Teslas profitable quarter did not translate into Panasonic
In the third quarter of 201[ads1]8, Panasonic lost $ 65 million in the industry that makes battery cells the power of Tesla's electric vehicle, according to The Wall Street Journal . The company said it had to add production and hiring workers faster than expected when Tesla aggressively hit up producing 4,300 Model 3 cars a week.
In September, the leader of Panasonics Automotive Division said the company was on track to complete three new production lines at Tesla's Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, by the end of the year. It would bring the total number of battery layer-producing lines at Gigafactory up to 13.
The Model 3 ramp that ate in Panasonic bottom line did not have the same effect on Tesla, which posted its first profitable quarter in several quarters last week. It shares high.
Panasonic does not seem to believe that the dramatic cost increase is in vain. According to Reuters, Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga states that the company intends to continue investing in capacity at Gigafactory. Tsuga added that Panasonic focuses on building capacity in Nevada before it starts thinking about building some capacity at Tesla's planned plant in Shanghai. Tesla bought a plot in the Chinese city earlier this month.
"Investing for capacity beyond 35GWh means that Tesla will also have to make significant investments in vehicle production, so we'll carefully adjust each other," said Tsuga, according to Reuters.
Tsuga also commented that he was concerned about the behavior of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who ran the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for violating federal securities laws with his tweets. (Musk recently reached a settlement with the SEC that included terms that would force him to go down as chairman of Tesla.)
But Tsuga said that as long as Tesla continues to operate without too much controversy, Panasonic is willing to become one partner. "Although Elon's comments are unpredictable, we will continue to monitor Tesla's business to ensure there is no chaos there and will work in line with the company," said Tsuga, according to Reuters.
