Benzinga was in attendance at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit on Tuesday as Tesla Motors Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk spoke to the media.
Musk made it clear that his reason for attending was "to encourage other automakers to accelerate their electric vehicle programs.” He added, "I think that all transport, with the exception of rockets, will go electric."
Addressing concerns over Tesla's profitability, Musk explained, "If we were just to sort of scale back our growth and focus on the Model S customer base, we would be profitable" but the company has "negative cash flow because we've been investing in automation and the Model X [which] will for sure launch this summer."
Related Link: Tesla Falls Following Elon Musk's Comments About Sales In China
Musk thought the company "will start showing a profit at some point, probably when the Model 3 is in full production. We're pretty comfortable saying 2020 for that."
Regarding 2014 sales, the company’s "aspiration was to deliver 33,000 cars in 2014. We sold in terms of orders of cars far more than that" and during 2014 the company "saw a significant increase in North American demand" along with "surprisingly excellent" demand in Europe.
Musk acknowledged that demand in China was unexpectedly weak in the fourth quarter.
Tesla Motors recently traded at $189.35 in the after-hours session, down 7.3 percent.
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