Tesla Motors recently announced that it recorded its first-ever quarterly profit, a very important step for the company that took government loans to develop an relatively affordable electric saloon. Whether the Model S is a truly affordable EV is another question, especially now that Tesla has pulled the plug on the 40 kWh-battery variant of the Model S – which was also the cheapest.
Coming back to the profit reported by Tesla for the first quarter of this year, it seems that the company pulled a few strings to make it happen. According to a report from Bloomberg, Tesla urged customers who had reserved cars, but had not yet made their payments, to do so.
In a March email sent by Tesla to a client, the carmaker asked for help in reaching the milestone that would help the company and its customers:
“Tesla is right on the cusp of profitability this quarter for the first time in 10 years since the company started. This is a huge company milestone that will not only be great for the company, but also for our customers. In order for Tesla to be able to count your Model S for the quarter, we simply need to receive payment,” reads the email obtained by Bloomberg Television’s Cory Johnson, who said Tesla confirmed the email.
What this means is that Tesla became profitable by receiving payments ahead of schedule, also giving its stock price a significant increase in the process. However, there could be a side effect to this move – Tesla’s second-quarter results could suffer since payments that would have been made in the coming months were made ahead of schedule.
You can watch Bloomberg Television’s report on this interesting story below.
By Dan Mihalascu
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