Musk Upbeat Despite Epic Downs

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Defiant billionaire Elon Musk remains confident his companies will persevere even in the face of heavy financial losses and speculation about their viability.

In a call to investors, Musk said deliveries and production at his Tesla Motors would vastly increase this year, the Daily Caller reported Friday. He also promised Tesla would finally start to be profitable by the final quarter, adding the car maker would be producing up to 90,000 vehicles this year, marking an 80 percent increase output from 2015.

This statement was made even as Tesla reported a loss of $320.4 million Wednesday afternoon, or 87 cents per share, well above expected losses of 10 cents per share. For the entire year Tesla lost a total of $889 million, more than tripling its 2014 losses of $294 million.

Shares of SolarCity, Musk’s foray into renewable energy, are also taking a beating. Shares plummeted from January highs of $52 to $17.14 per share. In its fourth quarter earnings report released Tuesday, SolarCity reported a loss of $2.37 per share.

Although Musk acknowledged that the last several months had “been quite excruciating,” he insisted he “felt good about things right now.” That confidence may have originated with Tesla’s stock to gain 7 percent in trading Thursday, coming with his release of additional information on the Tesla Model 3, a lower-cost alternative to Tesla’s very expensive counterparts.

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