Tesla issues $13.8M in stock to buy trailers in bid to improve electric vehicle deliveries

NelsonG · March 11, 2019

Tesla is using more than $13 million worth of stock to buy trucks and trailers that will transport its electric vehicles to customers, the latest effort by the automaker to improve its logistics and delivery services.

Instead of using cash, Tesla issued $13.8 million in stock, a new securities filing posted Monday shows. Tesla used 49,967 shares at a maximum price of $277.05 a share as of February 12 to buy the trailers from Central Valley Auto Transport.

The California-based company specializes in car carriers. Tesla’s statement within the securities filing:

As part of Tesla’s ongoing logistics strategy to increase its vehicle transport capacity, reduce vehicle transportation time, and improve the timeliness of scheduled deliveries, Tesla agreed to issue shares of Tesla’s common stock in connection with its acquisition of certain car-hauling trucks and trailers from Central Valley Auto Transport, Inc. (“Central Valley” or the “selling stockholder”), an automotive transport provider. We are registering these Tesla shares pursuant to registration rights granted to the selling stockholder in connection with the acquisition.

In November, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the electric automaker had “acquired trucking capacity,” a move aimed to boost deliveries of its Model 3 vehicles before the federal tax credit began to wind down December 31. Musk nor the company revealed more details. The company never posted any regulatory filings of an acquisition.

Musk later tweeted that Tesla had both purchased trucking companies and secured contracts with major haulers to “avoid trucking shortage mistakes of last quarter.”

It’s not clear if this latest purchase from Central Valley Auto Transport reflects actions that Tesla took last year or if this is additional capacity. Tesla did note in its fourth-quarter shareholder letter that it is “continuing to purchase our own car-hauling truck capacity for vehicle shipments.”