Reshab Agarwal
You know Tesla for what it is now, but the journey of the largest automaker in the world is something to take inspiration from. Tesla’s Journey “from rags to riches” has been nothing short of phenomenal. The company was on the verge of bankruptcy on Nov 3, 2008, but it somehow managed to secure a $40 mn loan. And you know the result and what has become of the company now.
It is really great to see Elon talking about the struggles he faced, the sacrifices he made and the problems he needed to overcome. I am sure as Elon says that their funding round was completed on Christman eve, the Christmas of 2008 must have been wonderful.
Tesla’s struggle
Tesla secured the $40 Mn loan in terms of convertibles that it utilised to manufactured its electric Roadster sports car. By referring an article from 2008, we found out that Elon said that they didn’t actually need $40 Mn. But, their board believed that having a cash reserve for the future will be beneficial for the company.
Tesla Roadster|Image Source: Wikipedia
After they received the loan, Tesla launched its first electric sports car, Roadster. The starting price of the vehicle was $109,000. It’s said that the vehicle became a symbol of risks that new tech brings and also the belief in electric cars.
Even after launching a great vehicle for the time and having received over 1200 orders, the company could deliver only 50 vehicles. It ran into multiple problems with the production like that transmission that caused huge delays. This led Elon to cut down 24% of Tesla’s task force and also paused the development of the Electric Sedan. It was later launched as the Model S.
Tesla’s growth
From then to now, we have seen how the company has developed both in terms of production and development. Tesla has grown multiple folds and has actually been on the journey from rags to riches. The company that was struggling to deliver 1200 vehicles in 2008 is now making record deliveries in 2020.
And even now the deliveries of tesla is not demand constraint but production. So, as the production capacities of the company increases that Elon talked about in the “Battery day event” it will register even more boost. As Elon said, Tesla’s new production methods will reduce the production cost by 76%, and there will be 0% wastewater. This method is much more scalable and improves battery productions too.
What are your thoughts on Tesla’s Journey? And do you guys find it inspiring? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative, do like and share it with your friends.