
Tesla Edges Out Toyota as California’s Top Auto Employer - cryptoz
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-16/tesla-edges-out-toyota-as-california-s-top-auto-employer.html
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dang
Url changed from [http://cleantechnica.com/2014/05/26/tesla-motors-now-
califor...](http://cleantechnica.com/2014/05/26/tesla-motors-now-californias-
biggest-auto-industry-employer/), which points to
[http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1092197_largest-auto-
ind...](http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1092197_largest-auto-industry-
employer-in-california-electric-car-maker-tesla-motors), which points to this.

Submitters: please do your due diligence and track down the original source.

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jarek
Voters: please do your due diligence and don't upvote content farms

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11thEarlOfMar
Other interesting numbers:

_

Revenue per employee:

Tesla: $413k

Toyota: $932k

Ford: $792k

Daimler: $581k

_

Gross Margins:

Tesla: 25%

Toyota: 19%

Ford: 12%

Daimler: 22%

_

Having the lowest rev/employee, yet the highest profitability, bodes well
given Tesla's high growth rate.

(numbers courtesy Google Finance)

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hnnewguy
> _yet the highest profitability, bodes well given Tesla 's high growth rate._

Comparing these companies like this is a bit odd. Tesla produced 25,000 cars
last year. The others produce millions. Tesla produces a single, "luxury"
model, which by definition has good margins. That's tougher to maintain at
scale, with lower end, higher competition car classes.

I'm actually surprised Daimler's margins are as high they are. Ford has a lot
of legacy costs.

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jbellis
Additionally, in 2013 about 12% of Tesla's revenue came from emissions credits
rather than selling cars. That's going to do funny things to marginal profit
numbers per car.

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matthewaustin
The 25% number for Tesla is from the most recent quarter, where they received
no revenue from selling emissions credits.

Their profitability has actually increased quarter to quarter even as their
emission credit sales have dropped to zero.

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sz4kerto
I love what Tesla does in general, but ... is this really news?

BMW is Bavaria's biggest auto-industry employer. Microsoft is Redmond's
biggest IT employer. It's because the headquarters are located in that
particular area.

Edit: now that the title/URL has changed it seems slightly more relevant.

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11thEarlOfMar
It is news because there used to be a large auto industry in California. Ford
operated a huge factory in Milpitas, for example. The real news is that to
some extent, manufacturing is coming back to California.

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ulfw
Fact is manufacturing all moved out of California. Tesla is still a boutique
small little tech outfit. Who knows if they'd be manufacturing in California
when they're the size of Ford/GM/Toyota

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btgeekboy
A bit of background on this: until 2010, Toyota and GM jointly operated a
factory in Fremont, CA, called NUMMI[1]. When the plant closed, Tesla bought
part of it, which is now where the Model S is produced.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NUMMI](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NUMMI)

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ulfw
Yes. I know NUMMI. We did a field trip there once. It's an old GM factory from
the 60s that transitioned to Toyota co-ownership because they needed to built
cars in the US to get around import taxes and GM needed to get their
employees, who (according to your link were) At the time of its closure
"considered the worst workforce in the automobile industry in the United
States". Still doesn't change the fact that when Tesla is the size of
GM/Toyota etc, running tens of plants, I doubt any (besides maybe old NUMMI)
will be based out of California.

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karlkatzke
Yes, but Toyota just relocated their headquarters to Plano, TX, so it's hardly
an "edges out" \-- Toyota left.

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gamblor956
Toyota announced their intention to relocate. They haven't actually moved yet.

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JetSpiegel
This says more about the Auto Industry than it does about Tesla, a luxury
brand.

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icantthinkofone
Couldn't they move to almost any state and the same claim would be made? I
don't think this is news.

