Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The newest Tesla electric car is an
all-wheel-drive version of the Model S sedan with two motors and safety
features including driver-assisting tools intended to prevent crashes.
Bloomberg's Betty Liu and Cory Johnson have more on "Bloomberg West."
(Source: Bloomberg)
Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk had created a buzz around the event by tweeting about it on Oct. 1. The debut of the newest Tesla electric car went “largely as expected,” and that could potentially “take some wind out of the sails” of the more bullish investors, Bank of America wrote. The updates in part show that Tesla is playing “catch-up” with its competitors, it said.
The shares declined 7.8 percent to $236.91 at the close in New York, the lowest price since Aug. 1. Tesla has risen more than 57 percent this year.
Tesla’s Model S electric car will be offered with all-wheel drive capability and safety features including driver-assisting tools intended to
prevent crashes, such as lane-keep assist and cruise control that adjusts to the speed of traffic. Those updates might not have lived up to the “massive” speculation ahead of the unveiling, Ben Kallo of Robert W. Baird said in a note.
Musk said the dual-motors accelerate the new Model S from zero to 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour in 3.2 seconds. The all-wheel drive design aligns Tesla against luxury brands including Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s BMW, Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s Lexus.
Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, unveils the dual engine chassis of... Read More
‘Expected Option’
The starting price is $120,170 for the dual-motor option and technology package, smart air suspension and 21-inch wheels, spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson said.In the luxury market, all-wheel drive is “an expected option,” Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, said in a telephone interview before the announcement. From 2009 through the first six months of 2014, the rate of premium luxury buyers who opted for all-wheel drive rose to 46 percent from 33 percent, according Edmunds.com.
Skepticism about the stock lingers. Musk told CNBC last month that the shares were “kind of high.” Adam Jonas, an analyst at Morgan Stanley who has an overweight rating on Tesla, wrote in a September note that he agreed with Musk.
Seventy-five percent of Tesla’s stock price is “based on products the company does not yet make,” which contributes to the stock’s volatility, Jonas said in a telephone interview before the announcement. Such products include the Model 3 sedan, which is due by 2017, using batteries made at Tesla’s $5.5 billion “Gigafactory” near Reno, Nevada.
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