The much-discussed CEO of Tesla,
the Boring Company, and
SpaceX, among other innovative investments, Elon Musk, gained superstar status
among business leaders around the world. He is one of the richest people in the
universe right now and has become some sort of guru of the electric vehicle
(EV) movement.
اضافة اعلان
Recently, Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company in
terms of financial value, lost a staggering one-third of its market value in a
day of trading due to continued financial market volatility and uncertainty
towards the EV sector leader, only to regain that week.
But the realities of the global automotive industry are not
dictated by the media or by Wall Street. Building and maintaining a car brand
that would survive in today’s world is a different story, according to Musk
himself, who admitted that his “disruptive” approach towards changing how cars
are built seems to lead Tesla onto rough terrain, major production delays, and
embarrassing quality problems that made even Musk admit he was living in
“production hell”.
For a relatively young car company founded in 2007, Tesla
has faced many difficulties. As a mere Silicon Valley startup that wanted to
change the automotive world by making EVs that actually work, it made that
crazy idea happen with the Tesla Roadster electric sports car. Fast forward to
2020, where Tesla’s production volume has reached a little under half-a-million
units and it has gained the leading position in the automotive race for
electrification. Through this journey, Tesla had a long period of “teething” in
which Elon Musk himself described the difficult situation, citing many quality-control
issues and many basic production problems that delayed deliveries of his
already booked and sold cars, hampering the young company’s plans to keep
making headway in sales and actual market share growth.
In reality, the real value of Tesla comes from the
innovations that this company has and will to continue to invested so much in.
The foremost of these innovations are its battery technology, electric
propulsion solutions, and the technology of self-driving — or “autopilot” as
Tesla calls it. These major aspects of automotive technology are the real areas
of competition, and Tesla has gained a remarkable lead over the “legacy” car
industry; these are Tesla’s real assets and the real driving force of its
leadership of the car industry’s EV sector.
Tesla’s success was not achieved by just building attractive
and viable EVs. Tesla disrupted the business model of the traditional car
companies by selling its vehicles directly to customers, cutting out the
“middleman”, and allowing people to order their cars, choose their specs, and
pay online, as well ensuring customers receive their car directly from the
factory. Tesla’s many innovations also include the construction of a charging
network and the ability to update its cars’ software remotely.
The traditional leaders of the global car industry, such as
the likes of Volkswagen Group, the world-leading manufacturer in terms of
volume, admire the technological edge that Tesla has right now. Herbert Deiss,
CEO of Volkswagen, has explicitly stated that Tesla is five years ahead of his
company in terms of its autopilot technology. Deiss also said that the race
towards the EV market is on, and the main element of the competition would be
the battery technology, in which the entire car industry has heavily invested. Finding
more efficient solutions would provide EVs with longer ranges with lower
manufacturing costs.
Musk’s star status and Tesla’s rollercoaster ride in the
financial markets and on the news have given it the reputation as the world’s
most valuable car manufacturer in terms of valuation. This unique situation
puts a huge burden on Musk and his team’s shoulders to capitalize on this
success and to work hard to maintain and build on it. Investing in new
factories, expanding its research and development capabilities, and raising the
quality and safety of Tesla products would be a true embodiment of Tesla’s
success saga.
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