And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no telling who that it’s naming
For the loser now will be later to win
Cause the times they are a-changing
—Bob Dylan
The automobile industry continues to be bombarded by Joseph Schumpeter’s “Creative Destruction.” The latest meteor to hit Detroit? The market capitalization (total number of shares multiplied by share price) of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has just surpassed both that of Ford and GM. Tesla is not profitable and is selling only about 25,000 cars per quarter—a fraction of what Ford and GM produce—yet the market sees enormous future growth for Musk’s electric cars. Tesla’s historic milestone follows the recent acquisition of Mobileye by Intel. The automobile industry is driving towards a radical inflection point. The next decade will challenge all global industries and the automobile industry is no exception. It will be fascinating to see the future winners, losers, and new entrants. The automobile industry will present unique and interesting investment opportunties in the future. Tesla’s price surge and the $14 billion sale of Mobileye is only the beginning. Buckle up!
The gas pump of the future….available now!
Reprinted from the New York Times April 10th 2017:
Tesla has quietly zoomed past another automotive milestone.
Just a week after the company surpassed Ford Motor in market value, its shares closed at $312.39 on Monday, making Tesla worth about $50.9 billion, slightly more than General Motors.
G.M., like Ford Motor, has been operating for more than 100 years, and in the first quarter of 2017, it sold hundreds of thousands more vehicles than Tesla, an electric car upstart, did in all of 2016. But investors are betting that Tesla, whose chief executive is Elon Musk, has room to grow as the world’s appetite for electric vehicles expands.
The Tesla Model S sedan at a showroom in San Francisco. Investors are betting that the company has room to grow as the world’s appetite for electric vehicles expands. Tesla said on April 2 that its first-quarter sales had risen 69 percent from the same period a year ago. The next day, Ford and G.M. released disappointing sales figures.
Although the big automakers are financially healthy and produce the best-selling types of vehicles, like trucks and sport utility vehicles, they are perceived as lagging in cutting-edge technology like alternative power and autonomy.
Tesla’s first electric vehicle, the Roadster, rolled off the assembly line in 2008, and its Autopilot feature has been included since 2015.
It currently offers two vehicles, the Model S luxury sedan and the Model X S.U.V., which sell for $90,000 including options. The Model 3, a compact electric model that Tesla plans to sell for $35,000, is expected to debut this summer and be produced in significantly higher volumes.
No comments yet.