On the same day that Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney called the company a “loser”, Tesla Motors announced that it expects to be cash-flow positive by the end of next month. Tesla also reiterated that it has always paid its U.S. Department of Energy loans on time.
On the company's corporate blog, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote on Wednesday that he expects the company to “become cash flow positive at the end of next month.” Musk explained that the company could have achieved the milestone sooner had it not been for “a shortfall in shipments and delayed production” due to an issue at the supplier level.
Musk added that those supplier woes have slowed vehicle production, but the company is gaining ground quickly. Tesla built 359 Model S sedans last quarter – falling short of its 500 unit target – but expects to produce its 500th vehicle within the next few weeks.
Responding to criticisms of its DOE loan payments, Musk wrote that Tesla has “never asked for or even hinted at postponing repayment of the loan.”
Fittingly, Musk's comments came on the same day that Presidential nominee Mitt Romeny labeled the company a loser.
"Now, I like green energy as well, but that's about 50 years' worth of what oil and gas receives," Romney said during the first of three Presidential debates. "You put $90 billion -- like 50 years' worth of breaks -- into solar and wind, to Solyndra and Fisker and Tesla and Ener1. I mean, I had a friend who said, you don't just pick the winners and losers; you pick the losers."
It remains to be seen if Tesla's long-term outlook will pan out, but the electric vehicle maker has already made an advanced payment to prefund the principal payment that is due in March 2013. Tesla also claims to have created 3,500 new American jobs since its inception.Â
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