You should carefully consider the risks described below together with the other information set forth in this report, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and future results. The risks described below are not the only risks facing our company. Risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We have experienced in the past, and may experience in the future, significant delays or other complications in the design, manufacture, launch and production ramp of new vehicles and other products such as our energy storage products and the Solar Roof, which could harm our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We have experienced in the past launch, manufacturing and production ramp delays or other complications in connection with new vehicle models such as Model S and Model X, and new vehicle features such as the all-wheel drive dual motor drivetrain on Model S and the second version of autopilot hardware. For example, at times since the launch of Model X, we encountered unanticipated challenges, such as certain supply chain constraints, that forced us to decrease the production of these vehicles from our initial expectations. If unexpected issues arise or recur with respect to any of our production vehicles, we may experience further delays. In addition, because our vehicle models share certain production facilities with other models, the volume or efficiency of production with respect to one model may impact the production of other models.
We may also experience similar delays or other complications in bringing to market and ramping production of new vehicles, such as Model 3, and other products such as our energy storage products and the Solar Roof. Any significant additional delay or other complication in the production of our current products or the development, manufacture, launch and production ramp of our future products, including complications associated with expanding our production capacity, supply chain or regulatory approvals, could materially damage our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We may experience delays
in
realizing
our
projected timelines
and
cost
and
volume targets for
the production
, launch and ramp
of
our
Model 3
vehicle,
which could harm our business
,
prospects
, financial condition and operating results.
Our
future business depends in large part on our
ability to
execute on our plans to develop, manufacture, market and sell the Model 3 vehicle, which we intend to offer at a lower price point and to produce at significantly higher volumes than our present production capabilities for the Model S or Model X vehicles. We unveiled a prototype of Model 3 in March 2016 and have announced our goal to achieve volume production and deliveries of this vehicle in the second half of 2017.
We have no experience to date in manufacturing vehicles at the high volumes that we anticipate for Model 3, and to be successful, we will need to
complete implementation of efficient, automated and low-cost manufacturing capabilities, processes and supply chains necessary to support such volumes.
We will also need to continue extensive testing to ensure that Model 3 is in compliance with our quality standards and applicable regulations prior to beginning mass production and delivery of the vehicles. Moreover, our Model 3 production plan has required and will require significant investments of cash and management resources.
40
Our production plan for Model 3 is based on many key assumptions, including:
|
|
•
|
that we will be able to complete building and equipping a new dedicated final assembly line for high volume production of Model 3 at the Tesla Factory without exceeding our projected costs and on our projected timeline;
|
|
|
•
|
that we will be able to continue to expand Gigafactory 1 in a timely manner to produce high volumes of quality lithium-ion cells and integrate such cells into finished battery packs for Model 3, all at costs that allow us to sell Model 3 at our target gross margins;
|
|
|
•
|
that the equipment and processes which we are installing for Model 3 production will be able to accurately manufacture high volumes of Model 3 vehicles within specified design tolerances and with high quality;
|
|
|
•
|
that we will be able to maintain suppliers for the necessary components on terms and conditions that are acceptable to us and that we will be able to obtain components on a timely basis and in the necessary quantities to support high volume production;
|
|
|
•
|
that we will be able to complete our final tooling, production planning and validation for Model 3 and the delivery of final component designs to our suppliers in a timely manner; and
|
|
|
•
|
that we will be able to attract, recruit, hire and train skilled employees, including employees on the production line, to operate our planned high volume production facilities to support Model 3, including at the Tesla Factory and Gigafactory 1.
|
If one or more of the foregoing assumptions turns out to be incorrect, our ability to successfully launch Model 3 on time and at volumes and prices that are profitable, as well as our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition, may be materially and adversely impacted.
We may be unable to meet our growing vehicle production and delivery plans, both of which could harm our business and prospects.
Our plans call for significant increases in vehicle production and deliveries to high volumes in a short amount of time. Our ability to achieve these plans will depend upon a number of factors, including our ability to add production lines and capacity as planned while maintaining our desired quality levels and optimize design and production changes, and our suppliers’ ability to support our needs. In addition, we have used and may use in the future a number of new manufacturing technologies, techniques and processes for our vehicles, which we must successfully introduce and scale for high volume production. For example, we have introduced aluminum spot welding systems and high-speed blow forming of certain difficult to stamp vehicle parts. We have also introduced unique design features in our vehicles with different manufacturing challenges, such as a 17 inch display screen, dual motor drivetrain, autopilot hardware and falcon-wing doors. We have limited experience developing, manufacturing, selling and servicing, and allocating our available resources among, multiple products simultaneously. If we are unable to realize our plans, our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially damaged.
Concurrent with the significant planned increase in our vehicle production levels, we will also need to continue to significantly increase deliveries of our vehicles. We have limited experience in delivering a high volume of vehicles, and no experience in delivering vehicles at the significantly higher volumes we anticipate for Model 3, and we may face difficulties meeting our delivery and growth plans into both existing markets as well as new markets into which we expand. If we are unable to ramp up to meet our delivery goals globally, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We are dependent on our suppliers, the majority of which are single source suppliers, and the inability of these suppliers to deliver necessary components of our products in a timely manner at prices, quality levels, and volumes acceptable to us, or our inability to efficiently manage these components, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
Our products contain numerous purchased parts which we source globally from hundreds of direct suppliers, the majority of whom are currently single source suppliers despite efforts to qualify and obtain components from multiple sources whenever feasible. Any significant unanticipated demand would require us to procure additional components in a short amount of time, and in the past
we have also replaced
certain suppliers
because of their failure to provide components that met our quality control standards.
While we believe that we will be able to secure additional or alternate sources of supply for most of our components in a relatively short time frame, there is no assurance that we will be able to do so or develop our own replacements for certain highly customized components of our products. Moreover, we have signed long-term agreements with Panasonic to be our manufacturing partner and supplier for lithium-ion cells at Gigafactory 1 in Nevada and PV cells and panels at Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York. If we encounter unexpected difficulties with key suppliers such as Panasonic, and if we are unable to fill these needs from other suppliers, we could experience production delays and potential loss of access to important technology and parts for producing, servicing and supporting our products.
41
This limited supply chain exposes us to multiple potential sources of delivery failure or component short
ages for the production of our products, such as those which we experienced in 2012 and 2016 in connection with our slower-than-planned Model S and Model X ramps. Furthermore, unexpected changes in business conditions, materials pricing, labor issues, wars
, governmental changes, natural disasters such as the March 2011 earthquakes in Japan and other factors beyond our and our suppliers’ control, could also affect our suppliers’ ability to deliver components to us on a timely basis.
The loss of any single or
limited source supplier or the disruption in the supply of components from these suppliers could lead to product design changes and delays in product deliveries to our customers, which could hurt our relationships with our customers and result in negative
publicity, damage to our brand and a material and adverse effect
on
our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Changes in our supply chain have also resulted in the past, and may result in the future, in increased cost. We have also experienced cost increases from certain of our suppliers in order to meet our quality targets and development timelines as well as due to design changes that we made, and we may experience similar cost increases in the future. Certain suppliers, including for Model X, have sought to renegotiate the terms of the supply arrangements. Additionally, we are negotiating with existing suppliers for cost reductions, seeking new and less expensive suppliers for certain parts, and attempting to redesign certain parts to make them less expensive to produce. If we are unsuccessful in our efforts to control and reduce supplier costs, our operating results will suffer.
We expect the foregoing discussion to apply generally to Model 3. However, because we plan to produce Model 3 at significantly higher volumes than Model S or Model X, the negative impact of any delays or other constraints with respect to our suppliers for Model 3 could be substantially greater than any such issues experienced with respect to our products to date. As some of our suppliers for our current production vehicles do not have the resources, equipment or capability to provide components for the Model 3 in line with our requirements, we have engaged a significant number of new suppliers, and such suppliers will also have to ramp to achieve our needs in a short period of time. There is no assurance that these suppliers will ultimately be able to meet our cost, quality and volume needs.
Furthermore, as the scale of our vehicle production increases, we will need to accurately forecast, purchase, warehouse and transport to our manufacturing facilities components at much higher volumes than we have experience with. If we are unable to accurately match the timing and quantities of component purchases to our actual production plans or capabilities, or successfully implement automation, inventory management and other systems to accommodate the increased complexity in our supply chain, we may have to incur unexpected storage, transportation and write-off costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
Our future growth and success is dependent upon consumers’ willingness to adopt electric vehicles and specifically our vehicles, especially in the mass market demographic which we are targeting with Model 3.
Our growth is highly dependent upon the adoption by consumers of alternative fuel vehicles in general and electric vehicles in particular. Although we have successfully grown demand for Model S and Model X to date and have seen very strong initial demand for Model 3, and we believe that we will be able to continue to grow demand separately for each of these vehicles and their variants, there is no guarantee of such future demand or that our vehicles will not compete with one another in the market. Moreover, the mass market demographic which we are targeting with Model 3 is larger, but more competitive, than for Model S and Model X.
If the market for electric vehicles in general and Tesla vehicles in particular does not develop as we expect, or develops more slowly than we expect, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be harmed. The market for alternative fuel vehicles is relatively new, rapidly evolving, and could be affected by numerous external factors, such as:
|
|
•
|
p
erceptions about electric vehicle features, quality, safety, performance and cost;
|
|
|
•
|
perceptions about the limited range over which electric vehicles may be driven on a single battery charge;
|
|
|
•
|
competition, including from other types of alternative fuel vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and high fuel-economy internal combustion engine vehicles;
|
|
|
•
|
volatility in the cost of oil and gasoline;
|
|
|
•
|
government regulations and economic incentives; and
|
|
|
•
|
access to charging facilities.
|
42
Future problems or delays in expanding Gigafactory 1 and operating it in line with our expectations could negatively affect the production and profitability of our battery-based product
s, such as Model 3 or our energy storage products.
To lower the cost of cell production and produce cells in high volume, we intend to integrate the production of lithium-ion cells and finished battery packs for our vehicles including Model 3 and energy storage products at Gigafactory 1. While Gigafactory 1 began producing lithium-ion cells for energy storage products in January 2017, we have no other direct experience in the production of lithium-ion cells, including those intended for use in vehicles. Although we continue to remain on track with our progress at Gigafactory 1, given the size and complexity of this undertaking, it is possible that future events could result in the cost of expanding and operating Gigafactory 1 exceeding our current expectations and Gigafactory 1 taking longer to expand than we currently anticipate. In order to build our Model 3 vehicles at our planned volume and target gross margin, we must have significant battery cell production from Gigafactory 1. If we are unable to expand Gigafactory 1 in a timely manner, and attract, hire and retain a substantial number of highly skilled personnel to work there in order to produce high volumes of quality lithium-ion cells at reasonable prices, our ability to supply battery packs to our vehicles, especially Model 3, and other battery-based products according to our schedule and/or at a price that allows us to sell them at our target gross margins and in the quantities we estimate could be negatively impacted. Any such future problems or delays with Gigafactory 1 could negatively affect our brand and harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
If our vehicles or other products that we sell or install fail to perform as expected, our ability to develop, market and sell our products and services could be harmed.
If our vehicles, other OEMs’ vehicles that contain our powertrains or our energy products were to contain defects in design and manufacture that cause them not to perform as expected or that require repair, our ability to develop, market and sell our products and services could be harmed. For example, the operation of our vehicles is highly dependent on software, which is inherently complex and could conceivably contain defects and errors. Issues experienced by customers have included those related to the software for the 17 inch display screen, the panoramic roof and the 12 volt battery in the Model S and the seats and doors in the Model X. Although we attempt to remedy any issues we observe in our products as effectively and rapidly as possible, such efforts may not be timely, may hamper production or may not be up to the satisfaction of our customers. While we have performed extensive internal testing on the products we manufacture, we currently have a limited frame of reference by which to evaluate detailed long-term quality, reliability, durability and performance characteristics of our battery packs, powertrains, vehicles and energy storage products. There can be no assurance that we will be able to detect and fix any defects in our products prior to their sale to or installation for consumers.
Any product defects or any other failure of our products to perform as expected could harm our reputation and result in delivery delays, product recalls, product liability claims, significant warranty and other expenses, and could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects. Our Model X vehicles have not yet been evaluated by NHTSA for a star rating under the New Car Assessment Program, and while based on our internal testing we expect to obtain comparable ratings to those achieved by Model S, there is no assurance this will occur.
If we fail to scale our business operations and otherwise manage future growth effectively as we rapidly grow our company, especially internationally, we may not be able to produce, market, sell and service our products successfully.
Any failure to manage our growth effectively could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition. We continue to expand our operations significantly, especially internationally, including by a planned transition to high volume vehicle production and the worldwide sales and servicing of a significantly higher number of vehicles than our current vehicle fleet in the coming years, with the launch and ramp of Model 3. Furthermore, we are developing and growing our energy storage product and solar business worldwide, including in countries where we have limited or no previous operating experience in connection with our vehicle business. Our future operating results depend to a large extent on our ability to manage our expansion and growth successfully. We may not be successful in undertaking this global expansion if we are unable to control
expenses
and avoid cost overruns and other unexpected operating costs; establish
sufficient
worldwide
sales, service and Supercharger facilities in a timely manner;
adapt
our products to meet local requirements;
implement
the required infrastructure, systems and processes; and
find and hire a significant number of additional manufacturing, engineering, service, electrical installation, construction and administrative personnel.
43
If we are unable to continue to reduce the manufac
turing costs of Model S and Model X or control manufacturing costs for Model 3, our financial condition and operating results will suffer.
As we have gradually ramped production of Model S and Model X, manufacturing costs per vehicle have decreased. While we expect ongoing cost reductions to be realized by both us and our suppliers, there is no guarantee we will be able to achieve sufficient cost savings to reach our gross margin and profitability goals. We incur significant costs related to procuring the materials required to manufacture our vehicles, assembling vehicles and compensating our personnel. We may also incur substantial costs or cost overruns in increasing the production capability of our vehicle manufacturing facilities, such as for Model 3. Furthermore, if we are unable to achieve production cost targets on our Model X and Model 3 vehicles pursuant to our plans, we may not be able to meet our gross margin and other financial targets.
Furthermore, many of the factors that impact our manufacturing costs are beyond our control, such as potential increases in the costs of our materials and components, such as lithium-ion battery cells or aluminum used to produce body panels. If we are unable to continue to control and reduce our manufacturing costs, our operating results, business and prospects will be harmed.
We are significantly dependent upon revenue generated from the sale of a limited fleet of electric vehicles, which currently includes the Model S and Model X and which will also include Model 3 in the near term.
We currently generate a significant percentage of our revenues from the sale of two products: Model S and Model X vehicles. Model 3, for which we are planning to achieve volume production and deliveries in second half of 2017, has required and will require significant investment prior to commercial introduction, and there is no guarantee that it will be commercially successful. Historically, automobile customers have come to expect a variety of vehicles offered in a manufacturer’s fleet and new and improved vehicle models to be introduced frequently. In order to meet these expectations, we may in the future be required to introduce on a regular basis new vehicle models as well as enhanced versions of existing vehicle models. To the extent our product variety and cycles do not meet consumer expectations, our future sales may be adversely affected.
Our vehicles and energy storage products make use of lithium-ion battery cells, which have been observed to catch fire or vent smoke and flame, and such events have raised concerns, and future events may lead to additional concerns, about the batteries used in automotive applications.
The battery packs that we produce make use of lithium-ion cells. On rare occasions, lithium-ion cells can rapidly release the energy they contain by venting smoke and flames in a manner that can ignite nearby materials as well as other lithium-ion cells.
While we have designed the battery pack to passively contain any single cell’s release of energy without spreading to neighboring cells, there can be no assurance that a field or testing failure of our vehicles or other battery packs that we produce will not occur, which could subject us to lawsuits, product recalls, or redesign efforts, all of which would be time consuming and expensive. Also, negative public perceptions regarding the suitability of lithium-ion cells for automotive applications or any future incident involving lithium-ion cells such as a vehicle or other fire, even if such incident does not involve our vehicles, could seriously harm our business.
In addition, we store a significant number of lithium-ion cells at the Tesla Factory and plan to produce high volumes of cells and battery modules and packs at Gigafactory 1. Any mishandling of battery cells may cause disruption to the operation of our facilities. While we have implemented safety procedures related to the handling of the cells, there can be no assurance that a safety issue or fire related to the cells would not disrupt our operations. Such damage or injury could lead to adverse publicity and potentially a safety recall. Moreover, any failure of a competitor’s electric vehicle or energy storage product may cause indirect adverse publicity for us and our products. Such adverse publicity could negatively affect our brand and harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
44
Increases in costs, disruption of supply or shortage of materials, in particular for lithium-ion cells, could harm our business.
We may experience increases in the cost or a sustained interruption in the supply or shortage of materials. Any such increase, supply interruption or shortage could materially and negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We use various materials in our business including aluminum, steel, lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper, as well as lithium-ion cells from suppliers. The prices for these materials fluctuate, and their available supply may be unstable, depending on market conditions and global demand for these materials, including as a result of increased production of electric vehicles and energy storage products by our competitors, and could adversely affect our business and operating results. For instance, we are exposed to multiple risks relating to lithium-ion cells. These risks include:
|
|
•
|
the inability or unwillingness of current battery manufacturers to build or operate battery cell manufacturing plants to supply the numbers of lithium-ion cells we require;
|
|
|
•
|
disruption in the supply of cells due to quality issues or recalls by battery cell manufacturers or any issues that may arise with respect to cells manufactured at our own facilities;
|
|
|
•
|
an increase in the cost, or decrease in the available supply, of materials used in the cells; and
|
|
|
•
|
fluctuations in the value of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar as our battery cell purchases for Model S and Model X are currently denominated in Japanese yen.
|
Our business is dependent on the continued supply of battery cells for the battery packs used in our vehicles and energy storage products. While we believe several sources of the battery cells are available for such battery packs, and expect to eventually rely substantially on battery cells manufactured at our own facilities, we have to date fully qualified only a very limited number of suppliers for the cells used in such battery packs and have very limited flexibility in changing cell suppliers. In particular, we have fully qualified only one supplier for the cells used in battery packs for our current production vehicles. Any disruption in the supply of battery cells from such suppliers could disrupt production of our vehicles and of the battery packs we produce for other automobile manufacturers until such time as a different supplier is fully qualified. Furthermore, fluctuations or shortages in petroleum and other economic conditions may cause us to experience significant increases in freight charges and material costs. Substantial increases in the prices for our materials or prices charged to us, such as those charged by battery cell suppliers, would increase our operating costs, and could reduce our margins if we cannot recoup the increased costs through increased vehicle prices. Any attempts to increase vehicle prices in response to increased material costs could result in cancellations of vehicle orders and reservations and therefore materially and adversely affect our brand, image, business, prospects and operating results.
We may become subject to product liability claims, which could harm our financial condition and liquidity if we are not able to successfully defend or insure against such claims.
Product liability claims could harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition. The automobile industry in particular experiences significant product liability claims and we face inherent risk of exposure to claims in the event our vehicles do not perform as expected resulting in personal injury or death. We also may face similar claims related to any misuse or failures of new technologies that we are pioneering, including autopilot in our vehicles. Finally, as our solar energy systems and energy storage products generate and store electricity, they have the potential to cause injury to people or property. A successful product liability claim against us could require us to pay a substantial monetary award. Our risks in this area are particularly pronounced given the limited number of vehicles and energy storage products delivered to date and limited field experience of our products. Moreover, a product liability claim could generate substantial negative publicity about our products and business and could have material adverse effect on our brand, business, prospects and operating results. In most jurisdictions, we generally self-insure against the risk of product liability claims, meaning that any product liability claims will likely have to be paid from company funds, not by insurance.
45
The markets in which we operate are highly competitive, and we may not be successful in competing in these ind
ustries. We currently face competition from new and established domestic and international competitors and expect to face competition from others in the future, including competition from companies with new technology.
The worldwide automotive market, particularly for alternative fuel vehicles, is highly competitive today and we expect it will become even more so in the future. There is no assurance that our vehicles will be successful in the respective markets in which they compete. Many established and new automobile manufacturers such as BMW, Daimler, General Motors and Toyota, as well as other companies, have entered or are reported to have plans to enter the alternative fuel vehicle market, including hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles. Most of our current and potential competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing and other resources than we do and may be able to devote greater resources to the design, development, manufacturing, distribution, promotion, sale and support of their products. Virtually all of our competitors have more extensive customer bases and broader customer and industry relationships than we do and almost all of these companies have longer operating histories and greater name recognition than we do. Increased competition could result in lower vehicle unit sales, price reductions, revenue shortfalls, loss of customers and loss of market share, which could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, upon the launch of our Model 3 vehicle, we will face competition from existing and future automobile manufacturers in the extremely competitive entry-level premium sedan market, including Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes.
The solar and energy storage industries are highly competitive. We face competition from other manufacturers, developers and installers of solar and energy storage systems, as well as from large utilities. Decreases in the retail prices of electricity from utilities or other renewable energy sources could make our products less attractive to customers and lead to an increased rate of customer defaults under our existing leases and power purchase agreements. Moreover, solar panel and lithium-ion battery prices have declined and are continuing to decline. As we increase our battery and solar panel manufacturing capabilities, including at Gigafactory 1 and 2, future price declines may harm our ability to produce energy storage systems and solar panels at competitive prices.
If we are unable to establish and maintain confidence in our long-term business prospects among consumers, analysts and within our industries, then our financial condition, operating results, business prospects and stock price may suffer materially.
Consumers may be less likely to purchase our products now if they are not convinced that our business will succeed or that our service and support and other operations will continue for many years. Similarly, suppliers and other third parties will be less likely to invest time and resources in developing business relationships with us if they are not convinced that our business will succeed. Accordingly, in order to build and maintain our business, we must maintain confidence among customers, suppliers, analysts and other parties in our liquidity and long-term business prospects. Maintaining such confidence may be particularly complicated by certain factors, such as our limited operating history, unfamiliarity with our products, competition and uncertainty regarding the future of electric vehicles or our other products and services and our quarterly production and sales performance compared with market expectations. Many of these factors are largely outside our control, and any negative perceptions about our long-term business prospects, even if exaggerated or unfounded, would likely harm our business and make it more difficult to raise additional funds if needed.
Our plan to expand our network of Tesla stores, galleries, service centers and Superchargers will require significant cash investments and management resources and may not meet expectations with respect to additional sales or installations of our products or availability of Superchargers.
Our plan to expand our network of Tesla stores, galleries, service centers and Superchargers will require significant cash investments and management resources and may not meet our expectations with respect to additional sales or installations of our products. This ongoing global expansion, which includes planned entry into markets in which we have limited or no experience selling, delivering, installing and/or servicing our products, and which may pose legal, regulatory, cultural and political challenges that we have not previously encountered, may not have the desired effect of increasing sales and installations and expanding our brand presence to the degree we are anticipating.
Furthermore, the increasing number of Model S and Model X vehicles, as well as the significant increase in our vehicle fleet size that we expect from Model 3, will require us to continue to increase the number of our Supercharger stations significantly. If we fail to do so, our customers could become dissatisfied, which could adversely affect sales of our vehicles.
We will also need to ensure we are in compliance with any regulatory requirements applicable to the sale, installation and service of our products, the sale of electricity generated through our solar energy systems, and operation of Superchargers in those jurisdictions, which could take considerable time and expense. If we experience any delays or cannot meet customer expectations in expanding our network of Tesla stores, galleries, service centers and Superchargers, this could lead to a decrease in sales or installations of our products and could negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
46
We face risks associated with our international operations and expansion, including unfavorable regulatory, political, tax and labor conditions, and with establishing ours
elves in new markets, all of which could harm our business.
We currently have international operations and subsidiaries in various countries and jurisdictions that are subject to legal, political, and regulatory requirements and social and economic conditions that may be very different from those affecting us domestically. Additionally, as part of our growth strategy, we will continue to expand our sales, service and Supercharger locations internationally. International expansion requires us to make significant expenditures, including the establishment of local operating entities, hiring of local employees and establishing facilities in advance of generating any revenue.
We are subject to a number of risks associated with international business activities that may increase our costs, impact our ability to sell our products and require significant management attention. These risks include
conforming our products to various international regulatory and safety requirements as well as charging and other electric infrastructures, difficulty in establishing, staffing and managing foreign operations, challenges in attracting customers, foreign government taxes, regulations and permit requirements, our ability to enforce our contractual rights; trade restrictions, customs regulations, tariffs and price or exchange controls, and preferences of foreign nations for domestically manufactured products.
If we fail to effectively grow and manage the residual, financing and credit risks related to our vehicle financing programs, our business may suffer.
We offer vehicle financing arrangements through our local subsidiaries in the United States, Canada, Germany and the UK, including leasing directly through certain of those subsidiaries. The profitability of the leasing program depends on our ability to accurately project residual values, secure adequate financing and/or business partners to fund and grow this program, and screen for and manage customer credit risk. We expect the need for leasing and other financing options to be significantly higher with the volumes we expect for our vehicles in the future, especially Model 3, for which we also expect a higher proportion of uptake for such programs than for Model S or Model X. If we are unable to adequately fund our leasing program with internal funds, or partners or other external financing sources, and compelling alternative financing programs are not available for our customers, we may be unable to grow our sales. Furthermore, if our leasing business grows substantially, our business may suffer if we cannot effectively manage the greater levels of residual and credit risks resulting from growth. Finally, if we do not successfully monitor and comply with applicable national, state and/or local financial regulations and consumer protection laws governing lease transactions, we may become subject to enforcement actions or penalties, either of which may harm our business.
Our resale value guarantee and leasing programs for our vehicles expose us to the risk that the resale values of vehicles returned to us are lower than our estimates and may result in lower revenues, gross margin, profitability and liquidity.
We have provided resale value guarantees to many of our customers, under which such customers may sell their vehicles back to us at certain points in time at pre-determined resale values. Customers can lease our vehicles through both leasing partners and from us directly, through our captive finance companies. The resale values of any vehicles resold or returned to us pursuant to these programs may be lower than our estimates, which are based on a limited secondary market for our vehicles. If we incorrectly estimate the residual values of our vehicles, or the volume of vehicles returned to us is higher than our estimates and/or we are not able to resell them timely or at all, our profitability and/or liquidity could be negatively impacted. In cases where customers retain their vehicles past the guarantee period, our gross margin will be negatively impacted as all remaining revenues and costs related to the vehicle will be recognized at no gross profit.
We apply lease accounting on sales of vehicles with a resale value guarantee and on leases made directly by us or by our leasing partners. Under lease accounting, we recognize the associated revenues and costs of the vehicle sale over time rather than fully upfront at vehicle delivery. As a result, these programs generate lower revenues in the period the car is delivered and higher gross margins during the period of the resale value guarantee as compared to purchases in which the resale value guarantee does not apply. A higher than anticipated prevalence of these programs could therefore have an adverse impact on our near term revenues and operating results. Moreover, unlike the sale of a vehicle with a resale value guarantee or programs with leasing partners which do not impact our cash flows and liquidity at the time of vehicle delivery, under a lease held directly by us, we may receive only a very small portion of the total vehicle purchase price at the time of lease, followed by a stream of payments over the term of the lease. To the extent we expand our leasing program without securing external financing or business partners to support such expansion, our cash flow and liquidity could also be negatively impacted.
47
The unavailability, reduction or elimination of, or unfavorable determinations with respect to, government and economic incentives in the United States and abroad supporting the development and adoption of electric
vehicles or solar energy could have some impact on demand for our products and services.
We currently benefit from certain government and economic incentives supporting the development and adoption of electric vehicles. In the United States and abroad, such incentives include, among other things, tax credits or rebates that encourage the purchase of electric vehicles. In Norway, for example, the purchase of electric vehicles is not currently subject to import taxes, taxes on non-recurring vehicle fees, the 25% value added tax or the purchase taxes that apply to the purchase of gas-powered vehicles. Notably, the quantum of incentive programs promoting electric vehicles is a tiny fraction of the amount of incentives that are provided to gas-powered vehicles through the oil and gas industries. Nevertheless, even the limited benefits from such programs could be reduced, eliminated or exhausted. For example, in April 2017 and January 2016, respectively, previously available incentives in Hong Kong and Denmark that favored the purchase of electric vehicles expired and in Denmark was replaced with a newly phased-in incentive that is less generous than the incentive that it replaced. Moreover, under current regulations, a $7,500 federal tax credit available in the United States for the purchase of qualified electric vehicles with at least 17 kWh of battery capacity, such as our vehicles, will begin to phase out with respect to any vehicles delivered in the second calendar quarter following the quarter in which we deliver our 200,000
th
qualifying vehicle in the United States. In addition, California implemented regulations phasing out a $2,500 cash rebate on qualified electric vehicles for high-income consumers, which became effective in March 2016. In certain circumstances, there is pressure from the oil and gas lobby or related special interests to bring about such developments, which could have some negative impact on demand for our vehicles.
In addition, certain governmental rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives that are currently available with respect to our solar and energy storage product businesses allow us to lower our installation costs and cost of capital and encourage customers to buy our products and investors to invest in our solar financing funds. However, these incentives may expire on a particular date, end when the allocated funding is exhausted or be reduced or terminated as renewable energy adoption rates increase, often without warning. For example, the federal government currently offers a 30% investment tax credit (“ITC”) for the installation of solar power facilities and energy storage systems that are charged from a co-sited solar power facility. The ITC is currently scheduled to decline to 10%, and expire altogether for residential systems, by January 2022. Likewise, in jurisdictions where net energy metering is currently available, our customers receive bill credits from utilities for energy that their solar energy systems generate and export to the grid in excess of the electric load they use. Several jurisdictions have reduced or eliminated the benefit available under net energy metering, or have proposed to do so. Such reductions in or termination of governmental incentives could adversely impact our results by making our products less competitive for potential customers, increasing our cost of capital and adversely impacting our ability to attract investment partners and to form new financing funds for our solar and energy storage assets.
Moreover, we and our fund investors claim the ITC in amounts based on the fair market value of our solar and energy storage systems. Although we obtain independent appraisals to support the claimed fair market values, the relevant governmental authorities have audited such values and in certain cases have determined that they should be lower, and they may do so in the future. Such determinations may result in adverse tax consequences and/or our obligation to make indemnification or other payments, or contribute additional assets, to our funds or fund investors.
If we are unable to integrate SolarCity successfully into our business, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisition of SolarCity.
We have devoted to date, and continue to devote, substantial attention and resources to integrating into our company the business and operations of SolarCity, which we acquired in November 2016. Our company has no prior experience integrating a business of the size and scale of SolarCity. If the integration process takes longer than expected or is more costly than expected, we may fail to realize some or all of the anticipated benefits of the acquisition.
Potential difficulties we may encounter in the integration process include the following:
|
|
•
|
the inability to successfully combine our business with that of SolarCity in a manner that permits the combined company to achieve the synergies we expect from the acquisition, which would result in the anticipated benefits of the acquisition not being realized partly or wholly in the time frame currently anticipated or at all;
|
|
|
•
|
complexities associated with managing the combined businesses;
|
|
|
•
|
integrating personnel from the two companies;
|
|
|
•
|
creation of uniform standards, controls, procedures, policies and information systems; and
|
|
|
•
|
potential unknown liabilities and unforeseen increased expenses, delays or regulatory conditions associated with the acquisition.
|
48
Any failure by us to realize the expected benefits of our substantial investments and commitments with respect to the manufact
ure of PV cells, including if we are unable to comply with the terms of our agreement with the Research Foundation for the State University of New York relating to our Gigafactory 2, could result in negative consequences for our business.
As part of our acquisition of SolarCity, we acquired certain PV cell manufacturing and technology assets, and a build-to-suit lease arrangement with the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (the “Foundation”). This agreement with the Foundation provides for the construction of Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York, which at full capacity we expect will be capable of producing 1 gigawatt of PV cells annually, including for our Solar Roof. Under this agreement, we are obligated to, among other things, employ specified minimum numbers of personnel in the State of New York during the 10-year period following the arrival of manufacturing equipment, the receipt of certain permits and other specified items at Gigafactory 2, and spend or incur approximately $5 billion in combined capital, operational expenses, costs of goods sold and other costs in the State of New York during the 10-year period following the achievement of full production output at Gigafactory 2. If we fail in any year over the course of the term of the agreement to meet these obligations, we would be obligated to pay a “program payment” of $41.2 million to the Foundation in such year. Any inability on our part to comply with the requirements of this agreement may result in the payment of significant amounts to the Foundation, the termination of our lease at Gigafactory 2, and/or the need to secure an alternative supply of PV cells for products such as our Solar Roof. Moreover, if we are unable to utilize the other manufacturing and technology assets that were acquired in the SolarCity acquisition in accordance with our expectations, we may have to recognize accounting charges pertaining to the write-off of such assets. Any of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could negatively affect our financial results.
Our revenues and costs denominated in foreign currencies are not completely matched. As we have increased Model S deliveries in markets outside of the United States, we have much higher revenues than costs denominated in other currencies such as the euro, Chinese yuan, Norwegian krone, pound sterling and Canadian dollar. Any strengthening of the U.S. dollar would tend to reduce our revenues as measured in U.S. dollars, as we have historically experienced. In addition, a portion of our costs and expenses have been, and we anticipate will continue to be, denominated in foreign currencies, including the Japanese yen. If we do not have fully offsetting revenues in these currencies and if the value of the U.S. dollar depreciates significantly against these currencies, our costs as measured in U.S. dollars as a percent of our revenues will correspondingly increase and our margins will suffer. Moreover, while we undertake limited hedging activities intended to offset the impact of currency translation exposure, it is impossible to predict or eliminate such impact. As a result, our operating results could be adversely affected.
If we are unable to attract and/or retain key employees and hire qualified personnel, our ability to compete could be harmed.
The loss of the services of any of our key employees could disrupt our operations, delay the development and introduction of our vehicles and services, and negatively impact our business, prospects and operating results. In particular, we are highly dependent on the services of Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer, and Jeffrey B. Straubel, our Chief Technical Officer.
None of our key employees is bound by an employment agreement for any specific term and we may not be able to successfully attract and retain senior leadership necessary to grow our business. Our future success depends upon our ability to attract and retain executive officers and other key technology, sales, marketing, engineering, manufacturing and support personnel and any failure to do so could adversely impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Key talent may leave Tesla due to various factors, such as a very competitive labor market for talented individuals with automotive or technology experience. In California and other regions where we have operations, there is increasing competition for individuals with skillsets needed for our business, including specialized knowledge of electric vehicles, software engineering, manufacturing engineering, and other skills such as electrical and building construction expertise. This competition affects both our ability to retain key employees and hire new ones. Our continued success depends upon our continued ability to hire new employees in a timely manner, especially to support our expansion plans and ramp to high-volume manufacture of vehicles, and retain current employees. Additionally, we compete with both mature and prosperous companies that have far greater financial resources than we do and start-ups and emerging companies that promise short-term growth opportunities. Difficulties in retaining current employees or recruiting new ones could have an adverse effect on our performance.
We are highly dependent on the services of Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer.
We are highly dependent on the services of Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of our Board of Directors and largest stockholder. Although Mr. Musk spends significant time with Tesla and is highly active in our management, he does not devote his full time and attention to Tesla. Among other commitments, Mr. Musk also currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of Space Exploration Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of space launch vehicles.
49
We are subject to various environmental and safety laws and regulations that could impose substantial costs upon us and ne
gatively impact our ability to operate our manufacturing facilities.
As a manufacturing company, including with respect to facilities such as the Tesla Factory, Gigafactory 1 and Gigafactory 2, we are subject to complex environmental, health and safety laws and regulations at numerous jurisdictional levels in the United States and abroad, including laws relating to the use, handling, storage, disposal and human exposure to hazardous materials. The costs of compliance, including remediating contamination if any is found on our properties and any changes to our operations mandated by new or amended laws, may be significant. We may also face unexpected delays in obtaining permits and approvals required by such laws in connection with our manufacturing facilities, which would hinder our operation of these facilities. Such costs and delays may adversely impact our business prospects and operating results. Furthermore, any violations of these laws may result in substantial fines and penalties, remediation costs, third party damages, or a suspension or cessation of our operations.
Our business may be adversely affected by any disruptions caused by union activities.
It is common for employees at companies with significant manufacturing operations such as us to belong to a union, which can result in higher employee costs and increased risk of work stoppages. Moreover, regulations in some jurisdictions outside of the United States mandate employee participation in industrial collective bargaining agreements and work councils with certain consultation rights with respect to the relevant companies’ operations. Although we work diligently to provide the best possible work environment for our employees, they may still decide to join or seek recognition to form a labor union, or we may be required to become a union signatory. Furthermore, we are directly or indirectly dependent upon companies with unionized work forces, such as parts suppliers and trucking and freight companies, and work stoppages or strikes organized by such unions could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition or operating results. If a work stoppage occurs, it could delay the manufacture and sale of our products and have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, operating results or financial condition.
Our products and services are subject to substantial regulations, which are evolving, and unfavorable changes or failure by us to comply with these regulations could substantially harm our business and operating results.
Motor vehicles are subject to substantial regulation under international, federal, state, and local laws. We incur significant costs in complying with these regulations, and may be required to incur additional costs to comply with any changes to such regulations. We are subject to laws and regulations applicable to the import, sale and service of automobiles internationally. For example, in countries outside of the United States, we are required to meet vehicle-specific safety standards that are often materially different from requirements in the United States, thus resulting in additional investment into the vehicles and systems to ensure regulatory compliance in those countries. This process may include official review and certification of our vehicles by foreign regulatory agencies prior to market entry, as well as compliance with foreign reporting and recall management systems requirements.
Additionally, our vehicles are equipped with a range of autopilot features that assist drivers, relieving them of certain tedious and potentially dangerous aspects of road travel. Autopilot is a recently-introduced feature with which domestic and foreign regulators have limited experience. Any current or future proposed regulations in this area, if passed, could impact whether and how our customers are able to use our vehicles equipped for autopilot, and which, depending on the severity of the regulations, could adversely affect our business.
Moreover, as a manufacturer and installer of solar panels and energy storage systems and a supplier of electricity generated and stored by the solar energy and energy storage systems we install for customers, we are impacted by federal, state and local regulations and policies concerning electricity pricing, the interconnection of electricity generation and storage equipment with the electric grid, and the sale of electricity generated by third-party owned systems. For example, existing or proposed regulations and policies would permit utilities to limit the amount of electricity generated by our customers with their solar energy systems, charge fees and penalties to our customers relating to the purchase of energy other than from the grid, adjust electricity rate designs such that the price of our solar products may not be competitive with that of electricity from the grid, restrict us and our customers from transacting under our power purchase agreements or qualifying for government incentives and benefits that apply to solar power, and limit or eliminate net energy metering. If such regulations and policies remain in effect or are adopted in other jurisdictions, or if other regulations and policies that adversely impact the interconnection of our solar and energy storage systems to the grid are introduced, modified or eliminated, they could deter potential customers from purchasing our solar and energy storage products, threaten the economics of our existing contracts and cause us to cease solar and energy storage system sales and operations in the relevant jurisdictions, which could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
50
We are subject to various privacy and consumer protection laws.
Our privacy policy is posted on our website, and any failure by us or our vendor or other business partners to comply with it or with federal, state or international privacy, data protection or security laws or regulations could result in regulatory or litigation-related actions against us, legal liability, fines, damages and other costs. We may also incur substantial expenses and costs in connection with maintaining compliance with such laws, in particular data protection laws in the EU, which are currently in a state of transition. Although we take steps to protect the security of our customers’ personal information, we may be required to expend significant resources to comply with data breach requirements if third parties improperly obtain and use the personal information of our customers or we otherwise experience a data loss with respect to customers’ personal information. A major breach of our network security and systems could have negative consequences for our business and future prospects, including possible fines, penalties and damages, reduced customer demand for our vehicles, and harm to our reputation and brand.
We may be compelled to undertake product recalls or take other actions, which could adversely affect our brand image and financial performance.
Any product recall in the future may result in adverse publicity, damage our brand and adversely affect our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition. For example, certain limited vehicle recalls that we initiated in the past two years have related to a component that could prevent the parking brake from releasing once engaged, industry-wide issues with airbags from a particular supplier, a front seat belt issue in a single field vehicle, and an internal test that revealed unintended movement in the Model X third row seats during a collision. None of our past recalls have been related to our electric powertrain
.
In the future, we may at various times, voluntarily or involuntarily, initiate a recall if any of our products or our electric vehicle powertrain components that we provide to other vehicle OEMs, including any systems or parts sourced from our suppliers, prove to be defective or noncompliant with applicable laws and regulations, such as federal motor vehicle safety standards. Such recalls, whether voluntary or involuntary or caused by systems or components engineered or manufactured by us or our suppliers, could involve significant expense and could adversely affect our brand image in our target markets, as well as our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
Our current and future warranty reserves may be insufficient to cover future warranty claims which could adversely affect our financial performance.
Subject to separate limited warranties for the supplemental restraint system, battery and drive unit, we provide four year or 50,000 mile limited warranties for the purchasers of new Model S and Model X vehicles and pre-owned Model S vehicles certified and sold by us. The limited warranty for the battery and drive unit covers the drive unit for eight years, as well as the battery for a period of eight years (or for certain older vehicles, 125,000 miles if reached sooner than eight years), although the battery’s charging capacity is not covered under any of our warranties or Extended Service plans. In addition, customers of new Model S and Model X vehicles have the opportunity to purchase an Extended Service plan for the period after the end of the limited warranty for their new vehicles to cover additional services for up to an additional four years or 50,000 miles, provided it is purchased within a specified period of time.
For energy storage products, we provide limited warranties against defects and to guarantee minimum energy retention levels. For example, we guarantee that each Powerwall 2 product will maintain at least 70-80% of its stated energy capacity after 10 years, and that each Powerpack 2 product will retain specified minimum energy capacities in each of its first 10 to 15 years of use. We also offer extended warranties for periods of up to 20 years at an additional cost at the time of purchase, as well as workmanship warranties and system capacity and availability guarantees to customers who elect to have us install their systems or perform preventative maintenance services, respectively.
Finally, customers who buy energy from us under solar energy system leases or power purchase agreements are covered by warranties equal to the length of the agreement term, which is typically 20 years. Systems purchased for cash are covered by a warranty of up to 10 years, with extended warranties available at additional cost. In addition, we pass through to our customers the inverter and panel manufacturers’ warranties, which generally range from 5 to 25 years, subjecting us to the risk that the manufacturers may later cease operations or fail to honor their underlying warranties. Finally, we provide a performance guarantee with our leased solar energy systems that compensates a customer on an annual basis if their system does not meet the electricity production guarantees set forth in their lease.
If our warranty reserves are inadequate to cover future warranty claims on our products, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected. Warranty reserves include management’s best estimate of the projected costs to repair or to replace items under warranty. These estimates are based on actual claims incurred to-date and an estimate of the nature, frequency and costs of future claims. Such estimates are inherently uncertain and changes to our historical or projected experience, especially with respect to products such as Model 3 that are new and/or that we expect to produce at significantly greater volumes than our past products, may cause material changes to our warranty reserves in the future.
51
We are currently expanding and improving our information technology systems
and use security measures designed to protect our systems against breaches and cyber-attacks
. If these efforts are not successful, our business and operatio
ns could be disrupted and our operating results and reputation could be harmed.
We are currently expanding and improving our information technology systems, including implementing new internally developed systems, to assist us in the management of our business. In particular, our volume production of multiple vehicles necessitates continued development, maintenance and improvement of our information technology systems in the United States and abroad, which include product data management, procurement, inventory management, production planning and execution, sales, service and logistics, dealer management, financial, tax and regulatory compliance systems. The implementation, maintenance and improvement of these systems require significant management time, support and cost. Moreover, there are inherent risks associated with developing, improving and expanding our core systems as well as implementing new systems, including the disruption of our data management, procurement, manufacturing execution, finance, supply chain and sales and service processes. These risks may affect our ability to manage our data and inventory, procure parts or supplies or manufacture, sell, deliver and service vehicles, or achieve and maintain compliance with, or realize available benefits under, tax laws and other applicable regulations. We also maintain information technology measures designed to protect us against system security risks, data breaches and cyber-attacks.
We cannot be sure that these systems or their required functionality will be effectively implemented, maintained or expanded as planned. If we do not successfully implement, maintain or expand these systems as planned, our operations may be disrupted, our ability to accurately and/or timely report our financial results could be impaired, and deficiencies may arise in our internal control over financial reporting, which may impact our ability to certify our financial results. Moreover, our proprietary information could be compromised and our reputation may be adversely affected. If these systems or their functionality do not operate as we expect them to, we may be required to expend significant resources to make corrections or find alternative sources for performing these functions.
Our insurance strategy may not be adequate to protect us from all business risks.
We may be subject, in the ordinary course of business, to losses resulting from products liability, accidents, acts of God and other claims against us, for which we may have no insurance coverage. While we currently maintain general liability, automobile, property, workers’ compensation, and directors’ and officers’ insurance policies, as a general matter, we do not maintain as much insurance coverage as many other companies do, and in some cases, we do not maintain any at all. Additionally, the policies that we do have may include significant deductibles, and we cannot be certain that our insurance coverage will be sufficient to cover all future claims against us. A loss that is uninsured or which exceeds policy limits may require us to pay substantial amounts, which could adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
Our financial results may vary significantly from period-to-period due to fluctuations in our operating costs.
We expect our period-to-period financial results to vary based on our operating costs which we anticipate will increase significantly in future periods as we, among other things, design, develop and manufacture Model 3, energy storage and solar products and other future products, increase the production capacity at our manufacturing facilities to produce vehicles at higher volumes, including ramping up the production of Model S and Model X, expand Gigafactory 1, open new Tesla stores and service centers with maintenance and repair capabilities, open new Supercharger locations, develop Gigafactory 2, increase our sales and marketing activities, and increase our general and administrative functions to support our growing operations. As a result of these factors, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our financial results, especially in the short-term, are not necessarily meaningful and that these comparisons cannot be relied upon as indicators of future performance. Moreover, our financial results may not meet expectations of equity research analysts or investors. If any of this occurs, the trading price of our stock could fall substantially, either suddenly or over time.
Any unauthorized control or manipulation of our vehicles’ systems could result in loss of confidence in us and our vehicles and harm our business.
Our vehicles contain complex information technology systems. For example, our vehicles are designed with built-in data connectivity to accept and install periodic remote updates from us to improve or update the functionality of our vehicles. We have designed, implemented and tested security measures intended to prevent unauthorized access to our information technology networks, our vehicles and their systems. However, hackers have reportedly attempted, and may attempt in the future, to gain unauthorized access to modify, alter and use such networks, vehicles and systems to gain control of, or to change, our vehicles’ functionality, user interface and performance characteristics, or to gain access to data stored in or generated by the vehicle. We encourage reporting of potential vulnerabilities in the security of our vehicles via our security vulnerability reporting policy, and we aim to remedy any reported and verified vulnerabilities. Accordingly, we have received reports of potential vulnerabilities in the past and have attempted to remedy them. However, there can be no assurance that vulnerabilities will not be identified in the future, or that our remediation efforts are or will be successful.
52
Any unauthorized
access to or control of our vehicles or their systems or any loss of data could result in legal claims or proceedings. In addition, regardless of their veracity, reports of unauthorized access to our vehicles, their systems or data, as well as other factor
s that may result in the perception that our vehicles, their systems or data are capable of being “hacked,” could negatively affect our brand and harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We have been the subject of such repo
rts in the past.
Servicing our indebtedness requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our substantial indebtedness.
As of March 31, 2017, we had outstanding in aggregate principal amounts $205 million of the 2018 Notes, $920 million of the 2019 Notes, $1.38 billion of the 2021 Notes and $977.5 million of the 2022 Notes (collectively, the “Tesla Convertible Notes”). In addition, we have established a senior secured asset based revolving credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) that allows us to borrow, under certain circumstances, up to $1.2 billion. As of March 31, 2017, we had $934 million in borrowings under the credit facility pursuant to the Credit Agreement.
We are also party to a warehouse credit facility with lender commitments of $600 million (the “Warehouse Facility”), of which we had borrowed $445 million as of March 31, 2017.
Moreover, as of March 31, 2017, our subsidiary SolarCity Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, had total outstanding indebtedness of $3.59 billion, including under its credit facilities (the “SolarCity Credit Facilities”). Such outstanding indebtedness included $359 million drawn under a secured revolving credit facility with lender commitments of $393.5 million as of March 31, 2017, which matures in December 2017, as well as $230 million in aggregate principal amount of 2.75% convertible senior notes due 2018, $566 million in aggregate principal amount of 1.625% convertible senior notes due 2019 and $113 million in aggregate principal amount of zero coupon convertible senior notes due 2020 (collectively, the “SolarCity Convertible Notes”). Our substantial consolidated indebtedness may increase our vulnerability to any generally adverse economic and industry conditions, and we and our subsidiaries may, subject to the limitations in the terms of our existing and future indebtedness, incur additional debt, secure existing or future debt or recapitalize our debt.
Pursuant to their terms, holders may convert their Tesla Convertible Notes at their option prior to the scheduled maturities of the respective Tesla Convertible Notes under certain circumstances. The 2018 Notes have been convertible at their holders’ option during each quarter commencing with the fourth quarter of 2013, except the first quarter of 2014. Upon conversion of the applicable Tesla Convertible Notes, we will be obligated to make cash payments in respect of the principal amounts thereof, and we may also have to deliver cash and/or shares of our common stock, in respect of the conversion value in excess of such principal amounts on such Tesla Convertible Notes. For example, as of March 31, 2017, we have repaid in cash approximately $455 million in aggregate principal amount of the 2018 Notes due to early conversions. The SolarCity Convertible Notes are also currently convertible into shares of our common stock at conversion prices ranging from $300.00 to $759.36 per share. In addition, holders of the Tesla Convertible Notes and the SolarCity Convertible Notes will have the right to require us to repurchase their notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change at a purchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but not including, the fundamental change purchase date.
Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal and interest on our indebtedness when due or to make payments upon conversion or repurchase demands with respect to our convertible notes, or to refinance our indebtedness as we may need or desire, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not continue to generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to satisfy our obligations under our existing indebtedness, and any future indebtedness we may incur, and to make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as reducing or delaying investments or capital expenditures, selling assets, refinancing or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance existing or future indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. In addition, our ability to make payments may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our future indebtedness. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms or at all, which could result in a default on our existing or future indebtedness and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our debt agreements contain covenant restrictions that may limit our ability to operate our business.
The terms of our Credit Facility and/or certain of the SolarCity Credit Facilities contain, and any of our other future debt agreements may contain, covenant restrictions that limit our ability to operate our business, including restrictions on our ability to, among other things,
incur additional debt or issue guarantees, create liens, repurchase stock or make other restricted payments, and make certain voluntary prepayments of specified debt. In addition, under certain circumstances we are required to comply with a fixed charge coverage ratio. As a result of these
covenants, our ability to respond to changes in business and economic conditions and engage in beneficial transactions, including to obtain additional financing as needed, may be restricted. Furthermore, our failure to comply with our debt covenants could result in a default under our debt agreements, which could permit the holders to accelerate our obligation to repay the debt. If any of our debt is accelerated, we may not have sufficient funds available to repay it.
53
The classification of our convertible notes may have an effect on our reported financial results.
Our 2018 Notes and the SolarCity Convertible Notes have been historically, and our 2019 Notes, 2021 Notes and 2022 Notes may become in the future, convertible at the option of their holders prior to their scheduled terms under certain circumstances. Even if holders do not elect to convert their convertible notes, if such notes become convertible prior to their scheduled maturity dates, we would be required to reclassify such notes and the related debt issuance costs as current liabilities and certain portions of our equity outside of equity to mezzanine equity, which would have an adverse impact on our reported financial results for such quarter, and could have an adverse impact on the market price of our common stock.
We may need
or
want
to raise additional funds and
these funds may
not
be available to us when we need them. If we cannot raise additional funds when we need or want them
, our operations and prospects could be negatively affected
.
The design, manufacture, sale, installation and/or servicing of automobiles, energy storage products and solar products is a capital intensive business. Until we are consistently generating positive free cash flows, we may need or want to raise additional funds through the issuance of equity, equity-related or debt securities or through obtaining credit from financial institutions to fund, together with
our principal sources of liquidity
,
the costs
of
developing
and
manufacturing our current or future vehicles
, energy storage products and/or solar products, to pay
any significant unplanned
or accelerated
expenses or
for
new significant strategic investments, or to refinance our significant consolidated indebtedness, even if not required to do so by the terms of such indebtedness. We need sufficient capital to fund our ongoing operations, continue research and development projects, establish sales and service centers, build and deploy Superchargers
, expand Gigafactory 1,
develop Gigafactory 2 and to make the investments in tooling and manufacturing capital required to introduce new vehicles
, energy storage products and solar products. We cannot be certain that additional funds will be available to us on favorable terms when required, or at all.
If we cannot raise additional funds when we need them, our financial condition, results of operations, business and prospects could be materially
and
adversely affected.
Additionally, we use capital from third-party fund investors to reduce the cost of capital of our solar energy system installations, improve our margins, offset future reductions in government incentives and maintain the price competitiveness of our solar energy systems. The availability of this tax-advantaged financing depends upon many factors, including the confidence of the investors in the solar energy industry and the quality and mix of our customer contracts, any regulatory changes impacting the economics of our existing customer contracts, changes in legal and tax advantages or risks or government incentives associated with these financings, and our ability to compete with other renewable energy companies for the limited number of potential fund investors. Moreover, interest rates are at historically low levels. If the rate of return required by investors rises as a result of a rise in interest rates, it will reduce the present value of the customer payment streams underlying, and therefore the total value of, our financing structures, increasing our cost of capital. If we are unable to establish new financing funds on favorable terms for third-party ownership arrangements to enable our customers’ access to our solar energy systems with little or no upfront cost, we may be unable to finance installation of our customers’ systems, or our cost of capital could increase and our liquidity may be negatively impacted, any of which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may face regulatory limitations on our ability to sell vehicles directly which could materially and adversely affect our ability to sell our electric vehicles.
We sell our vehicles directly to consumers. We may not be able to sell our vehicles through this sales model in each state in the United States as some states have laws that may be interpreted to impose limitations on this direct-to-consumer sales model. In certain states in which we are not able to obtain dealer licenses, we have opened galleries, which are not full retail locations.
The application of these state laws to our operations continues to be difficult to predict. Laws in some states have limited our ability to obtain dealer licenses from state motor vehicle regulators and may continue to do so.
In addition, decisions by regulators permitting us to sell vehicles may be subject to challenges by dealer associations and others as to whether such decisions comply with applicable state motor vehicle industry laws. We have prevailed in many of these lawsuits and such results have reinforced our continuing belief that state laws were not designed to prevent our distribution model. In some states, there have also been regulatory and legislative efforts by vehicle dealer associations to propose bills and regulations that, if enacted, would prevent us from obtaining dealer licenses in their states given our current sales model. A few states have passed legislation that clarifies our ability to operate, but at the same time limits the number of dealer licenses we can obtain or stores that we can operate. We have also filed a lawsuit in federal court in Michigan challenging the constitutionality of the state’s prohibition on direct sales as applied to our business.
Internationally, there may be laws in jurisdictions we have not yet entered or laws we are unaware of in jurisdictions we have entered that may restrict our sales or other business practices. Even for those jurisdictions we have analyzed, the laws in this area can be complex, difficult to interpret and may change over time.
54
We may need to defend ourselves against intellectual property infringement claims, which may be time-consuming and could cause us to incur substantial costs.
Others, including our competitors, may hold or obtain patents, copyrights, trademarks or other proprietary rights that could prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to make, use, develop, sell or market our products and services, which could make it more difficult for us to operate our business. From time to time, the holders of such intellectual property rights may assert their rights and urge us to take licenses, and/or may bring suits alleging infringement or misappropriation of such rights. We may consider the entering into licensing agreements with respect to such rights, although no assurance can be given that such licenses can be obtained on acceptable terms or that litigation will not occur, and such licenses could significantly increase our operating expenses. In addition, if we are determined to have infringed upon a third party’s intellectual property rights, we may be required to
cease making, selling or incorporating certain components or intellectual property into the goods and services we offer, to pay substantial damages and/or license royalties, to redesign our products and services, and/or to establish and maintain alternative branding for our products and services.
In the event that we were required to take one or more such actions, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. In addition, any litigation or claims, whether or not valid, could result in substantial costs, negative publicity and diversion of resources and management attention.
Our facilities or operations could be damaged or adversely affected as a result of disasters.
Our corporate headquarters, the Tesla Factory and Gigafactory 1 are located in seismically active regions in Northern California and Nevada. If major disasters such as earthquakes or other events occur, or our information system or communications network breaks down or operates improperly, our headquarters and production facilities may be seriously damaged, or we may have to stop or delay production and shipment of our products. We may incur expenses relating to such damages, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.
Risks Related to the Ownership of our Common Stock
The trading price of our common stock is likely to continue to be volatile.
The trading price of our common stock has been highly volatile and could continue to be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. Our common stock has experienced an intra-day trading high of $327.66 per share and a low of $178.19 per share over the last 52 weeks. The stock market in general, and the market for technology companies in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Broad market and industry factors may seriously affect the market price of companies’ stock, including ours, regardless of actual operating performance. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a particular company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. For example, a shareholder litigation like this was filed against us in 2013. While the plaintiffs’ complaint was dismissed with prejudice, any future shareholder litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.
We may fail to meet our publicly announced guidance or other expectations about our business, which could cause our stock price to decline.
We occasionally provide guidance regarding our expected financial and business performance, such as projections regarding sales and production, as well as anticipated future revenues, gross margins, profitability and cash flows. Correctly identifying key factors affecting business conditions and predicting future events is inherently an uncertain process and our guidance may not ultimately be accurate. Our guidance is based on certain assumptions such as those relating to anticipated production and sales volumes and average sales prices, supplier and commodity costs, and planned cost reductions. If our guidance is not accurate or varies from actual results due to our inability to meet our assumptions or the impact on our financial performance that could occur as a result of various risks and uncertainties, the market value of our common stock could decline significantly.
Transactions relating to our convertible notes may dilute the ownership interest of existing stockholders, or may otherwise depress the price of our common stock.
The conversion of some or all of the Tesla Convertible Notes or the SolarCity Convertible Notes would dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders to the extent we deliver shares upon conversion of any of such notes. Our 2018 Notes and the SolarCity Convertible Notes have been historically, and the other Tesla Convertible Notes may become in the future, convertible at the option of their holders prior to their scheduled terms under certain circumstances. If holders elect to convert their convertible notes, we could be required to deliver to them a significant number of shares of our common stock. Any sales in the public market of the common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock. In addition, the existence of the convertible notes may encourage short selling by market participants because the conversion of such notes could be used to satisfy short positions, or anticipated conversion of such notes into shares of our common stock could depress the price of our common stock.
55
Moreover, in connection with each issuance of the Tesla Convertible Notes, we entered into
convertible note hedge transactions, which are expected to reduce the potential dilution and/or offset potential cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount upon conversion of the applicable Tesla Convertible Notes. We also ent
ered into warrant transactions with the hedge counterparties, which could separately have a dilutive effect on our common stock to the extent that the market price per share of our common stock exceeds the applicable strike price of the warrants on the app
licable expiration dates. In addition, the hedge counterparties or their affiliates may enter into various transactions with respect to their hedge positions, which could also cause or prevent an increase or a decrease in the market price of our common sto
ck or the convertible notes.
Elon Musk has pledged shares of our common stock to secure certain bank borrowings. If Mr. Musk were forced to sell these shares pursuant to a margin call that he could not avoid or satisfy, such sales could cause our stock price to decline.
Certain banking institutions have made extensions of credit to Elon Musk, our Chief Executive Officer, a portion of which was used to purchase shares of common stock in certain of our public offerings and private placements at the same prices offered to third party participants in such offerings and placements. We are not a party to these loans, which are partially secured by pledges of a portion of the Tesla common stock currently owned by Mr. Musk. If the price of our common stock were to decline substantially and Mr. Musk were unable to avoid or satisfy a margin call with respect to his pledged shares, Mr. Musk may be forced by one or more of the banking institutions to sell shares of Tesla common stock in order to remain within the margin limitations imposed under the terms of his loans. Any such sales could cause the price of our common stock to decline further.
Anti-takeover provisions contained in our governing documents, applicable laws and our convertible notes could impair a takeover attempt.
Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws afford certain rights and powers to our board of directors
that
could
contribute to the delay or prevention of an acquisition that it deems undesirable. We are also subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law and other provisions of Delaware law that limit the ability of stockholders in certain situations to effect certain business combinations. In addition, the terms of our convertible notes require us to repurchase such notes in the event of a fundamental change, including a takeover of our company. Any of the foregoing provisions and terms that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.
