7 More “Tidbits” (aka Bombshells) From Tesla’s Financials Call

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After writing about Tesla’s huge 2-year jump in its 500,000 vehicles/year target (from 2020 to 2018), the maintained 2016 target of 80,000–90,000 vehicles produced, and the fact that the Tesla Model 3 drivetrain at the March 31 launch was the production drivetrain for the car, I collected several more highlights that could honestly be their own stories. But in the interest of going to sleep tonight, and because they can just be highlighted without much context or commentary, below is a list of 7 more big ones.

Here we go (and thanks again to some Tesla Motors Club forum members for writing down some of the quotes I couldn’t jot down)….

93% of Tesla Model 3 reservation holders are new to Tesla.
Tesla Model S demand has increased since the Model 3 unveiling, and Tesla thinks it is in part due to the Model 3 (despite beforehand worrying quite a bit that the Model 3 would hurt Model S demand). It wasn’t stated whether Model X demand had increased since the Model 3 launch. “The S demand has increased, contrary to the expectation that it would decrease due to the introduction of the Model 3.” (h/t “Familial Rhino“)
The Gigafactory is indeed going to be larger than initially planned. (There were statements early on that Tesla was considering expanding the size, and that was finally very clearly confirmed on this call.)
Some impressive executives will be joining Tesla’s ranks shortly. And Tesla has had “extremely” good responses as it has reached out to top brass to try to recruit them.
The “growth rate in Tesla Energy will be greater than the growth in cars.” (h/t to “rdalcanto” for the exact quote).
Pushed to estimate how many cars Tesla would be producing in 2020 now that the 2018 target is 500,000, Elon (seemingly pulling a number out of a hat, to some extent) said “close to 1 million.”
Tesla believes there’s more room for innovation in manufacturing than in design of the car, a philosophical difference between Tesla and Google or Apple.

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