[dave1619]

Regarding the Fortune article, I'm not sure if that's an accounting "trick" as it's more of a risk factor. Tesla gave a resale value guarantee on loans starting over 3 years ago which had a clause that the buyer could sell back their cars to Tesla at end of 3 years for a certain guaranteed price. A very small % of people have redeemed this guarantee, showing that Tesla vehicles are holding their resale value very well. This shows there's low risk for a massive financial loss in their resale guarantees to leasing partners. Sure, there's always risk but the risk of Tesla vehicles suddenly losing a ton of value (much more than expected) seems quite slim.

Regarding Solarcity, yes I've seen reports saying they become subsidiary. But Elon has mentioned a few times that Tesla will assume all of Solarcity's debt.