テスラの自動車融資を巡る現状：ビッグスリー救済とロードスター

Okay. All right. Um, so it's a quick update on, on Tesla- You have to unmute ... and the auto loan program- Oh Uh.

Hold on one sec. All right. Oh, wait. You.

Yeah. Hello. Yeah. All right. There you go.

Um, so I'm sure people have been reading about the auto loan, uh, bailout and all that sort of stuff. So, um, it's, it's kind of a travesty what's going on.

Um, although I, I hope-- I don't think it's gonna last too long into the Obama administration. There was a twenty-five billion dollar loan program that Congress approved to fund, um, energy-- develop energy-efficient vehicles,

essentially to wean ourselves off, off, off oil.

Um, and ironically, the, the Big Three then came to, to Washington and said, "No, give us that money for our day-to-day operations building gas guzzlers."

Um, which is, is, is obviously a, um, sort of a perversion of the intent.

Um, and, uh, un-unfortunately, with the, with the job situation being, being the way it is, uh, Congress has acceded to that demand and is, uh, from my understanding, currently giving fifteen of the twenty-five billion to,

to, to the Big Three, um, to fund their day-to-day operations, which I believe gets them to about February.

Um, I'm not kidding. It's not even an exaggeration. Um, although the, the, the speaker, uh, Speaker Pelosi has also said that as soon as, uh, uh, the new administration, uh, come, comes in, they're gonna replenish that fund.

So I think it'll be, I think it'll be okay.

But certainly, if you have the opportunity to, to express, uh, to, uh, anyone in, in DC or in the press, uh, the importance of developing, uh, clean energy vehicles, uh, please take the opportunity to do so. Um, and in the case of Tesla, um, you know, Tesla actually is not applying for any

bailout funds, although some of the press have mistaken that.

Uh, what, what Tesla's done is applied for funding to develop, uh, lower-cost mass-market vehicles, and it's essentially the exact intent of the legislation. And, um, so hopefully there's still some money left over to do, to actually do that, um,

after the Big Three have, have taken what they, what they will take.

Um, uh, so, uh... And, and to... The, the Tesla Roadster, I think s- a lot of people are familiar with that.

That's the two-seater sports car. Um, in fact, my, my car, which is production unit one, is, is parked outside.

Um, so if anyone's curious to see it, um, there's, uh, there's also a Tesla sales and service center on Santa Monica Boulevard.

So if you wanna pop in and take a look at the car at that time, you're also welcome to do so. Um, and, uh, we're, we're about to, uh, deliver our hundredth production Tesla next week.

Um, and that's, uh, interestingly enough, uh, our hundredth customer is Sam Perry.

Um, if, i-if, if any of you watched the, the, uh, the... When, when Obama won, and, and Oprah was crying on some guy's shoulder.

Um, that same guy's the hundredth customer.

So it's a bit like Zelig. I mean, I'm sort of everywhere.

Um, so anyway, he's, he's a really, uh, great guy, and, um, lives in, in the Bay Area. He's gonna take delivery of his car on Tuesday.

So I'm gonna hand him the keys personally and, uh, thank him for being a customer.

So- Um, and, uh, you know, there's an important point about Tesla, which is whenever somebody buys the, the, the Tesla Roadster, even though it's a hundred thousand dollar, hundred and nine thousand dollar, um, sports car,

and it's kind of a fancy sports car, every penny that Tesla, uh, makes goes into development of lower-cost mass-market vehicles.

So the company doesn't issue any dividends, nor will it ever.

Uh, you know, my, my salary is minimum wage.

Uh, you know, so I'm a volunteer- ... um, basically. Um, so, and, and, you know, it's, it's like-- So it's just an important point because sometimes people think, "Well, gee, what's the point of making these, these expensive cars, which are sort of toys for rich people? How's that really helping the environment?" The,

the important point to bear in mind is that when you have new technology, it takes time to optimize that technology. If you think back to the early days of cell phones or laptops or, or pretty much anything new, uh, it, it's expensive in the early days. Um, 'cause the first job with a new technology is

you've gotta make it work. Uh, and, and you make it in small volume.

You, you, you sell those cars. But if you-- The, the, the critical point is that you can't get to the low-cost cars unless you start with the expensive cars.

Um, and, and that's, that's a point that's sometimes lost.