Tesla drops nearly 5% on the stock market on Thursday. The car manufacturer and battery manufacturer Panasonic put a plan for investments in further expansion of the so-called Gigafactory 1 put on hold.
The reason for the move would be, among other things, the lower demand for Tesla models, writes the Asian business newspaper Nikkei. Promised investments in China are also under threat.
“We will continue to invest in Gigafactory 1 if needed. However, we expect that there is much more to be gained by improving existing production equipment than previously estimated,” Tesla company said in the release.
In Gigafactory 1 in the US state of Nevada, lithium-ion batteries are produced and Teslas assembled. The intention was that with a further capital injection the production capacity would be considerably boosted.
The parties previously put a sloppy $ 4.5 billion into the mega factory. Hundreds of millions would follow.
Partly because profit margins for electric vehicles are very low, a good deal of thought is being given to the planned investment. A Tesla spokesperson tells the newspaper that the company will continue to invest in Gigafactory 1 if it proves necessary.
Nicholas de Krammer, а self-taught economic analytic with heave mathematical background. Math behind the economics (and economics behind math) is the strong side of the author. Contact him at nicholas.dekramer@economicinform.com