As a company, Tesla is currently the market leader for electric vehicles and a large supplier of clean energy solutions. They have the first mover advantage in the electric cars area by virtue of making the most innovative plan of attack on that market segment. Others have dabbled in the area and produced some results while Tesla created a brand, an industry and a solution with their opening moves.
This is what distinguishes them as a company and the brand that has been built around the company. This is headed by the ideas of creator Elon Musk who is a celebrity as much as an innovator. He is the archetypal modern business man who is known for his social media presence almost as much as his accomplishments.
In this day and age, social media profile is almost as important as the product itself. With over 53M followers on twitter, he has been known to move market shares with a single tweet which cannot be underestimated in the valuation of the company itself. For better or worse.
With stock prices up over 1000% in the past three years the company has gone from strength to strength on the belief that it can provide new technological solutions to existing industries. Part of this rise in price can be attributed to a large purchase of $1.5B in Bitcoin earlier this year which has gained in value and has gained roughly $1B in value since that purchase.
While other companies have created cars, Tesla has created a brand and an ideal which people buy into. It is a status symbol to be driving a Tesla and that is one of the reasons that their market share is higher than the next six largest car companies combined.
The company has big plans for the next few years and part of the valuation is based on them delivering on these ideas.
Their mission statement states,
“Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” 1.1
That is a big statement and will involve a lot more than just producing cars in the future.
They are planning on delivering over the next five+ years:
These are only the main points that I have taken from what is a large development of goods and services form the Tesla team.
As stated by Elon musk.
Tesla should not be seen as a car maker but as a collection of start-ups. Each division adding to the company as a whole.
In my opinion, Elon Musk is right. Tesla is not one company but a large group of smaller companies about to infiltrate a lot of key areas for future development. They are about to do what facebook, amazon, google and many other multinational corporations have done in the past and expand their reach. Expand their offerings.
If their mission statement is to be believed then they are looking towards a sustainable digital future.
I would assume that they will move towards artificial intelligence in a big way, linking their existing businesses like cars and housing systems into the internet of things. They will use AI to create a more sustainable and energy efficient lifestyle for the future. In the next five years you will see self driving cars from Tesla. They will digitalize the automotive industry and more than likely use a blockchain supply chain to enable these advancements.
To complement these advancements, they have already created digital liquidity by purchasing a large amount of Bitcoin. This will enable them to move their financial aspects towards a digital currency and further innovate the sector.
Tesla will not be happy to operate in the traditional style but are innovators and a driver for change. They will branch into more areas linked to the internet of things and your car will become a data center on wheels. They already utilize mainly digital marketing and realize that the future is online. That is why they have such a focus on computer led operations as AI and automation will be the next big carrier of change in our lifestyles in the next five years.
