arsenal21

  Apple was very much a niche company - before the ipod and iphone Apple had about 4% of the computer/operating system market.   Maybe a better example  would be Nokia.

  What's wrong, piggy?

You're right, the big manufacturers are only slowlyy moving to EVs and Tesla has first mover advantage, BUT it doesn't have scale so it won't be able to beat the big companies on price once they get their fingers out  

I think you're right with the Apple of EVs analogy. However, auto manufacturers need scale more than tech companies - if you think of the smaller car brands, they usually belong to giants like VW or GM.   Also I don't see Musk as a corporate type, able to run a global concern, he's more of a freewheeling entrepreneur, which leads me to believe that he'll be looking for an exit sooner rather than later (anyone remember 'funding secured'?), and there may be some parts of his technology stack that the majors are interested in, so a trade sale seems like a win-win  

  After the recent WeWork shenanigans, I think investors have much less patience with this model.

  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-03/tesla-raises-2-35-billion-in-boosted-debt-stock-offerings-jv82k0mf Even so, Tesla has about 5 billion in cash, which covers about 3 months of outgoings and almost half of that was from debt raised earlier this year.  

They're widgets to add gas afaik to the beer as the can is opened. Guinness uses nitrogen rather than carbon dioxide to give its fizz, hence smaller bubbles and the delicious thick creamy head.   If in Germany you have a can you have paid a 25 cent deposit on it, I'd guess that's more than the value of the aluminium.

        Tesla do not have 'enough cash flow for several years'. Musk is talking about Tesla being cash flow positive in 2020. Their last financial statements showed an operating loss, which means on aggregate they lose money on every car they sell.   https://www.forbes.com/sites/hershshefrin/2019/07/27/pay-attention-to-elon-musks-statements-about-teslas-free-cash-flow/   They only made a profit because of some ill-understood currency movements (or so analysts infer).   Also capex has no effect on profitability, leading me to suspect you know much more about technology than accounting.

  I thought Panasonic makes the batteries for Teslas:   https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-needs-its-battery-maker-a-culture-clash-threatens-their-relationship-11570550526   So why would VW or BMW choose Tesla as a battery supplier who doesn't even make batteries for Teslas?

I reckon the Berlin factory could be part of an exit strategy for Musk where his company is much more likely to be bought out by a German carmaker if he already has a plant in Germany.  

I would not be surprised if the broken window was deliberate as it makes all the media channels.   If anyone has remembers Wheels by Arthur Hailey, they were talking about deliberately introducing ugly cars at the end of the novel, maybe that's how the Tesla board meeting went.   I think, yes, it's ugly in a way, but also it has straight lines which you don't see so much in modern cars.   I think there will be a market for it though - hipster yuppies who secretly want a pickup truck but would not be seen dead driving one. May be a niche market but Tesla is a niche brand and will probably remain so.

Elon Musk taking Mark Zuckerberg's advice to move fast and break stuff quite literally:   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DPQP68aGiqo   Also this: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50500980

I think it's dearer if you pick up in one country and drop off in another.

  If the factory gets built at all, seeing how Musk often over-promises and under-delivers (boring machine, funding secured, solar tiles, insurance etc.)   Tesla put an assembly line in a tent in California this year to ramp up production, I can't imagine them being allowed to do that in Germany. So their costs will be higher in Germany than in the US.   Also VW have started ramping up production of their electric cars and they will probably be able to make a profit from their cars, which Tesla haven't managed to do yet. Also VW, BMW all have dealership networks and certified service, finance etc. they will be able to leverage.

  There's a term for it, cultural appropriation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation   The OP is from Green Bay where football is central to people's cultural identity, so when he hears Germans talking about it, maybe he feels like the Native American seeing the college student wearing a feathers as a fashion accessory.   For me, it's the Kelly family, as what they do is bowdlerize Irish culture and sell it as if authentic.