up. 

The fact is most Americans act responsibly when it comes to guns.

Not sure what that has to do with the interview in question. You didn't listen to it, did you?

[Robert Roaldi]

It should be noted that Busse was an advisor on Biden's election campaign and is selling his book on this topic.

So?

[LesPalenik]

I was listening to some guy on one of those stock market programs who think it's going to a $10 trillion valuation.  I don't know.  Once the other car companies start competing seriously, Tesla will have to up their game.  Right now their cars are ugly, small, and don't look classy.  Features you expect on expensive cars don't seem to be there. I'd rather get $10,000 in features, size, and class in a gasoline-fired auto rather than a $10,000 battery.

Whose cars look ugly and not classy? Teslas or their competition? In my opinion, some of the new Vietnamese and Chinese cars look better than Hummers or Lexuses.
Some experts predict that Asian manufacturers will flood soon the US and European markets with their cars. Their latest cars look actually quite nice and have a lot of advanced features. When it comes to Tesla, it is a complex story with a lot of promises and surprises, much more than just a car assembly. Any attempt to simplify the facts will only distort the overall picture. Just today, they announced their latest product, a small battery operated ATV for children. 15 miles range with a max speed of 10 mph.

GM plans to make their final transition to EVs by 2040. That's almost 20 years from now. The New York transition from horse-drawn carts to Ford automobiles took only 13 years and that was in 1930's. Today, the technology advances happen much faster.

[Robert Roaldi]

Whose cars look ugly and not classy? Teslas or their competition? In my opinion, some of the new Vietnamese and Chinese cars look better than Hummers or Lexuses.
Some experts predict that Asian manufacturers will flood soon the US and European markets with their cars. Their latest cars look actually quite nice and have a lot of advanced features. When it comes to Tesla, it is a complex story with a lot of promises and surprises, much more than just a car assembly. Any attempt to simplify the facts will only distort the overall picture. Just today, they announced their latest product, a small battery operated ATV for children. 15 miles range with a max speed of 10 mph.

GM plans to make their final transition to EVs by 2040. That's almost 20 years from now. The New York transition from horse-drawn carts to Ford automobiles took only 13 years and that was in 1930's. Today, the technology advances happen much faster.

Twenty years! Yikes, that is a long time. But if their N.A. fleet is primarily big honking pick-ups and oversized SUVs, it might make sense. Might take a while to convert that kind of vehicle to e-power. Most of the people in my neighbourhood who own one use them to buy groceries, but there are people who insist on pulling payloads with theirs, which is more demanding.

[Robert Roaldi]

Just wanted to add one more trivial tidbit. I agree with Alan in that I don't find the styling of the Tesla models very inspired, not ugly, but bland. Also, I don't know if it's possible to trade off the two things, but I'd be ok if the power output was a bit lower if I could trade it for more range.

[LesPalenik]

Just wanted to add one more trivial tidbit. I agree with Alan in that I don't find the styling of the Tesla models very inspired, not ugly, but bland. Also, I don't know if it's possible to trade off the two things, but I'd be ok if the power output was a bit lower if I could trade it for more range.

Styling can be contraversial, especially on Cybertruck, but the EV offerings are getting better and better, so soon the buyers will have more choices. Right now, Tesla, Lucid and a few other manufacturers offer on some models Long Range, Performance, and Standard options. Personally, I like Tesla's minimalistic and timeless designs and I would always take a car with a better visibility and a bigger trunk rather than with a fancy honeycomb plastic grille which is difficult to clean. 

[PeterAit]

Also, I don't know if it's possible to trade off the two things, but I'd be ok if the power output was a bit lower if I could trade it for more range.

You can trade them off with your driving habits. High speed and jackrabbit starts eat the battery. As does use of heaters and the A/C.

[Robert Roaldi]

You can trade them off with your driving habits. High speed and jackrabbit starts eat the battery. As does use of heaters and the A/C.

I understand that of course. But that only buys you so much. What I was getting at is that Tesla decided to design a car with very rapid acceleration (very fast 0-60 times) and a range of 400 km (or so, not sure of the exact numbers), whereas I'd prefer a car with slower top 0-60 times and a range of 600 km instead. I hope that competitors will soon start to do that very thing. Maybe even Tesla will in some future model. At the moment, I think everyone is still in awe of the instant torque of e-motors. As an aside I can't tell you how funny I find it to design a car with very high torque then handicap it with a traction control system.

Having been a long-time participant in amateur motor sports (mostly rally), I deplore the fact that very powerful automobiles can be bought and driven by people with inadequate driver training, and then mask that irresponsibility with ever more complex passive safety systems. Nothing wrong with those except we've got the priority wrong. I believe that the only reason that more people don't die in their cars is (1) because they're actually frightened of going as fast as their cars permit, a good thing btw, and (2) because of our road designs we spend most of our time stopped at red lights or in bumper to bumper traffic. This is why most of the vehicles people buy are actually living rooms on wheels.

Just my pointless 2 cents worth.

[Peter McLennan]

.  Once the other car companies start competing seriously, Tesla will have to up their game.  Right now their cars are ugly, small, and don't look classy.  Features you expect on expensive cars don't seem to be there. I'd rather get $10,000 in features, size, and class in a gasoline-fired auto rather than a $10,000 battery.

Says the guy who drives a Lincoln. 

[Peter McLennan]

A word of advice for those who diss Tesla:

Don't drive one.

[Alan Klein]

You can trade them off with your driving habits. High speed and jackrabbit starts eat the battery. As does use of heaters and the A/C.

Curious.  Does anyone know what the loss in battery power mileage is if you have a heavy foot?  Just like the MPG given by the manufacturers for gasoline-fired cars, I doubt if the mileage ranges for EVs are accurate either and probably overestimated.  What are the real mileage numbers?

[Alan Klein]

Says the guy who drives a Lincoln. 

It's the larger 2.3 liter MKC Reserve with all the bells and whistles.  In candy apple red and leather seats with all the safety features my wife wanted.  Actually, the main reason we bought it was after looking at Audi, BMW, Volvo, and all the others, it was the only one that accepted both my wife's iPhone IOS and my Samsung Galaxy Android to use Google mapping and navigation apps to override the car's navigation system.  All the others used either one or the other app but not both.

[digitaldog]

Actually, the main reason we bought it was after looking at Audi, BMW, Volvo, and all the others, it was the only one that accepted both my wife's iPhone IOS and my Samsung Galaxy Android to use Google mapping and navigation apps to override the car's navigation system. 

Actually that's utterly wrong.
Anyone who wants to see proof of this, do ask; I'd provide it here for Alan but he will of course ignore the facts.
Once again, Alan is either not telling us the truth or, telling us what he believes that is wrong (again).
Multiple Audis (one example alone is necessary) has had both Apple Carplay & Android Auto support since 2017.
Such facts, from a previous owner of three Audi's (including my midlife crisis car, an Audi Avant S4!).

Curious.  Does anyone know what the loss in battery power mileage is if you have a heavy foot? 

Yes. But why ask; pointless diversion would follow.

[marvpelkey]

A bit of a comment or two, prompted by post #12512 of Robert Roaldi.

Happened to be in Denver Co, shortly after a relative (about 40 yr old female) of my D-I-L took delivery of her brand new Tesla. She took me for a quick spin (evening with no traffic around) and stopped in a Mall parking lot. She matted it and it was like the car was shot from a cannon. Pinned me back in the seat and had I known she was going to show me it's extremes, I would have declined the ride. But the crazed look in her eyes after the maneuver......

And, as I recently ordered a new truck, I have been doing research, visiting some truck forums. I was surprised/disappointed by many posts where someone was seeking advice on how to tune their truck (a lot of the 2500/250 models - ie trucks predominantly used to tow heavy stuff), but not to get better tow capabilities or mileage, but to go faster and quicker off the line. One poster was committed to doing 140 miles per hour on his local highway. And, even though one or two others questioned the sanity of that, I was further surprised by the number of respondents who thought it was a cool idea.

Vehicles are manufactured to go way too fast because the buyers want vehicles which go way too fast (And I can attest to that from 30 years in law enforcement).

My worthless two cents.

Marv

[LesPalenik]

Vehicles are manufactured to go way too fast because the buyers want vehicles which go way too fast (And I can attest to that from 30 years in law enforcement).
My worthless two cents.

Marv

The unfortunate thing is that most people who buy fast cars are not very good drivers.
Unless you want to take a car to a race track, getting a fast car outside of Germany is utterly pointless. Taking off like a rocket from a traffic light and pressing a brake after 100 yards is equally pointless.