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POLL: Is the Tesla IPO for you?

POLL: Is the Tesla IPO for you?

Posted Nov 22nd 2009 7:30PM

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Tesla Roadster - Click above for high-res image gallery

With another story about Tesla Motors going public circulating last week (although probably not for a while) – right alongside the news of trouble at electric car maker Aptera – we got to wondering what the community thinks of this move. Is it the right move at the right time (an IPO had been planned earlier, but then the stock market took a nosedive)? Is it a silly investment? Will it follow the IPO from A123 with a great opening day and then dropping back down? Of course, we have no idea – and we're not about to give any advice because we're just not that reckless – but we thought a little poll (polls, actually) would make for good discussion. Vote in the first one here, then follow us after the jump for the rest.

Will you invest in Tesla when an IPO takes place?
Yes	1029 (55.4%)
No	830 (44.6%)

What best describes your reaction to news of a potential Tesla IPO?
Awesome!	221 (30.7%)
I wish I had some money to invest.	212 (29.4%)
This is just a way for Musk and others to make a mint and then bail.	87 (12.1%)
They'd better do it soon, because Tesla's value is about to drop thanks to work from other automakers.	164 (22.7%)
Other (tell us in the comments, please)	37 (5.1%)

Category: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, Green Daily

Tags: ipo, tesla, tesla ipo, tesla motors, tesla motors ipo, TeslaIpo, TeslaMotors, TeslaMotorsIpo

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29 Comments

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Ra Conteur

Great company. Great product. Inspirational new transport sector. I hope their IPO kicks ass. If there is to be a fast transition to the electrification of transport - we need to see IPOs like this take off. The totally untapped area is in after-market EV sales. Whoever puts together a retail brand for sales of EV accessories and parts - has a strong opportunity for success.

Even though "climate change" has proven to be a failure, there is still a compelling reason to move away from fossil fuel. If the collapse of climate change produces a depression in green products and services - its a good time to buy in. They have to come back. Fossil energy is still finite and imported oil is still a national security risk.

November 23 2009 at 5:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

BlackbirdHighway

It's not bad to put a few bucks into high risk/high potential reward investments like this. I wouldn't bet the farm though.

November 23 2009 at 12:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ghen

Missing poll option: I don't play with the stock market.

November 23 2009 at 10:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

jpm

I like the idea of lean, small, non-corporate companies. From my experience, corporations have too much red tape, politics/bureaucrats, etc. The focus may shift to 110% making profit and focus may be taken away from being innovative and risky. I don't know...who the hell knows.

November 23 2009 at 5:52 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to jpm's comment

augustus

"non-corporate companies" umm er yeah.

November 23 2009 at 3:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

jpm

what's your point?

November 23 2009 at 4:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Dan Frederiksen

My crystal ball tells me the Model S is wrong. it looks nice as a conventional luxury sedan and it has good performance but being that heavy it needs a lot of batteries and that's a 20k$ prospect for the cells alone and that's for the 'short' range version. maybe 35k$ for the more expensive. labor that into a pack and that's probably more than half the vehice sale price already. just the battery pack. and 160mile range. with no chance of having quick charge capability. I would guess that the sale price will have to be higher than Elon von Munchhausen projects, I'd guess say 78k$
and for that to begin to match their loan they'd have to push a lot of those cars per year and I don't see that happening at that price level in its hard fixed range config. only rich EV enthusiasts can handle such a limitation and I don't feel confident there are 10000 of those per year. you could have an inexpensive secondary car for longer trips but not sure the climate of awareness will be enlightened enough for that en masse.

So in short it looks too riskily like Elon's ego is writing checks his Model S can't cash, with the caveat that he's very talented when not hampered by his significant emotional and spiritual immaturity.

I'll go on the record as saying the model S is all wrong. It's a conventional heavy luxury sedan with a pure electric drivetrain. Instead it should have been a very unconventional ultra light ultra efficient fiber glass luxury sedan of the hyper car principle where the energy consumption is so low that you can go quick and far with a small battery pack and or a very small generator. A stylish luxurious cousin of the Solectria Sunrise. the one that in the 90s went 375 miles on a single charge even without lithium yet seated 4 people.
All car makers in the world should make such a vehicle and eventually they will but they'll be idiots about it for a decade or two first.
Another similar vehicle is the GM ultralite concept, which was actually used as the police car in the movie Demolition Man
people would buy that, people would buy the hell out of that.
sigh why am I not in charge. why do I have to sit on the sidelines and facepalm the world :)
what a world

November 23 2009 at 12:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

9 replies to Dan Frederiksen's comment

Nick P.

There's only two valid reasons to do an IPO:

1) To raise money for a big project that cannot be financed by projected sales.
2) To provide an exit for long-time shareholders. Ex: Microsoft had to go public in 1986 after distributing stocks for 10 years.

I don't think Tesla falls in any of the above cases. They have enough money in the bank to realize Model S and the company is too young to have long-suffering investors.

Plus, going public requires a lot of maintenance and loss of focus, having to cater to New-York bankers and all.

Also, Elon Musk would have to be "managed" since every controversial comment could cost shareholders millions in value.

Not yet Tesla...

November 22 2009 at 11:57 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

3 replies to Nick P.'s comment

Yanquetino

No, thanks. Not with the current CEO.

November 22 2009 at 11:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Yanquetino's comment

Andrew

Absolutely. I do not trust the leadership right now. Eberhard got Tesla where it is today.

November 23 2009 at 9:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Tohe

So Qatar gets to seat at the board and the rest of us get IPO.

November 22 2009 at 11:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

GregR

This is still an extremely risky investment. Have to read the prospectus to answer question.

November 22 2009 at 9:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to GregR's comment

letstakeawalk

Due diligence is all part of the game.

OTOH, Tesla has done very well with the venture capitalists, and claim to actually be turning a profit. Sure, they could fail miserably...

I'm going to invest, because I support the US alternative car industry. The best thing to do, if you're serious about investing, is to spread your investments around, don't put it all in one place. A pure EV company would be nice to be a part of in my basket that already holds hydrogen, solar, batteries, and conventional ICEs.

November 23 2009 at 12:03 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

80N541

don't they have enough money from the government?

November 22 2009 at 7:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to 80N541's comment

Rich

Wait... I see what you did there!

November 23 2009 at 9:55 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

augustus

No they probably do not have enough money. Very soon they will need to compete against established auto manufacturers in the BEV market. Who is better at creating and testing cars, Tesla or Nissan? Tesla or Ford? Tesla or Honda?

Developing automobiles requires gobs of cash. How many functioning cars do you have to destroy for safety testing? How much do those cars cost? This is a good time for Tesla to raise cash as they are about to debut a product (the model S) and will be first to market with an electric car that might appeal to normal consumers (the roadster is insanely expensive).

The question isn't if Tesla should be doing this but if they will be able to compete in the long term when they are just another BEV manufacturer. Tesla needs more money to compete. Much more money.

November 23 2009 at 4:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply