Tesla recently announced they are ramping up their Model 3 production even more than what some people thought was already optimistic numbers: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-27/tesla-model-3-ramp-up-aims-to-crush-bmw-and-mercedes" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-27/tesla-mod...</a><p>> For Musk to hit all of his targets, Tesla would need to build about 430,000 Model 3s by the end of next year. That’s more than all of the electric cars sold planet-wide last year.<p>> Even if half of the Model 3 inventory shipped to other countries, 2 U.S. sales under Musk’s targets would outpace the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes C class—combined.<p>> To sell that many $35,000 sedans in the U.S. “would be absolutely unprecedented based on what we know about car markets today and how people spend their dollars,” said Salim Morsy, electric car analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “It could happen. I’m pretty sure it won’t.”<p>If they could pull this off this might be a great investment by Tencent.<p>It's also great for the car industry and environment as well. Especially considering their work on automated driving. If they get that many cars on the road it would give them a ton of data and a big advantage/lead in AI over other companies. But it could also be setting the bar too high and setting them up for failure (even though they might otherwise have nailed targets).<p>Regardless, as a design fan it would be interesting to see so many Teslas on the road. They are great looking cars.
I see this move as a blessing for Tesla to gain market share in China. The stock is valued for growth far into the future, and achieving that outcome is really iffy without a robust China market.<p>[edit] I'm speculating, but I don't think TenCent could have gotten as big as it has without the blessing of the Chinese government. That is the basis for my view.
> Tencent is a prolific investor. It holds equity in Snap, this year’s hot tech IPO, among others following an early investment. While that interest in messaging makes sense since Tencent’s operates China’s dominant chat app — WeChat — it isn’t immediately clear whether the Tesla investment has strategic undertones.<p>This was my immediate question as well. Is this purely an investment for its portfolio or is there a strategic element as well? I imagine being able to send/receive messags on WeChat as the beginning of something more.
I suppose the administration is going to argue this move supports Trump's claim that global climate change is a Chinese plot to undermine the American economy.
Is this showing that they haven´t found a Chinese company that could compete against tesla? China is investing a lot in Solar energy, batteries and have car companies that want to become global players, and most of Tencent investments are on Chinese companies that make products focused on China and Asian markets. I do not know if they buying in open market tells more about Tesla potential or about China future in cars and energy.<p><a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/tencent#/entity" rel="nofollow">https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/tencent#/entity</a>
Worth noting that Tencent is also an investor in Future mobility which has been remarkably quiet since their funding announcement last year:
<a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/future-mobility#/entity" rel="nofollow">https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/future-mobility#/ent...</a>
When I first read this, my head saw "Fifty Cent"...<p>And I thought "A _rapper_ has just bought $1.7billion worth of Tesla shares???" and was all ready to make "Has Tesla already become the Cristal Champagne of car brands?" gags...<p>Still, half a billion return in two weeks on a 1.7 billion play is pretty nice money...
Smart move. Tencent's investing but not controlling strategy make it good supporter of the new generation of ambitious entrepreneurs against AAAAF(Apple Alphabet Amazon Alibaba Facebook):
- JD
- Didi
- Snap
- Meituan-Dianping
……
Funny. Just yesterday I commented on an HN thread that my first electric car would likely be Chinese, but that it might have the "Tesla" name on it.
this just shows how distrustful are Chinese about their own currency that they seek any way to store money abroad in safe harbor away from RMB and Chinese government
I think they knew solar is the future, all around the world.<p>China has massive pollution, and most homes/businesses that have access to direct sunlight. (Yes--I know solar works 50% on cloudy day. It doesn't work well with a lot foliage coverage. China looks barren of trees--sadly.)<p>My hope is those solar tiles come down drastically in price. My hope is the average roof will be cost effective to put said tiles up.<p>I think those solar tiles will be Tesla's Trump card. It will probally be in four years, or more in the United States. We will need a new president. (I was for Trump putting Coal miners back to work, until I found out the problem is not regulations, but automation. Actually, I want clean air. We need a better way of supporting people affected by the elimination of old ways of doing things; like a Basic Income.). Sorry about being all over the place, but there are no simple answers. Trump is just finding this out.<p>I think Tencent saw a long value in the stock, even though their citizens will not likely buy Tesla's tiles. They will buy the cheapest knock-off as usual, but the rest of the civilized world will buy Tesla's product.<p>(I don't know what patents are on these new Tesla tiles, but I bet they are seen as a valuable commodity, even to a cheating society like China.)