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Neo/Russ

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About Neo/Russ

  • Birthday 09/26/1944

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    Murfeesboro, TN

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  1. Derek, Here's another one for your upcoming book: "How I made my fortune investing in Tesla" .......Russ Tesla pays off $465 million U.S. loan nine years earlyJustin Hyde By Justin Hyde | Motoramic – 5 hours ago Elon Musk may not be Tony Stark, but he's doing a credible impersonation of Lee Iacocca. The co-founder of Tesla Motors set another milestone for his electric car company today by making a final $451.8 million payment on the $465 million loan from the U.S. government — nine years earlier than scheduled. The massive payment came courtesy of a stock offering last week that raised $1 billion for the California automaker, made possible after it revealed its first quarterly profit. The move makes Tesla the only automaker to have paid back its Department of Energy loan in full — yet another talking point for Musk's EV drive. Now comes the hard part. It's fair to point out that other automakers received far larger loans from the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program; Ford borrowed $5.9 billion, while Nissan took $1.4 billion, both for modernizing plants and vehicles to build hybrid and electric vehicles. It's equally fair to note both have far more resources than Tesla to pay back those loans and attempt to reap a similar victory lap to the one Iacocca made after paying off Chrysler's bailout early in 1983. Tesla's pay-off marks a rare bit of good news for the Department of Energy program, which has seen its loans to Fisker and an Indiana start-up end in shuttered companies. When it was made in 2010, the loan gave Tesla credibility among private investors, something rival EV startups which couldn't get such backing were never able to generate. “I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that worked hard to create the ATVM program, and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate,” Musk said in a statement. “I hope we did you proud.” Whatever goodwill Musk can generate from paying the loan early will be needed on the hard road ahead; fighting to sell Teslas without dealers, raising revenues to make up for EV credits that added more than $60 million in the first quarter and developing the Model X SUV due late in 2014 and other models. Musk has already warned that Tesla won't make a profit this quarter, and other luxury automakers have begun to take note of his success. Running an automaker is like managing a nuclear reactor; it's a powerful machine at full strength, but a few small mistakes can lead to a meltdown. Just ask Lee Iacocca.
  2. Derek, Did you read this story? http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/05/17/one-man-bets-it-all-on-tesla/?mod=e2fb Another success story like yours. Russ
  3. Derek, See those of us that load smart cars crossways have to think about the highway regulations. The earlier smart known as 450 was not imported into the U.S. as a dealer car, but there were a few sold by an importer. The majority that get used were imported into Canada and often then as they became used they found their way into the U.S. Those cars were about 97" long as I recall. Then to meet the new European regulations smart redesigned the cars and they ended up being 106" long. These were imported by Roger Penske's group and sold at Mercedes and stand alone dealers across the country. The first year was '08 and they sold about 25,000 units and it has dropped since then. Because of our imposed government CAFE regulations to force higher mpg Mercedes has taken the brand totally under their wing in an attempt to bolster the average mpg of their entire product line. But it hasn't gone well as Mercedes customers don't take well to our crowd hanging out in their world, enjoying the fresh baked cookies, upscale coffee and the like as we all pay $300 an hour to get our oil changed, so time will tell if the niche car even survives and as Jack says the new 453 is rumored to be another 6" longer and if so then our little splinter group will drop them. We don't have them as a commuter car since driving a 25-30 ft long tow vehicle with a 40' portable home attached gets us at the 65' highway regulations for RV's and we can't tow our Maybach or Tesla behind the rig so we need a little car on the bed. We don't need these for commuting, but to go get groceries, take the dog to the vet, go to the local sights (which may be a few hundred miles away) and other things as a prime mover. Sorry for getting on my soapbox, but since so many newbee's read these posts I thought a little more detail was in order. Russ P.S. that Asus you lead me too is working pretty well now. Not bug free, but not bad for the $$ - thanks again.
  4. Next week I'm driving my ICE smart to the ECR (Eastern HDT Rally). If I had an electric I could just get there - maybe, but then I couldn't get home. And back in '08 I bought the first 451 smart in TN and broke it in easy. I have never had a rider complain about the shifting and I never use the paddles. If they had an electric, that was short enough and would go at least 300 miles between charges I MIGHT be interested, but until then I am addicted to hydrocarbon fuels.
  5. I told my broker a week ago to call me if and when the market fell to 11,500 - she and I just got off the phone, done deal a chunk of equities now in a guaranteed 3% return while the storm blows over. The old saying; "those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it" rang in my ears for the last few days. At least at the end of the day that part of the nest egg is tucked where it is safer. I remember when it fell in '08 and as I recall it dropped like a rock in just 8 days. Since stock sales are at the end of the day and if the employment figures are bad tomorrow that could be another 3-4% loss.
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