Published December 6, 2012
By Pete Brissette
Positive news keeps piling up for Tesla Motors.
First came the announcement at the beginning of November that the company’s Model S received Automobile of The Year from Automobile magazine. Only a couple weeks later Motor Trend bestowed the Model S with the honor of Car of The Year award.
Now, as he said the company would, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, is reporting the electric carmaker is starting to move from red to black.
In a Twitter post on Monday Musk wrote: “Am happy to report that Tesla was narrowly cash flow positive last week. Continued improvement expected through year end.”
Taken at face value, this is impressive news considering Tesla posted a $111 loss in the third-quarter, and also has to contend with a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy.
However, in that same quarterly report to investors the company said it expects by the end of 2012 “to get approximately halfway to the 25 percent gross margin target” for 2013.
Two awards in the same year from leading car publications can only help to raise the car and company’s public profile, perhaps driving more orders for the Model S, and therefore helping keep Tesla operating in the black.
Tesla also recently announced a $2,500 price increase for the 2013 Model S, but company Vice President, George Blankenship, noted in a company blog post that the price increase is the “first time in four years at only half the rate of inflation.”
