From production hell to competitive strength: Tesla’s all about the manufacturing

Tesla's Chief Executive may be able to launch the world's most powerful rocket into space but he's still struggling with the highly automated production system for the Model 3. And it's playing out in the financial results. The message from management is that the light at the end of the tunnel will be bright enough to make up for the current dark days financially.

The last three months of 2017 brought in a net loss of US$675.4m, a massive deterioration from the loss of US$121.3m the same quarter a year ago. On the plus side, revenues jumped by just over US$1bn to US$3.29bn for the quarter. The best news, though, was on the manufacturing side.