Tesla sends out invites for special Model 3 and S Winter Experience in Finland

Simon Alvarez

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Posted on January 19, 2019

Tesla is sending out emails inviting owners to sign up for a special winter-themed event this March. Dubbed as the “Tesla Winter Experience 2019,” the event will allow a number of lucky owners to experience the high-performance capabilities of the company’s vehicles in icy conditions firsthand. The event will be held at Kemi, Finland, and will involve the company’s all-wheel-drive variants of the Model S and Model 3.

As noted in Tesla’s message, owners and guests attending the event will be receiving a number of perks. Apart from enjoying an intense drive over an ice track accompanied by a professional driver, participants will be receiving complimentary travel, accommodation, as well as daily breakfast and lunch. A special dinner held at the Kemi SnowCastle — an iconic spot in Finland considered as the world’s largest snow fort — will also be offered to the event’s attendees. Following is the email Tesla recently sent out today.

“This March, we might bring you and a friend to the frozen sea in Finland.

“Sign up for a chance to experience a unique ice driving event with Model 3 and Model S in Europe. Enjoy Model 3 Track Mode and the unparalleled power and best-in-class acceleration of Model S as you race across a wintery ice track with a trained professional. Winners receive complimentary travel, room and board, and a special dinner at the Kemi SnowCastle.

“Share this with friends and family to participate.

In the event’s official webpage for North America, Tesla pointed out that the capabilities of Track Mode — the Model 3 Performance’s exclusive setting that allows the electric sedan to endure extended sessions of high-intensity driving — will be showcased in Winter Experience 2019. Tesla also explained some details behind its cars’ performance in icy conditions, stating that its AWD vehicles offer impressive traction thanks to their dual motors that digitally control torque to the front and rear wheels.

Tesla’s page for the event in Europe is headlined by the Model 3’s arrival in the country. The company also mentions an extra perk that was not included in the event’s North American page — a travel satchel from TUMI, one of the electric car maker’s partners. Below is a comparison between Tesla’s webpages for the Winter Experience 2019 for North America and Europe. 

Tesla’s invitation for the Winter Experience 2019 event for North America. (Credit: Tesla)

Tesla’s invitation for the Winter Experience 2019 event for Europe. (Credit: Tesla)

Tesla’s invitations for the Winter Experience event for North America and Europe. (Credit: Tesla)

Tesla’s upcoming Winter Experience in Finland appears to be yet another program aimed at cultivating and strengthening the company’s engagement with its loyal customer base, while raising interest for the Model 3 in Europe at the same time. Considering that deliveries of the Model 3 to the region will likely be underway by the time the event is held, the Winter Experience would likely generate more buzz about the electric sedan, particularly among residents of the European region.

Tesla is now in the process of shipping the Model 3 to Europe. Reports indicate that Tesla is planning on shipping 3,000 Model 3 per week for the region, which will be comprised of Long Range and Performance versions of the vehicle. In his recent email to employees, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also noted that the company is attempting to start shipping the Mid Range Model 3 RWD to the international market sometime around May. That is, of course, until Tesla could begin producing the Model 3’s ever-elusive $35,000 Standard Range RWD version. 

Watch Tesla’s teasers for the Winter Experience 2019 event in the clips below.


Tesla sends out invites for special Model 3 and S Winter Experience in Finland

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Tesla Semi with Model X in tow is an “aircraft carrier”, teases Jerome Guillen

Simon Alvarez

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Posted on January 18, 2019

In a rather rare social media post, Jerome Guillen, Tesla’s President of Automotive, shared an image of a vehicle that truly lies close to his heart — the Tesla Semi. The Automotive President’s post features the all-electric long-hauler parked at a Supercharger while pulling a trailer loaded with a Tesla Model X. Jerome even cleverly captioned his image with the words “Aircraft Carrier?” — a fun reference to the electric SUV’s open Falcon Wing Doors. 

The recently-shared picture of the Tesla Semi was taken at the Kettleman City Supercharger, a site located between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The location is one of the United States’ largest Superchargers with 40 charging stalls, solar panel-equipped roofs, and a comfortable lounge for travelers stopping over to charge their vehicles. The site is also the same Supercharger where the red Tesla Semi prototype was sighted a few weeks back. 

Since becoming Tesla’s President of Automotive last September, Guillen’s uploads of the all-electric long-hauler have become rather elusive. That said, his recently uploaded Tesla Semi post was certainly worth the wait, since the image could very well be the first picture of the upcoming electric truck with a completely new cargo and trailer.

The Tesla Semi carrying a Model X. (Photo: Jerome Guillen/LinkedIn)

The Tesla Semi is expected to be a vehicle that can disrupt the trucking market in the same way that the Model S and Model 3 are disrupting the full-size and mid-size sedan segments. The vehicle incited a lot of raised eyebrows when it was initially announced by CEO Elon Musk, thanks to its impressive specs that include a 300 to 500-mile range, a 0-60 mph time of 5 seconds flat, and four Model 3-derived electric motors. So disruptive were the Semi’s specs that Daimler Trucks boss Martin Daum infamously suggested that the Tesla Semi must be breaking the laws of physics.

Despite these reservations from critics though, the development of the Semi continued. Elon Musk has noted that improvements to the Semi are actively being done, even suggesting that the long-range variant of the all-electric truck could have closer to 600 miles of range per charge. Just recently, even the Daimler Trucks CEO, who dismissed the Semi in the past, acknowledged Tesla and the company’s tenacity. Daum still gave Tesla some warning about the lucrative and competitive trucking segment, though, stating that the business is far trickier than the consumer vehicle market.

“Tesla has proved they really have the tenacity to really go through huge losses to capture the market. But trucking is a difficult business. They will learn the hard way; trucking is not like passenger cars where one size fits all,” he said.

Inasmuch as Daum’s warnings are justified, the Tesla Semi is being developed with steady, experienced hands. Jerome Guillen, after all, has extensive experience in the trucking industry, and prior to his promotion as President of Automotive, he was personally heading the Semi program. Before to his employment at Tesla, Jerome served as the project leader for Daimler’s Freightliner Cascadia program as well, where he eventually became the head of the company’s Business Innovation unit. By the time he left for the electric car maker, Daimler’s Business Innovation unit was profitable and self-funding.

During the vehicle’s unveiling, Elon Musk noted that initial production of the vehicle will commence in 2019. That said, Eric Markowitz & Dan Crowley of Worm Capital stated in a note published after a tour of Gigafactory 1 that the electric car maker is planning on “earnestly” producing the Semi by 2020.

Tesla Semi with Model X in tow is an “aircraft carrier”, teases Jerome Guillen

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Elon Musk hints at Tesla’s profitable Q4, Mid Range Model 3’s int’l release

Simon Alvarez

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Posted on January 18, 2019

Tesla stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) is down on early Friday trading amidst news of the company’s new round of layoffs, as well as the impending production ramp of the $35,000 Standard Range Model 3. The rationale behind the 7% job cuts was extensively explained by Elon Musk in an email to Tesla employees, which was shared on the company’s blog.

Musk acknowledged the challenges that Tesla is currently facing, particularly as the company is now setting the stage for the impending release of the Model 3’s most aggressively-priced variant. In his message, Musk noted that in the near future, Tesla’s challenge would lie in developing vehicles and energy products that are attainable for mainstream customers.

“Looking ahead at our mission of accelerating the advent of sustainable transport and energy, which is important for all life on Earth, we face an extremely difficult challenge: making our cars, batteries and solar products cost-competitive with fossil fuels. While we have made great progress, our products are still too expensive for most people,” Musk wrote.

Perhaps most notable in the letter, though, is Musk’s discussion about Tesla’s capability to make a profit. The Tesla CEO noted that he considers Q3 2018’s 4% profit to be the most meaningful in the company’s 15 years of existence. Musk pointed out, though, that the third quarter’s profit was partly the result of a strong push to sell higher-priced variants of the vehicle — the Long Range Model 3 AWD and the Model 3 Performance — to customers in North America. As for Q4 2018, Musk stated that there is a good chance Tesla would be able to make a profit as well, though not in the same level as the third quarter.

“In Q4, preliminary, unaudited results indicate that we again made a GAAP profit, but less than Q3,” Musk wrote.

To help the company maintain profitability, Tesla is adopting Q3 2018’s strategy this quarter, with the electric car maker pushing the Model 3 Performance and the Long Range Model 3 AWD to customers in Europe and China. Musk also stated that Tesla is aiming to deliver “at least the Mid Range Model 3 variant in all markets” starting around May, in order to reach a greater demographic for the electric sedan. Such a system would likely serve Tesla well, at least until the company could start producing the Standard Range Model 3, which starts at the ever-elusive price of $35,000.

In a statement to CNBC, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives notes that Tesla’s international Model 3 push would likely determine the company’s success in the first half of 2019. In the second half, though, Ives stated that Tesla would need to start producing more affordable versions of the electric sedan for the international market.

“If you think about the trajectory, the first half of 2019 is really Europe coming onboard. But then, ultimately, in the second half, you need the mid-range Model 3 to really start to kick in,” he said.

Tesla’s Model 3 ramp might have already reached a level where the company is able to distribute the vehicle to other countries, but the electric car maker is only about halfway done. Tesla eventually aims to produce 10,000 Model 3 per week, to meet the expected demand for the vehicle in the international market. To accomplish this, Tesla continues to optimize its production capabilities in Fremont, while accelerating the construction of Gigafactory 3 in China. The latter is expected to complete initial construction by the end of summer, with the facility manufacturing the first China-made, “affordable” Model 3 by the end of the year.

Elon Musk’s recent letter to Tesla employees can be accessed here.

As of writing, Tesla stock is trading down 8.78% at $316.81 per share.

Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.

Elon Musk hints at Tesla’s profitable Q4, Mid Range Model 3’s int’l release

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