There are a lot of accounting choices that go into gross margin, and a forensic accountant could dedicate a year to understand the various shell games played by car companies between financing, depreciation on equipment, and warranty.

So as a simple matter, it helps to double check the reported gross margin against EBIDTA. And with that measure, my comment stands: Tesla’s reported profits depend on continuing to sell regulatory credits.

Sure, if you assume fraud then anything goes. But barring that, GAAP is a well tested metric. It's been often gamed and then patched to plug the holes.

I never assumed fraud. My comment is true of car companies generally.