Tesla Overtakes Ford On The Stock Market

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Tesla Overtakes Ford On The Stock Market
Tesla Overtakes Ford On The Stock Market

Video: Tesla Overtakes Ford On The Stock Market

Video: Tesla Overtakes Ford On The Stock Market
Video: Tesla overtakes Ford in terms of market capitalisation | IG 2024, March
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Tesla has been in the red since it was founded in 2003. But on Wall Street, Elon Musk believes that the company will revolutionize the automotive world, as evidenced by the rising stock market value.

Henry Ford and Elon Musk are often compared. Ford made the car affordable for the general public over 100 years ago through assembly line production. Investors trust the dazzling tech billionaire Musk to perform a similarly revolutionary stroke of genius - namely to establish electric mobility in the mass market. So far, however, this is nothing more than a hope. Whether Musk really has what it takes to follow in Ford's footsteps as an innovator remains to be seen.

How great the belief in the 45-year-old star entrepreneur is can be seen in the stock market. There, the stock market value of Musk's company Tesla, at a good 49 billion dollars (46 billion euros), has recently exceeded that of the industry giant Ford and is only just behind US market leader General Motors. For comparison: Tesla has been in the red since it was founded in 2003, with around $ 2.3 billion in losses over the past five years. In the same period, Ford made a bottom line of $ 26 billion.

Tesla Model 3 for the tight budget

The sales figures for the first quarter also illustrate the worlds of business between the companies: Tesla sold around 25,000 new cars worldwide, while Ford sold over 617,000 cars in the US market alone. Investors still consider the start-up to be more valuable than the second largest US automaker after General Motors. How can that work One thing is certain: Tesla boss Musk is a Wall Street darling and can sell almost anything to investors. And his promises are quite impressive.

Tesla is currently preparing the launch of its first electric vehicle for the mass market in full swing. So far, the Musk company's cars have been aimed exclusively at well-heeled customers with a penchant for eco-luxury, now with the "Model 3"the first mid-range car in the starting blocks. The vehicle is expected to cost $ 35,000 and series production will start in September. The first Tesla for the smaller budget is intended to bring the company - and thus electric mobility - from the niche to the mainstream.

Ambitious goals for Tesla

Tesla has problems producing the Model 3
Tesla has problems producing the Model 3

Musk follows an extremely aggressive schedule. Annual Tesla production is expected to rise to 500,000 cars by 2018, and the million mark is targeted for 2020. There is still a long way to go before then. Last year the company only produced just under 84,000 vehicles. Musk, whose ambitious timeframes Tesla has often missed in the past, should not afford to make mistakes this time. Customers are scrambling for “Model 3”, there are hundreds of thousands of pre-orders. So the pressure is enormous.

Although Musk is also at high risk with deals such as the controversial takeover of the loss-making green power company SolarCity or the construction of a huge battery factory in Nevada, he enjoys unreserved trust from a number of large investors. Recently, the Chinese Internet company Tencent used a capital increase to join Tesla. The Chinese put just under $ 1.8 billion for a share of five percent on the table and rose to one of the largest shareholders from scratch.

But there are also a number of experts who doubt Musk's ambitious plans. The analysts at the US investment bank Goldman Sachs, for example, have long advised selling Tesla shares. Many investors have developed a kind of “dream the dream” mentality that ignores the challenges the company is facing. Others find even clearer words: The fact that Tesla's stock market value exceeds that of Ford is simply “insane,” says market observer Dave Sullivan from the analysis company AutoPacific Inc. (dpa)

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