Tesla Motors Inc reported a steeper than expected quarterly loss on Wednesday (August 17) on higher spending at its vehicle and battery factories, even as the company said it planned to accelerate store openings around the world.
The 13th straight quarterly loss for the Silicon Valley electric carmaker underscores the financial hurdles that hamper it while it takes on increasingly ambitious goals – a ten-fold ramp of vehicle production in three years and the recent plan to acquire solar panel installer SolarCity Corp.
Tesla’s founder and CEO Elon Musk had announced the ambitious plan last month to venture into manufacturing electric trucks and buses, as well as expanding the company’s solar energy business.
He has cast the SolarCity tie-up as a long-term bet on a carbon-free energy and transportation company that provides cars, battery storage, solar panels and other energy solutions, while leveraging technology and cost savings from the combined entity.
Musk says the combined company will help save at least $150 million a year and require only a “small equity capital raise” next year. But some analysts are wary of the combination of two companies burning through huge amounts of cash.
Tesla also unveiled its massive battery factory, the Gigafactory, in Nevada last week, saying it would begin to ramp up production later this year.
While much of the production will go toward batteries for vehicles, Tesla has also said it expects rising demand for home and commercial storage battery systems.
Shares of Tesla, which offered to buy SolarCity for $2.6 billion, were little changed in after-hours trading.
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