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Originally Posted by Jblack4083
The financials that go into statements like these are much more complex than that. P/L numbers can be affected by factors such as capital expenditure (CapEx) and research and development (R&D). In many cases, the real per vehicle profits are reduced because CapEx and R&D costs are spread out across the number of vehicles sold. Once again its much more complex but in its most basic forms that's what a "loss" per vehicle usually looks like.
2021 does seem overly far out that I would expect BMW is preparing something innovative or disruptive to bring to market. A firm with as many minds as BMW cannot possibly think arriving to the party multiple years late is a good idea... Unless they were possibly waiting to gauge the feasibility of it. Either way, they would need something innovative or disruptive to make it worth it.
Possibly we will see some developments related to the charging infrastructure that will be innovative? Who knows.
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Ugh. What it REALLY means is that there is either 1) not a large enough market, 2) not enough production capacity (physical or capital), 3) not enough operational infrastructure to support making, selling and/or operating enough Teslas to recoup the massive upfront investment costs. Simply put, they cannot currently sell or make enough units to recoup the fixed costs required to build the first ones. My personal belief is that in Tesla's case, the problem is 2 and 3. They could sell enough if they had them. But they would have to change the math. Right now, the government subsidies (all of us) paying the tax benefits to the people buying the $100k+ car because it is electric is a crucial part of their business model. Same with their other units. If Musk didn't have so many friends in government, Tesla would need way more investors with way more patience. The taxpayers have been responsible for a lot of his personal wealth.