OK...Here are two thoughts. I have a feeling that over the last few weeks Tesla may be compromising on their quality to try and make their numbers for the Model 3. We know people on the Honda and Toyota assembly lines could shut down the lines if they saw or felt something did not look or seem right. I believe that may not have happened at the Tesla plant... I could not see someone shutting down a line for a few days to "get it right" the last few weeks...Just me. Also, I have not heard of anyone asking for their $1,000. deposit back. I believe they are out there...I just haven't heard about them. Notice no ???
On the fire thing: That's all bullshit anyway. Lithium exposed to air is highly reactive. So is gasoline. But when a car catches on fire due to gasoline, we don't call the design flawed or seek to regulate gas tanks or downgrade the auto industry. No matter Tesla's other issues, the hoo-haw caused by the early cars' battery fires was bullshit, and anyone with a brain knew it. If the (rest of) world is catching on now? Meh.
Anyone seen The Grand Tour episode where the electric car crashed and burnt down? They said the fire kept burning for 3 days, the battery lines caught on fire sequentially. I guess this is what they call recycling...
Kenneth Lay also had chutzpah. Remember when they were going into the fiber optic business? A gas company!!!
"Pinto." (Ohmigod -- you just aged the two of us, and anyone else who immediately knew the reference. ) At any event, "Fair enough!" but that was a known design flaw, buried and ignored. The Tesla fires were/are worth a mention, and even a question, but a *headline*?? And multiple *days* of it? FWIW, I made some money on those headlines, but it wasn't much, as I don't play well with "fashion" stocks, so I likely was very small in position. But I hear something like that going on, and I hear "Opportunity!" and usually, I'm correct. The times I'm not?? Buried in my subconscious.
What if GM didn't kill the EV1? Will GM be what it is today? If Tesla doesn't succeed, someone else will.
There is no profitably sold EV on the market yet. Big car makers subsidize their EVs from the gas car profits. Elon subsidizes it from constantly raising money.