At its annual shareholders meeting tonight, Tesla Motors' (TSLA -1.11%) Co-Founder and CEO Elon Musk said that the Model S was the top-selling electric car in Q1 2013 and that its revenue was more than all the U.S. electric car revenue in the U.S. combined.
Musk also spoke briefly about the company's latest round of financing, saying, "We raised more money than we think we need." Musk stressed that if a future supply disruption occurred because of a natural disaster or a supplier bankruptcy, the company would still have money to keep going.
During the meeting's question-and-answer session, Musk said, "We're in great shape from a cash standpoint. Even if we suck at cash management, we'll be OK." He went on to say that the company wouldn't be poor at managing its cash.
Toward the end of the meeting, Musk fielded a shareholder question about how the company can build shareholder value while mass-producing electric vehicles at the same time. Musk said that he wouldn't do anything to compromise the company's long-term goals in order to bring short-term shareholder value, but that the two goals were aligned in the long term. He said, "There are obviously things we could do that would have a short term effect on the stock price, but I think those would ultimately be disadvantageous in the long term."
