That's a moot point though.

If you want to compete in a market, you got to play at the speed/quality/prices of the market -- there is no slack given for being new.

Seems like there's a lot of slack given for being new. They have had relative ease raising capital, their market cap is still enormous relative to the number of cars produced, and lots of people are still on the waiting list for a car that they won't get for years.

That's just money burned from people investing -- there's no slack from the market, and none of this does much good if you can't compete on the market.

In the end, unless they get profitable, if they burn their stash, they're toast.

Tesla's profit margins are fine, this is all a question of ramping up to cover demand. Which tends to be much simpler when you are already a huge company.

Their real risk is if the Model 3's reliability is bad or they need a recall thus reducing their profits significantly.

What they've been ramping up is the Model 3's price point.

"The truth is the Model 3 costs $40,000 if you want a standard version with autopilot (an extra $5,000) in black with no other options. If you want a different color, add $1,000. And if you want a longer range ($9,000) to get over 300 miles per charge instead of 220, well now we’re at $50,000. $50,000 for a midrange car."[1]

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/31/16069960/tesla-model-3-no...

Autopilot is not a standard mid range car feature.

"Enhanced Autopilot adds these new capabilities to the Tesla Autopilot driving experience. Your Tesla will match speed to traffic conditions, keep within a lane, automatically change lanes without requiring driver input, transition from one freeway to another, exit the freeway when your destination is near, self-park when near a parking spot and be summoned to and from your garage."

You can get adaptive cruse control for more reasonable costs, but lane changing takes a lot more awareness around the car.