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Analyst slashes Tesla sales forecast by 40% due to fuel prices

While falling gas prices are cause for celebration among Americans, many of whom are seeing their budget for Christmas presents burgeon on account of the cheap fuel, it's decidedly bad news for Tesla Motors. The electric car manufacturer's fortunes are being seriously impacted by the low cost of petrol, with one of the firm's biggest fans on Wall Street, Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas, now slashing his expectations for the Palo Alto, CA-based company. Jonas has a long record of being bullish on the brand, but that hasn't stopped him from lowering his forecast for the company by a whopping 40 percent. In other words, Jonas thinks Tesla will only be able to sell 300,000 vehicles by the end of the decade rather than the half a million that was originally forecast. "While nobody buying a Model S today is doing so to save on their monthly expenses, the longer-term story is far more dependent on the volume success of the Model 3," Jonas wrote, according to CNN Money. "Oil price is a factor for Model 3." Gas prices might not be the only factor that could hurt the Model 3, though. Jonas seems to think that Tesla won't be able to sell its more affordable model for anything less than $60,000, which is a far cry from the $35,000 price that the company has targeted. Jonas doesn't elaborate on why Tesla might miss its target so drastically, but it does help to explain his bearish attitude – if gas prices remain low, there's not really any incentive for customers to join the Tesla family. That's doubly true when the cost of joining said family is twice as much as expected.

Tesla Model S rentals in the UK are crazy expensive

The bad news about trying to rent a Tesla Model S electric vehicle in the UK for a day is that it will run you about $580. The good news? You get 200 free miles worth of driving. The good news? Considering British fuel prices of about $9 a gallon and fact that the average fuel economy in the UK is around 38 miles per gallon, you're at least getting around $45 worth of travel for your $580. And you're doing it in one of the most popular EVs around. UK-based EVision is offering right-hand drive Model S to motoring enthusiasts at a starting rate of about $100 an hour (with a three-hour minimum, of course), reports Transport Evolved. That jumps to $580 for the full day. And for a week of pretending that you're James Bond in your sparkling Model S, the car will run about $3,300. And you though rental rates for London flats were expensive. California-based Tesla started delivering the Model S to the UK in June. The model is priced at about $84,000 and Tesla said at the time that more than 3,400 Model S vehicles had been sold in Europe during the first four months of the year. Those figures were helped by Tesla's decision to reduce the price of the Model S on the continent because of the strengthening Euro.

Tesla Motors stock breaks $200 mark for first time

It seems not that long ago that the air had been let out of Tesla Motors high-flying stock price. The company didn't adequately thrill the market when it disclosed its third-quarter 2013 financial results last November and TSLA price plummeted quickly enough to trigger a temporary halt to short sales. Immediately after that, the infamous Tenessee CarBQ happened, adding to the loss of altitude. Shares that had been, at one point, worth as much as $193.37 spent the last half of November 2013 bumbling along in the $120 neighborhood. If you had chosen that low point to invest, we imagine you are wearing a very self-satisfied smile today. That's because the TSLA stock has more than reversed all previous losses and reached a high of $201.91. The most dramatic part of that rise came this week as the price saw a gain of $30. By the end of the day today, TSLA settled at $196.62, up just six cents from the close of trading yesterday. Whether or not the stock has been buoyed by anticipation of the upcoming fourth-quarter financial reporting – estimated to happen a week from now – is hard to say. Certainly the fears over future battery supply constraints have been calmed, and we expect the upcoming call to have even more concrete details about the giga-factory. If you think you know the reason for the recent rise, please feel free to share with the rest of the class in the Comments. Featured Gallery Tesla Model S View 24 Photos News Source: NASDAQ Green Tesla Electric tsla nasdaq