PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
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 been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the duration and economic, governmental and social impact of which is difficult to predict, which may significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
During and following the first quarter of 2020, there has been a widespread worldwide impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected as a result. Numerous government regulations and public advisories, as well as shifting social behaviors, have temporarily limited or closed non-essential transportation, government functions, business activities, and person-to-person interactions, and the duration of such trends is difficult to predict. For example, we experienced a government-imposed suspension of operations for 10 days at Gigafactory Shanghai immediately following a scheduled 7-day closure for the Lunar New Year holiday, after which we resumed operations on February 10, 2020. Panasonic, our partner that manufactures lithium-ion battery cells for our products at our Gigafactory Nevada, suspended its operations there for 14 days before resuming certain operations starting on April 11, 2020. Finally, we temporarily suspended most production at Gigafactory New York starting on March 14, 2020 pursuant to a New York State executive order, and we decided to temporarily suspend all production at the Fremont Factory starting on March 23, 2020 and most production at Gigafactory Nevada starting on April 12, 2020 in order to accommodate the related challenges for our employees and their families and our suppliers. We also instituted certain temporary cost reduction measures by furloughing certain of our hourly employees and reducing most salaried employees’ base salaries globally while our U.S. operations are scaled back. Social distancing measures and reduced operations or closures at government offices and businesses, including motor vehicle departments, vehicle auction houses and municipal and utility company inspectors, also resulted in challenges in or postponements past the first quarter of 2020 for our new vehicle deliveries, used vehicle sales, and energy product deployments, and such conditions have generally continued.
The specific timing and pace of our resumption of normal U.S. manufacturing operations will depend on the status of various government regulations and the readiness of our suppliers, vendors and currently inactive production workforce. Although we are working with each of our suppliers and government agencies on how best to resume and sustain production, it ultimately remains uncertain how quickly we and our suppliers will be able to return to prior levels of production and maintain such levels. Likewise, it is possible that the contingencies generally inherent in our ongoing construction of and ramp at Gigafactory Shanghai and Gigafactory Berlin may be exacerbated by such conditions.
Even after we restore operations at our U.S. production facilities, our manufacturing rates and timelines may also be affected by global economic markets and levels of consumer comfort and spend, which could impact demand in the worldwide transportation and automotive industries and for construction projects such as the addition of solar energy systems. We have always monitored macroeconomic conditions to remain flexible and optimize and evolve our business as appropriate, and we will continue to do so. Because the impact of current conditions on an ongoing basis is yet largely unknown, is rapidly evolving, and has been varied across geographic regions, this ongoing assessment will be particularly critical to allow us to accurately project demand and infrastructure requirements globally and deploy our production, workforce, and other resources accordingly. Moreover, as we have offered and continue to offer various financing options for our vehicles and energy products, we bear the credit risk on such transactions. To the extent that market conditions, unemployment rates and/or government-mandated moratoriums on periodic payments result in significant rates of default by our customers, our business would be adversely impacted.
If current global market conditions continue or worsen, or if we cannot or do not resume suspended operations at a rate commensurate with such conditions or resume suspended operations and are later required to or choose to suspend such operations again, our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results could be materially harmed.
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We have experienced in the past, and may experience in the future, delays or other complications in the design, manufacture, launch, and production ramp of our vehicles, energy products, and product features, or may not realize our manufacturing cost targets, which could harm our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We have previously experienced launch and production ramp delays or other complications in connection with the introduction of new vehicle models and vehicle features. For example, we encountered unanticipated supply chain constraints that led to initial delays in producing Model X and an isolated supplier limitation in the manufacture of Model 3. Similarly, during our initial Model 3 production ramp, we had challenges ramping fully automated processes, such as portions of the battery module assembly line, material flow system and the general assembly line, which we addressed by reducing the levels of automation and introducing semi-automated or manual processes. In addition, we have introduced in the past and may introduce in the future new manufacturing technologies, techniques and processes for our vehicles, such as aluminum spot welding systems and high-speed blow forming of certain difficult to stamp vehicle parts, and unique design features with different manufacturing challenges, such as large display screens, dual motor drivetrain, hardware for our Autopilot and FSD features, falcon-wing doors, and a heat pump and octovalve system for increased power efficiency. There is no guarantee that we will be able to successfully and timely introduce and scale any such new processes or features.
In particular, our future business depends in large part on the high-volume production of Model 3 and Model Y, which we believe are our vehicles with the largest markets. We have limited experience to date in manufacturing Model 3 at high volumes and continuously increasing its production rates, particularly across multiple vehicle manufacturing facilities, which we commenced in the fourth quarter of 2019 with Gigafactory Shanghai coming online. In order to be successful, we will need to implement, maintain and/or ramp efficient and cost-effective manufacturing capabilities, processes and supply chains and achieve the design tolerances, high quality and maximum output rates we have planned, including at Gigafactory Shanghai, and for Model Y, which we commenced manufacturing at the Fremont Factory in the first quarter of 2020. Bottlenecks such as those we have experienced in the past with new product ramps and other unexpected challenges may also arise as we ramp production, and it will be important that we address them promptly while continuing to reduce our manufacturing costs. If we are not successful in doing so, or if we experience issues with our ongoing manufacturing process improvements and cost-down efforts, we could face delays in establishing and/or sustaining our Model 3 and Model Y ramps or be unable to meet our related cost and profitability targets.
Moreover, we will need to hire, train and compensate skilled employees to operate high-volume production facilities to support our vehicle ramp at the Fremont Factory and Gigafactory Shanghai, as well as at Gigafactory Nevada to support the manufacture of battery packs and drive units for certain of our vehicles. Finally, because our vehicle models, in particular Model 3 and Model Y, may share certain parts, suppliers or production facilities with each other, the volume or efficiency of production with respect to one model may impact also the production of other models or lead to bottlenecks that impact the production of all models.
We may also experience similar future delays or other complications in launching and/or ramping production of new vehicles, such as Tesla Semi, Cybertruck and the new Tesla Roadster, our energy storage products and the Solar Roof, as well as future features and services such as new Autopilot or FSD features and the autonomous Tesla ride-hailing network. Likewise, we may encounter delays with the design, construction and regulatory or other approvals necessary to build and bring online future manufacturing facilities, including our planned Gigafactory Berlin in Germany.
Any significant delay or other complication in cost-effectively ramping the production of our current products, including resuming any currently suspended manufacturing, or the development, manufacture, launch and production ramp of our future products, features and services, including complications associated with expanding our production capacity and supply chain or obtaining or maintaining related regulatory approvals, could materially damage our brand, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
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We may be unable to meet our growing product sales, delivery, installation, vehicle servicing and charging plans, or accurately project and manage this growth internationally, which could harm our business and prospects.
Concurrent with developing, launching and ramping our products, our success will depend on our ability to continue to significantly increase their sales, deliveries, installations and servicing worldwide, while allocating our available resources among multiple products simultaneously. As we expand globally, 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 various jurisdictions, which could take considerable time and expense. These plans require significant cash investments and management resources and there is no guarantee that they will ultimately generate additional sales or installations of our products.
We continuously evaluate, and as appropriate evolve, our retail operations and product offerings in order to maximize our reach and optimize our costs, vehicle line-up and model differentiation, and purchasing experience. However, there is no guarantee that each step in our evolving strategy will be perceived as intended by prospective customers accustomed to more traditional sales models. Likewise, while we are pioneering touchless vehicle deliveries and test drives in certain regions to allow prospective customers to experience our vehicles while promoting their comfort and convenience, there is no guarantee that such measures will be effective large-scale substitutes for traditional transactions. In particular, we are targeting with Model 3 and Model Y a global mass demographic with a broad range of potential customers, in which we have limited experience projecting demand and pricing our products. We currently produce numerous international variants at a limited number of factories, and if our specific demand expectations for these variants prove inaccurate, we may not be able to timely generate sales matched to the specific vehicles that we produce in the same timeframe or that are commensurate with our operations in a given region, which may negatively impact our deliveries and operating results in a particular period. Likewise, as we develop and grow our energy storage product and solar business worldwide, our success will depend on our ability to correctly forecast demand for our products in different markets.
Moreover, because we do not have independent dealer networks, we are responsible for delivering all of our vehicles to our customers and meeting their vehicle servicing needs. While we have substantially implemented and improved many aspects of our delivery and service operations, we still have relatively limited experience with, and may face difficulties in, such deliveries and servicing at high volumes, particularly in international markets as we expand. For example, significant transit time may be required to transport vehicles in volume into international markets, and we also saw challenges in initially ramping our logistical channels in China and Europe as we delivered Model 3 there for the first time in the first quarter of 2019. To accommodate growing volumes, we have deployed a number of delivery models, such as deliveries to customers’ homes and workplaces, some of which have not been previously tested at scale and in different geographies and may not ultimately be successful. Likewise, because of our unique expertise with our vehicles, we recommend that our vehicles be serviced by our service centers, Mobile Service technicians or certain authorized professionals that we have specifically trained and equipped. If we experience delays in adding such servicing capacity or experience unforeseen issues with the reliability of our vehicles, particular higher-volume and newer additions to our fleet such as Model 3 and Model Y, it could overburden our servicing capabilities and parts inventory. Finally, the increasing number of Tesla vehicles also requires us to continue to rapidly increase the number of our Supercharger stations and connectors throughout the world.
We are also expanding our installation capabilities for the Solar Roof as we continue its manufacturing ramp by training both our own personnel and third party installers. If we are not successful in growing this overall installation capability to keep pace with our increasing production, or if we experience unforeseen delays in the production ramp or inaccurately forecast demand for the Solar Roof, our operating results may be negatively impacted.
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There is no assurance that we will be able to ramp our business to meet our sales, delivery, servicing, charging and installation targets globally, that our projections on which such targets are based will prove accurate, or that the pace of growth or coverage of our customer infrastructure network will meet customer expectations. Moreover, we may not be successful in managing our global operations if we are unable to avoid cost overruns and other unexpected operating costs, adapt our products and conduct our operations to meet local requirements and regulations, implement required local infrastructure, systems and processes, and find and hire as needed additional sales, service, electrical installation, construction and administrative personnel. If we fail to manage our growth effectively, it could result in negative publicity and damage to our brand and have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our future growth and success is dependent upon consumers’ willingness to adopt electric vehicles and specifically our vehicles. We operate in the automotive industry, which is generally susceptible to cyclicality and volatility.
Our growth is highly dependent upon the worldwide adoption by consumers of alternative fuel vehicles in general and electric vehicles in particular. Although we have successfully grown demand for our vehicles thus far, there is no guarantee of such future demand, or that our vehicles will not compete with one another in the market. Moreover, the target demographics for our vehicles, in particular the mass market demographic for Model 3 and Model Y, are highly competitive. If the market for electric vehicles in general and Tesla vehicles in particular does not develop as we expect, develops more slowly than we expect, or if demand for our vehicles decreases in our markets, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be harmed.
We have only relatively recently achieved high-volume production of vehicles, and are still at an earlier stage and have limited resources relative to our competitors. Moreover, the market for alternative fuel vehicles is rapidly evolving. As a result, the market for our vehicles could be affected by numerous factors, such as:
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perceptions about electric vehicle features, quality, safety, performance and cost;
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perceptions about the limited range over which electric vehicles may be driven on a single battery charge;
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competition, including from other types of alternative fuel vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and high fuel-economy internal combustion engine vehicles;
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volatility in the cost of oil and gasoline;
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government regulations and economic incentives;
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access to charging facilities; and
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concerns about our future viability.
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For example, the market price of crude oil has dropped since March 2020, and it is unknown to what extent any corresponding decreases in the cost of gasoline may impact the market for electric vehicles. In addition, sales of vehicles in the automotive industry tend to be cyclical in many markets, which may expose us to increased volatility, especially as we expand and adjust our operations and retail strategies. Moreover, travel restrictions and social distancing efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may negatively impact the transportation and automotive industries for an unknown, but potentially lengthy, period of time. Specifically, it is uncertain as to how such macroeconomic factors will impact us as a company that has been experiencing growth and increasing market share in an industry that has globally been experiencing a recent decline in sales.
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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 according to our schedule and 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 thousands of purchased parts that we source globally from hundreds of direct suppliers. We attempt to mitigate our supply chain risk by entering into long-term agreements where it is practical and beneficial to do so, qualifying and obtaining components from multiple sources where sensible, and maintaining safety stock for key parts and assemblies and die banks for components with lengthy procurement lead times. However, our limited, and in most cases single-source, supply chain exposes us to multiple potential sources of delivery failure or component shortages for our production, 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, tariffs, natural disasters such as the March 2011 earthquakes in Japan, health epidemics such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, and other factors beyond our and our suppliers’ control could also affect these suppliers’ ability to deliver components to us on a timely basis. The loss of any supplier, particularly a single- or limited-source supplier, or the disruption in the supply of components from our suppliers, could lead to product design changes, production delays of key revenue-generating products, idle manufacturing facilities, and potential loss of access to important technology and parts for producing, servicing and supporting our products, any of which could result in negative publicity, damage to our brand and a material and adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We may also be impacted by changes in our supply chain or production needs. We have experienced in the past, and may experience in the future, cost increases from certain of our suppliers in order to meet our quality targets and development timelines as well as due to our design changes. Likewise, any significant increases in our production, such as for Model 3 and our expectations for Model Y, has required and/or may in the future require us to procure additional components in a short amount of time. Our suppliers may not ultimately be able to sustainably and timely meet our cost, quality and volume needs, requiring us to replace them with other sources. 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. Additionally, we continuously negotiate with existing suppliers to obtain cost reductions and avoid unfavorable changes to terms, seek new and less expensive suppliers for certain parts, and attempt 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.
Outside of the U.S., we have limited manufacturing experience and we may experience issues or delays increasing the level of localized procurement at our Gigafactory Shanghai and in the future at our Gigafactory Berlin. Furthermore, as the scale of our vehicle production increases, we will need to accurately forecast, purchase, warehouse and transport components to our manufacturing facilities and servicing locations internationally and at much higher volumes. If we are unable to accurately match the timing and quantities of component purchases to our actual needs or successfully implement automation, inventory management and other systems to accommodate the increased complexity in our supply chain, we may incur unexpected production disruption, storage, transportation and write-off costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
Any problems or delays in expanding Gigafactory Nevada or ramping and maintaining operations there could negatively affect the production and profitability of our products, such as Model 3, Model Y and our energy storage products. In addition, the battery cells produced there store large amounts of energy.
To lower the cost of cell production and produce cells in high volume, we have vertically integrated the production of lithium-ion cells at Gigafactory Nevada, where we also manufacture battery packs and drive units for certain vehicles and energy storage products and assemble our Megapack product. Production of lithium-ion cells at Gigafactory Nevada began in 2017, and we have no other direct experience in the production of lithium-ion cells. Given the size and complexity of this undertaking, it is possible that future events could result in issues or delays in further ramping our products and expanding production output at Gigafactory Nevada.
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In order to achieve our volume and gross margin targets for our vehicles and energy storage products, we must continue to sustain and ramp significant cell production at Gigafactory Nevada, which, among other things, requires Panasonic to successfully operate and further ramp its cell production lines at significant volumes. Although Panasonic has a long track record of producing high-quality cells at significant volume at its factories in Japan, it has relatively limited experience with cell production at Gigafactory Nevada. Moreover, although Panasonic is co-located with us at Gigafactory Nevada, it is free to make its own operational decisions, such as its determination to temporarily suspend its manufacturing there in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we produce several components for Model 3 and Model Y, such as battery modules incorporating the lithium-ion cells produced by Panasonic and drive units (including to support Gigafactory Shanghai production), at Gigafactory Nevada. Some of the manufacturing lines for such components took longer than anticipated to ramp to their full capacity. While we have largely overcome this bottleneck after deploying multiple semi-automated lines and improving our original lines, additional bottlenecks may arise as we continue to increase the production rate and introduce new lines. If we or Panasonic are unable to or otherwise do not maintain Gigafactory Nevada production, or if we are unable to cost-effectively ramp output additionally over time as needed or hire and retain a substantial number of highly skilled personnel, our ability to supply battery packs or other components for Model 3, Model Y and our other products could be negatively impacted, which could negatively affect our brand and harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
In addition, the high volumes of lithium-ion cells and battery modules and packs manufactured at Gigafactory Nevada are stored and recycled at our various facilities. Any mishandling of battery cells may cause disruption to the operation of such 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 disruptions or issues could negatively affect our brand and harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Any issues or delays in meeting our projected timelines, costs and production at or funding the ramp of Gigafactory Shanghai, or any difficulties in generating and maintaining local demand for vehicles manufactured there, could adversely impact our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.
As part of our continuing work to increase production of our vehicles on a sustained basis, and in order to make them affordable in international markets by accessing local supply chains and workforces, we have established Gigafactory Shanghai in China. Currently, we have installed annual production capacity for 200,000 Model 3 vehicles there that we believe we will eventually be able to push to actual rates of production in excess of such number, and we have commenced construction of the next phase of Gigafactory Shanghai to add Model Y manufacturing capacity at least equivalent to that for Model 3. The ramp and further expansion of Gigafactory Shanghai are subject to a number of uncertainties inherent in all new manufacturing operations, including ongoing compliance with regulatory requirements, maintenance of operational licenses and approvals for additional expansion, potential supply chain constraints, hiring, training and retention of qualified employees, and the pace of bringing production equipment and processes online with the capability to manufacture high-quality units at scale. We have limited experience to date with operating manufacturing facilities abroad, and only recently began to sell Model 3 in China. If we experience any issues or delays in meeting our projected timelines, costs, capital efficiency and production capacity for Gigafactory Shanghai, or in maintaining and complying with the terms of local debt financing that we intend will largely fund it, or in generating and maintaining demand locally for the vehicles we manufacture at Gigafactory Shanghai, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition could be adversely impacted.
In particular, local manufacturing is critical to our expansion and sales in China, which is the largest market for electric vehicles in the world. Our vehicle sales in China have been negatively impacted in the past by certain tariffs on automobiles manufactured in the U.S., such as our vehicles, and our costs for producing our vehicles in the U.S. have also been affected by import duties on certain components sourced from China. If we are not able to successfully and timely ramp Gigafactory Shanghai, we may continue to be exposed to the impact of such unfavorable tariffs, duties or costs to our detriment compared to locally-based competitors.
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We face risks associated with our international operations, including unfavorable and uncertain regulatory, political, economic, tax and labor conditions, and with establishing ourselves in new markets, all of which could harm our business.
We have a global footprint with domestic and international operations and subsidiaries. Accordingly, we are subject to a variety of legal, political and regulatory requirements and social, environmental and economic conditions over which we have little control. For example, we may be impacted by trade policies, environmental conditions, political uncertainty and economic cycles involving geographic regions where we have significant operations, which are inherently unpredictable. We are subject to a number of risks associated in particular 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, organizing local operating entities, 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.
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 of 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, nickel, copper and cobalt, 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:
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an increase in the cost, or decrease in the available supply, of materials used in the cells;
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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; and
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fluctuations in the value of any foreign currencies in which battery cell and related raw material purchases are or may be denominated, such as the Japanese yen, against the U.S. dollar.
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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. 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 energy products 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 product prices in response to increased material costs could result in cancellations of orders and reservations and therefore materially and adversely affect our brand, image, business, prospects and operating results.
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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 or our energy products contain defects in design and manufacture that cause them not to perform as expected or that require repair, or certain features of our vehicles such as new Autopilot or FSD features take longer than expected to become enabled, are legally restricted or become subject to onerous regulation, 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 may contain latent defects and errors or be subject to external attacks. Issues experienced by vehicle customers have included those related to the software for the 17 inch display screen, as well as 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 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 customers.
Any product defects, delays or legal restrictions on product features, or other failure of our products to perform as expected, could harm our reputation and result in delivery delays, product recalls, product liability claims, breach of warranty claims, and significant warranty and other expenses, and could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects.
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.
Although we design our vehicles to be the safest vehicles on the road, product liability claims, even those without merit, 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 or are claimed to not have performed as expected. As is true for other automakers, our vehicles have been involved and we expect in the future will be involved in crashes resulting in death or personal injury, and such crashes where Autopilot or FSD features are engaged are the subject of significant public attention. We have experienced and we expect to continue to face claims arising from or related to misuse or claimed failures of new technologies that we are pioneering, including Autopilot and FSD features in our vehicles. In addition, 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, in particular due to a high-speed crash, which could subject us to lawsuits, product recalls or redesign efforts, all of which would be time consuming and expensive.
Moreover, 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. Moreover, a product liability claim could generate substantial negative publicity about our products and business and could have a 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 for vehicle exposure, meaning that any product liability claims will likely have to be paid from company funds, not by insurance.
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The markets in which we operate are highly competitive, and we may not be successful in competing in these industries. 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. A significant and growing number of established and new automobile manufacturers, 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, as well as the market for self-driving technology and applications. In some cases, such competitors have announced an intention to produce electric vehicles exclusively at some point in the future. Most of our current and potential competitors have significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, vehicle sales resources and networks than we do and may be able to devote greater resources to the design, development, manufacturing, distribution, promotion, sale and support of their products. In particular, some competitors have also announced plans to compete with us in important and large markets for electric vehicles, such as China and in Europe. 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, Model 3 and Model Y face competition from existing and future automobile manufacturers in the extremely competitive entry-level premium sedan and compact SUV market, including BMW, Ford, Lexus, Mercedes and Volkswagen Group.
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 long-term leases and PPAs. Moreover, prices for solar product components and prices per kWh for lithium-ion battery cells have declined and may continue to decline, which may adversely impact our ability to cost-effectively manufacture such components ourselves.
If we are unable to establish and maintain confidence in our long-term business prospects among consumers, analysts and within our industries, or are subject to negative publicity, then our financial condition, operating results, business prospects and access to capital may suffer materially.
Consumers may be less likely to purchase our products if they are not convinced that our business will succeed or that our service and support and other operations will continue in the long term. 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, ratings agencies and other parties in our long-term financial viability and business prospects. Maintaining such confidence may be particularly complicated by certain factors including those that are largely outside of our control, such as our limited operating history, customer unfamiliarity with our products, any delays in scaling manufacturing, delivery and service operations to meet demand, 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.
In particular, Tesla’s products, business, results of operations, statements and actions are well-publicized by a range of third parties. Such attention includes frequent criticism, which is often exaggerated or unfounded, such as speculation regarding the sufficiency or stability of our management team. Any such negative perceptions, whether caused by us or not, could harm our business and make it more difficult to raise additional funds if needed.
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If we fail to effectively grow and manage the compliance, residual, financing, and credit risks related to our various financing programs, our business may suffer.
We offer financing arrangements for our vehicles in North America, Europe, and Asia primarily through various financial institutions. We also currently offer leasing directly through our local subsidiaries for Model S, Model X, and Model 3 in the U.S. and for Model S and Model X in Canada. Under a lease held directly by us, we typically 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. We have also offered various arrangements for customers of our solar energy systems, whereby they pay us a fixed payment to lease or finance the purchase of solar energy systems, or purchase electricity generated by our systems. If we do not successfully monitor and comply with applicable national, state, and/or local financial regulations and consumer protection laws governing these transactions, we may become subject to enforcement actions or penalties, either of which may harm our business.
Also, the profitability of any vehicles returned to us at the end of their leases depends on our ability to accurately project our vehicles’ residual values at the outset of the leases, and such values may fluctuate prior to the end of their terms depending on various factors such as supply and demand of our used vehicles, economic cycles, and the pricing of new vehicles. For example, we made certain adjustments to our vehicle prices during 2019 to reflect anticipated changes to our cost structure from periodically optimizing our retail strategy, and as a limited accommodation to customers in consideration of a reduction in the then-applicable U.S. electric vehicle federal tax credit. Such pricing changes may impact the residual values of our vehicles. The vehicle leasing program also relies on our ability to secure adequate financing and/or business partners to fund and grow this program. We expect the availability of leasing and other vehicle financing options will be important for our vehicle customers. If we are unable to adequately fund our leasing program through internal funds, partners or other external financing sources, and compelling alternative financing programs are not available for our customers, we may be unable to grow our vehicle deliveries. Furthermore, if our vehicle leasing business grows substantially, our business may suffer if we cannot effectively manage the greater levels of residual risk resulting from growth.
Moreover, we have provided resale value guarantees to vehicle customers and partners for certain financing programs, under which such counterparties may sell their vehicles back to us at certain points in time at pre-determined amounts. However, actual resale values, as with residual values for leased vehicles, are subject to similar fluctuations over the term of the financing arrangements, such as from the vehicle pricing changes discussed above. If the actual resale values of any vehicles resold or returned to us pursuant to these programs are materially lower than the pre-determined amounts we have offered, our operating results, profitability and/or liquidity could be negatively impacted.
Finally, our vehicle and solar energy system financing programs also require us to screen for and manage customer credit risk. In the event of a widespread economic downturn or other catastrophic event, our solar energy and/or our vehicle customers may be unable or unwilling to satisfy their payment obligations to us on a timely basis or at all. If a significant number of our customers default, we may incur credit losses and/or have to recognize impairment charges with respect to the underlying assets, which may be substantial. Any such credit losses and/or impairment charges could adversely affect our operating results or financial condition.
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The unavailability, reduction or elimination of, or unfavorable determinations with respect to, government and economic incentives in the U.S. and abroad supporting the development and adoption of electric vehicles, energy storage products or solar energy could have some impact on demand for our products and services.
We and our customers currently benefit from certain government and economic incentives supporting the development and adoption of electric vehicles. In the U.S. and abroad, such incentives include tax credits or rebates that encourage the purchase of electric vehicles. Specific policies in place around the world include exempting the purchase of electric vehicles from import taxes, value added taxes, or carbon dioxide and weight-based purchase taxes. Such programs could be reduced, eliminated or exhausted. For example, under current regulations, a $7,500 federal tax credit that was available in the U.S. for the purchase of our vehicles was reduced in phases during 2019 and ended on December 31, 2019. We believe that this sequential phase-out likely pulled forward some vehicle demand into the periods preceding each reduction. Moreover, in July 2018, a previously available incentive for purchases of Model 3 in Ontario, Canada was cancelled and Tesla buyers in Germany lost access to electric vehicle incentives for a short period of time beginning late 2017. In April 2017 and January 2016, respectively, previously available incentives in Hong Kong and Denmark that favored the purchase of electric vehicles expired, negatively impacting sales. Effective March 2016, California implemented regulations phasing out a $2,500 cash rebate on qualified electric vehicles for high-income consumers. Such developments could have some negative impact on demand for our vehicles, and we and our customers may have to adjust to them.
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 costs 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 when the allocated funding is exhausted, reduced or terminated as renewable energy adoption rates increase, sometimes without warning. For example, the U.S. federal government currently offers an 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; however, the ITC is currently scheduled to decline in phases, from 26% for qualifying solar systems for which construction began by December 31, 2020, to 10% for commercial and utility systems and to 0% for customer-owned residential systems for which construction begins after December 31, 2021. 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, altered 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 and certain state incentives 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 again in the future. Such determinations may result in adverse tax consequences and/or our obligation to make indemnification or other payments to our funds or fund investors.
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Any failure by us to comply with the terms of our agreement with the Research Foundation for the State University of New York relating to our Gigafactory New York, could result in negative consequences for our business.
We are party to an operating lease and a research and development agreement through the SUNY Foundation. These agreements provide for the construction and use of our Gigafactory in Buffalo, New York, which we have primarily used for the development and production of our Solar Roof and other solar products and components, energy storage components, and Supercharger components, and for other lessor-approved functions. Under this agreement, we are obligated to, among other things, directly employ specified minimum numbers of personnel in the State of New York and spend or incur $5.0 billion in combined capital, operational expenses, costs of goods sold and other costs in the State of New York during the 10-year period beginning April 30, 2018. In April 2020, the government agency overseeing this agreement issued guidance that all obligations relating to investment and employment targets under certain of its projects, including our obligation to be compliant with our applicable targets under such agreement on April 30, 2020, may be deferred for a one-year period upon such agency’s approval of an application for relief by the obligor. As we temporarily suspended most of our manufacturing operations at Gigafactory New York pursuant to a New York State executive order issued in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we intend to apply for and expect to be granted such deferral. While we expect significant operations at Gigafactory New York and the surrounding Buffalo area to eventually resume and continue, including with our ramp and manufacture of the Solar Roof, if we fail in any year over the course of the term of the agreement to meet all applicable future obligations, we would be obligated to pay a “program payment” of $41.2 million to the SUNY Foundation for such year. Any inability on our part to comply with applicable future requirements of this agreement may result in the payment of significant amounts to the SUNY Foundation, the termination of our lease at Gigafactory New York, and/or the need to adjust certain of our operations, in particular our production ramp of the Solar Roof or Supercharger components. Any of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
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.
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, especially to support our high-volume manufacture of vehicles, expansion plans and technological innovation, and any failure or delay in doing 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, or any negative publicity related to us. In California, Nevada and other regions where we have operations, including outside of the U.S., 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 our ability to retain and hire key employees. Moreover, we have in the past conducted reductions in force in order to optimize our organizational structure and reduce costs, and certain senior personnel have also departed for various reasons. Likewise, as a result of our current suspension of various U.S. manufacturing operations, in April 2020 we temporarily furloughed certain hourly employees and reduced most salaried employees’ base salaries. Our continued success depends upon our continued ability to hire new employees in a timely manner, especially to support our expansion plans, retain current employees, including furloughed employees when our U.S. operations fully resume, and replace departed senior employees with qualified and experienced individuals, which is typically a time-consuming process. 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 or recruiting employees could have an adverse effect on our performance and results.
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Finally, our compensation philosophy for all of our personnel reflects our startup origins, with an emphasis on equity-based awards and benefits in order to closely align their incentives with the long-term interests of our stockholders. We have to periodically seek and obtain approval from our stockholders for future increases to the number of awards that may be granted and shares that may be purchased under our equity incentive and employee stock purchase plans. If we are unable to obtain the requisite stockholder approvals to obtain future increases to the number of awards that may be granted and shares that may be purchased under such plans, and compensate our personnel in accordance with our compensation philosophy, our ability to retain and hire qualified personnel would be negatively impacted.
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 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. Mr. Musk also currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., a developer and manufacturer of space launch vehicles, and is involved in other emerging technology ventures.
We are continuously 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 operations could be disrupted or our intellectual property could be compromised, as a result of which our operating results and reputation could be harmed.
We are continuously expanding and improving our information technology systems, including implementing new internally developed systems and deploying such systems globally, 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 U.S. and abroad, including at Gigafactory Shanghai, such as systems for product data management, procurement, inventory management, production planning and execution, sales, service and logistics, dealer management, financial, tax and regulatory compliance systems. We also maintain information technology measures designed to protect us against intellectual property theft, data breaches and other cyber-attacks. The implementation, maintenance, segregation 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 and updating current 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, adequately protect our intellectual property or achieve and maintain compliance with, or realize available benefits under, tax laws and other applicable regulations.
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 or intellectual property could be compromised or misappropriated 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.
Any unauthorized control or manipulation of our products’ systems could result in loss of confidence in us and our products and harm our business.
Our products contain complex information technology systems. For example, our vehicles and energy storage products are designed with built-in data connectivity to accept and install periodic remote updates from us to improve or update their functionality. We have designed, implemented and tested security measures intended to prevent unauthorized access to our information technology networks, our products 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, products and systems to gain control of, or to change, our products’ functionality, user interface and performance characteristics, or to gain access to data stored in or generated by our products. We encourage reporting of potential vulnerabilities in the security of our products via our security vulnerability reporting policy, and we aim to remedy any reported and verified vulnerability. 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 exploited in the future before they can be identified, or that our remediation efforts are or will be successful.
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Any unauthorized access to or control of our products 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 products, their systems or data, as well as other factors that may result in the perception that our products, 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 reports in the past.
We are subject to substantial laws and regulations that could impose substantial costs, legal prohibitions or unfavorable changes upon our operations or products, and any failure to comply with these laws and regulations, including as they evolve, could negatively impact our ability to operate our manufacturing facilities and substantially harm our business and operating results.
As a manufacturing company, including with respect to our current facilities such as the Fremont Factory, Gigafactory Nevada, Gigafactory New York and Gigafactory Shanghai and our future facility at Gigafactory Berlin, we are or will be subject to complex environmental, manufacturing, health and safety laws and regulations at numerous jurisdictional levels in the U.S., China, Germany and other locations abroad, including laws relating to the use, handling, storage, recycling, disposal and human exposure to hazardous materials and with respect to constructing, expanding and maintaining our facilities. 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 be required to incur additional costs to comply with any changes to such regulations, and any failures to comply could result in significant expenses, delays or fines. We are subject to laws and regulations applicable to the supply, manufacture, import, sale and service of automobiles internationally. For example, in countries outside of the U.S., we are required to meet standards relating to vehicle safety, fuel economy and emissions, among other things, that are often materially different from requirements in the U.S., 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.
In particular, we offer in our vehicles Autopilot and FSD features that today assist drivers with certain tedious and potentially dangerous aspects of road travel, but which currently require drivers to remain engaged. We are continuing to develop our FSD technology with the goal of achieving full self-driving capability in the future. There is a variety of international, federal and state regulations that may apply to self-driving vehicles, which include many existing vehicle standards that were not originally intended to apply to vehicles that may not have a driver. Such regulations continue to rapidly change, which increases the likelihood of a patchwork of complex or conflicting regulations, or may delay products or restrict self-driving features and availability, any of which could adversely affect our business.
Finally, as a manufacturer and installer of solar generation 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 PPAs or qualifying for government incentives and benefits that apply to solar power, and limit or eliminate net energy metering. If such regulations and policies are continued or adopted, or if other regulations and policies that adversely impact the interconnection or use of our solar and energy storage systems are introduced, 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.
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Failure to comply with a variety of U.S. and international privacy and consumer protection laws to which we are subject could harm the Company.
Our privacy notice 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 relating to the processing, collection, use, retention, security and transfer of personally identifiable information could result in regulatory or litigation-related actions against us, legal liability, fines, damages, ongoing audit requirements and other significant costs. Substantial expenses and operational changes may be required in connection with maintaining compliance with such laws, and in particular certain emerging privacy laws are still subject to a high degree of uncertainty as to their interpretation and application. For example, in May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation began to fully apply to the processing of personal information collected from individuals located in the European Union, and has created new compliance obligations and has significantly increased fines for noncompliance. Similarly, as of January 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act imposes certain legal obligations on our use and processing of personal information related to California residents. Although we take steps to protect the security and integrity of our customers’ personal information, we may be required to expend significant resources to comply with data breach requirements if, for example, 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.
Our business may be adversely affected by any disruptions caused by union activities.
It is not uncommon for employees of certain trades at companies 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 U.S. 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. From time to time, labor unions have engaged in campaigns to organize certain of our operations, as part of which such unions have filed unfair labor practice charges against us with the National Labor Relations Board, and they may do so in the future. In September 2019, an administrative law judge issued a recommended decision for Tesla on certain issues and against us on certain others. The National Labor Relations Board has not yet adopted the recommendation and we have appealed certain aspects of the recommended decision. Any unfavorable ultimate outcome for Tesla may have a negative impact on the perception of Tesla’s treatment of our employees. 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.
We may choose to or be compelled to undertake product recalls or take other similar actions, which could adversely affect our brand image and financial performance.
Any product recall with respect to our products may result in adverse publicity, damage our brand, and adversely affect our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition. For example, certain vehicle recalls that we initiated have resulted from various causes, including a component that could prevent the parking brake from releasing once engaged, a concern with the firmware in the restraints control module in certain right-hand-drive vehicles, industry-wide issues with airbags from a particular supplier, Model X seat components that could cause unintended seat movement during a collision, and concerns of corrosion in Model S and Model X power steering assist motor bolts. Furthermore, testing of our products by government regulators or industry groups may require us to initiate product recalls or may result in negative public perceptions about the safety of our products. 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 have provided 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.
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Our current and future warranty reserves may be insufficient to cover future warranty claims which could adversely affect our financial performance.
We provide a manufacturer’s warranty on all new and used Tesla vehicles and production powertrain components and systems we sell. In addition, we also provide a warranty on the installation and maintenance of our systems in addition to the components of the energy generation and storage systems we sell. For components not manufactured by us, we pass through to our customers the inverter and panel manufacturers’ warranties. Finally, we offer a performance guarantee with our financed solar energy systems that can compensate a customer on an annual basis if their system does not meet the electricity production guarantees set forth in their PPA or lease. Under these performance guarantees, we bear the risk of electricity production shortfalls resulting from an inverter or panel failure. These risks are exacerbated in the event the panel or inverter manufacturers cease operations or fail to honor their warranties.
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 our 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, Model Y, and Solar Roof that we have recently introduced 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.
Our insurance coverage 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. 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 or self-insured retentions, and we cannot be certain that our insurance coverage will be sufficient to cover all future losses or 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 and other factors.
We expect our period-to-period financial results to vary based on our operating costs, which we anticipate will fluctuate as the pace at which we continue to design, develop, and manufacture new products and increase production capacity by expanding our current manufacturing facilities and adding future facilities, may not be consistent or linear between periods. Additionally, our revenues from period to period may fluctuate as we introduce existing products to new markets for the first time and as we develop and introduce new products. 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, ratings agencies, or investors, who may be focused only on quarterly financial results. If any of this occurs, the trading price of our stock could fall substantially, either suddenly or over time.
Servicing our indebtedness requires a significant amount of cash, and there is no guarantee that we will have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our substantial indebtedness.
As of March 31, 2020, we and our subsidiaries had outstanding $12.97 billion in aggregate principal amount of indebtedness (see Note 10, Debt, to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q). Our substantial consolidated indebtedness may increase our vulnerability to any generally adverse economic and industry conditions. 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.
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Pursuant to their terms, holders of our 1.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2021, 2.375% Convertible Senior Notes due 2022, and 2.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2024 (together, the “Tesla Convertible Notes”) may convert their respective Tesla Convertible Notes at their option prior to the scheduled maturities of the respective Tesla Convertible Notes under certain circumstances. Upon conversion of the applicable Tesla Convertible Notes, we will be obligated to deliver cash and/or shares in respect of the principal amounts thereof and the conversion value in excess of such principal amounts on such Tesla Convertible Notes. Moreover, our subsidiary’s Zero-Coupon Convertible Senior Notes due 2020 (the “Subsidiary Convertible Notes”) are convertible into shares of our common stock at a conversion price of $300.00 per share. Finally, holders of the Tesla Convertible Notes and the Subsidiary 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 certain of our credit facilities, including the Credit Agreement, 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.
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, and the specific timing of cash inflows and outflows may fluctuate substantially from period to period. 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 ongoing operations, research, and development projects for new products, establishment, and/or increases of Model 3 and Model Y production capacity at the Fremont Factory and at Gigafactory Shanghai, the continued expansion of Gigafactory Nevada, the construction of Gigafactory Berlin, the manufacturing ramp of the Solar Roof at Gigafactory New York, and the continued expansion of our retail and service locations, body shops, Mobile Service fleet, and Supercharger network. 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.
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We could be subject to liability, penalties, and other restrictive sanctions and adverse consequences arising out of certain governmental investigations and proceedings.
We are cooperating with certain government investigations as discussed in Note 12, Commitments and Contingencies, to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. To our knowledge, no government agency in any such ongoing investigation has concluded that any wrongdoing occurred. However, we cannot predict the outcome or impact of any such ongoing matters, and there exists the possibility that we could be subject to liability, penalties, and other restrictive sanctions and adverse consequences if the SEC, the DOJ, or any other government agency were to pursue legal action in the future. Moreover, we expect to incur costs in responding to related requests for information and subpoenas, and if instituted, in defending against any governmental proceedings.
For example, on October 16, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment approving the terms of a settlement filed with the Court on September 29, 2018, in connection with the actions taken by the SEC relating to Mr. Musk’s statement on August 7, 2018 that he was considering taking Tesla private. Pursuant to the settlement, we, among other things, paid a civil penalty of $20 million, appointed an independent director as the Chair of the Board, appointed two additional independent directors to our board of directors, and made further enhancements to our disclosure controls and other corporate governance-related matters. On April 26, 2019, this settlement was amended to clarify certain of the previously-agreed disclosure procedures, which was subsequently approved by the Court. All other terms of the prior settlement were reaffirmed without modification. Although we intend to continue to comply with the terms and requirements of the settlement, if there is a lack of compliance or an alleged lack of compliance, additional enforcement actions or other legal proceedings may be instituted against us.
If we update or discontinue the use of our manufacturing equipment more quickly than expected, we may have to shorten the useful lives of any equipment to be retired as a result of any such update, and the resulting acceleration in our depreciation could negatively affect our financial results.
We have invested and expect to continue to invest significantly in what we believe is state of the art tooling, machinery, and other manufacturing equipment for our various product lines, and we depreciate the cost of such equipment over their expected useful lives. However, manufacturing technology may evolve rapidly, and we may decide to update our manufacturing process with cutting-edge equipment more quickly than expected. Moreover, we are continually implementing learnings as our engineering and manufacturing expertise and efficiency increase, which may result in our ability to manufacture our products using less of our currently installed equipment. Alternatively, as we ramp and mature the production of our products to higher levels, our learnings may cause us to discontinue the use of already installed equipment in favor of different or additional equipment. The useful life of any equipment that would be retired early as a result would be shortened, causing the depreciation on such equipment to be accelerated, and our results of operations could be negatively impacted.
We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could negatively affect our financial results.
We transact business globally in multiple currencies and have foreign currency risks related to our revenue, costs of revenue, operating expenses, and localized subsidiary debt denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, currently primarily the Chinese yuan, euro, British pound and Canadian dollar. To the extent we have significant revenues denominated in such foreign currencies, 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 and Chinese yuan. 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.
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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 using means that we believe will maximize our reach, currently including through our website and our own stores. While we intend to continue to leverage our most effective sales strategies, we may not be able to sell our vehicles through our own stores in each state in the U.S., as some states have laws that may be interpreted to impose limitations on this direct-to-consumer sales model. In some states, we have also opened galleries to educate and inform customers about our products, but such locations do not actually transact in the sale of vehicles. 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 challenged 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 dealer associations to propose laws 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.
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. Continued regulatory limitations and other obstacles interfering with our ability to sell vehicles directly to consumers could have a negative and material impact our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
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. While we endeavor to obtain and protect the intellectual property rights that we expect will allow us to retain or advance our strategic initiatives, there can be no assurance that we will be able to adequately identify and protect the portions of intellectual property that are strategic to our business, or mitigate the risk of potential suits or other legal demands by our competitors. Accordingly, 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 and associated litigation could significantly increase our operating expenses. In addition, if we are determined to have or believe there is a high likelihood that we 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 adversely affected by events outside of our control, such as natural disasters, wars, or health epidemics.
We may be impacted by natural disasters, wars, health epidemics, or other events outside of our control. For example, our corporate headquarters, the Fremont Factory, and Gigafactory Nevada are located in seismically active regions in Northern California and Nevada, and our Gigafactory Shanghai is located in a flood-prone area. If major disasters such as earthquakes, floods, 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. In addition, the global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted economic markets, manufacturing operations, supply chains, employment and consumer behavior in nearly every geographic region and industry across the world, and we have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected as a result. We may incur expenses or delays relating to such events outside of our control, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition.
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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 $968.99 per share and a low of $176.99 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. In particular, a large proportion of our common stock has been and may continue to be traded by short sellers which may put pressure on the supply and demand for our common stock, further influencing volatility in its market price. Public perception and other factors outside of our control may additionally impact the stock price of companies like us that garner a disproportionate degree of public attention, 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. Moreover, stockholder litigation like this has been filed against us in the past. While we defend such actions vigorously, any judgment against us or any future stockholder 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 may provide from time to time guidance regarding our expected financial and business performance, which may include 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 and has in the past been inaccurate in certain respects, such as the timing of new product manufacturing ramps. Our guidance is based on certain assumptions such as those relating to anticipated production and sales volumes (which generally are not linear throughout a given period), 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 Subsidiary Convertible Notes would dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders to the extent we deliver shares upon conversion of any of such notes. Our Subsidiary Convertible Notes and Tesla Convertible Notes are 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.
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 entered 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 applicable 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 stock or the convertible notes.
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Elon Musk has pledged shares of our common stock to secure certain bank borrowings. If Mr. Musk were forced to sell these shares in order to satisfy his loan obligations, 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, Mr. Musk may be forced by one or more of the banking institutions to sell shares of Tesla common stock to satisfy his loan obligations if he could not do so through other means. 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.