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Tesla: Earnings still down, but rate of Model S production way up

According to its Third Quarter 2012 Shareholder Letter, Tesla "is now at over 200 cars per week or 10,000 cars per year, which is at the critical threshold needed for Tesla to generate positive operating cash flow."
That's an important milestone to be sure, but the news is actually even better; Tesla expects to ramp Model S production up to 400 cars per week (20,000 units/year) by December of 2012, and says it will deliver 2,500 to 3,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2012. That's lower than the previous target of 5,000 in 2012, but it's more an issue of delayed achievement rather than missing the mark altogether.
All of that production bodes well for the future, but as of today, the automaker has yet to earn real money. Revenue for the third quarter of 2012 was $50 million, equating to a net loss of about $110 million after expenses were tallied. The stock market likes the numbers, with TSLA shares rising 8.9 percent on Monday after the report was released.

Tesla to earn $250 million from sales of California environmental credits

Tesla Motors is expected to release quarterly earnings figures within the next few days, and the Silicon Valley automaker is thought to have attained profitability for the first time ever. As it turns out, a good bit of that profit will reportedly come from the State of California.
According to an article from the LA Times, Tesla, which is reportedly on pace to sell 20,000 vehicles in 2013, receives as much as $35,000 in environmental credits from California for each Model S it sells. These credits can then be sold to other automakers that do business in the state but don't sell zero-emission vehicles of their own. Some experts believe Tesla could earn up to $250 million from such ZEV credits.
While profits from ZEV credits equals good news for Tesla, some experts and rival automakers aren't very pleased with California's strong-arm tactics when it comes to the sales of electric vehicles. "At the end of the day, other carmakers are subsidizing Tesla," said Thilo Koslowski, an analyst at Gartner Inc.

GM CEO Akerson calls out Tesla, says Cadillac will compete on EVs

Cadillac will be taking on Tesla Motors, the underdog EV manufacturer that's seen heaps of critical acclaim and stock market buzz with its most recent sedan, the Model S. "If you want to compete head-to-head with Tesla, and we ultimately will, you want to do it with a Cadillac," Dan Akerson, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, told media in Washington, according to The Detroit News.
Akerson continued, telling The News, "We'll sell more Volts and lose less money on the Volts than they'll lose on the Model S." He also took time to point out that Tesla getting vehicles out to customers isn't a guarantee of success or permanence, using Fisker as an example, saying "Does anybody even remember Fisker? I mean, there were a number of them; they are all gone."
This strong talk from Akerson comes after Doug Parks, another GM exec, let slip that the Detroit-based manufacturer has an EV in the works that will cover 200 miles per charge and only cost about $30,000, a massive upgrade over similarly priced EVs that struggle to top 100 miles per charge. Until that vehicle arrives, though, GM is preparing the Cadillac ELR, a small coupe that, like the Volt with which it shares technology, uses a gas engine as a mobile generator to recharge the batteries. Akerson took aim at Tesla again, saying, "But I do think when the ELR comes out late this year, early next - it's certainly the same postal code as Tesla, but now we're going to move up. It's not going to be a mass-produced car."