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While I won't dispute that Tesla's share price is high given where the company is at right now when valued as an auto business, there are a few things I think a
by clomond 5y ago
While I won't dispute that Tesla's share price is high given where the company is at right now when valued as an auto business, there are a few things I think are worth mentioning and commenting on in your post.
> Building an electric car is not that hard, especially if Tesla already did all the hard lifting for you.
This couldn't be further from the truth. While making a prototype EV is relatively easy, yes. EV industry followers will note that the real challenge is scaling EV production, and specifically the batteries' production. You don't need to look further then to answer: 'Why don't all of these automakers have tonnes of EVs on their lots available today as we speak? Why are they all '2022 release' or even 'dozens of models in 2025'. Because all of the tier 1 and tier 2 li-ion battery supplies have already been allocated from now to several years out, and if you want 'EV model volume' scale batteries, you better be ready to fork over the capital or purchase commitment for a batttery cell production line that might not have had a shovel hitting the ground yet. And waiting a few years for assembled product.
> But their price only makes sense if they end up being the only car maker left.
Assuming both the gross margin profile and auto ownership model stay the same - sure. Tesla has proven to generate more gross margin per vehicle than other automakers as is, they have 'practically' infinite demand (stimulated by expanding geographies and targeted price reductions when demand sags). And this isn't accounting for GM expansion for vehicles that could be a part of a ride hailing network (autonomous or not).
I do believe, like other 'Tesla fans', that when factoring in their lead in scale and tech, unit cost advantage as well as how things look on a decade or two time horizon, I think it is quite likely that there will not be a better time to become a shareholder in the next 1-2 decades.
One way I look at it is by comparing it to Apple, a ~$2T market cap company in 2020 dollars. ARPU of an Apple customer compared to a Tesla customer is probably between 1/4-1/10 (how much iphone/mac/apple services does one buy versus transportation spend on an annual basis). If you project Tesla margins to look more like Apple's 10 years from now (yes, a big bet), even with similar market share breakdowns of iOS/Android today - it isn't a huge stretch to imagine with ~50-100M EVs on the roads by then - that you could have Tesla with a market cap between 10T and 20T in 2020 dollars. Particularly when factoring in their business segments beyond personal transport/light vehicles.
They are so far the only company making EVs to have crossed the 'valley of death'[See: crossing the chasm]. Startups and established automakers will need to spend billions in order to get EVs sold at scale that generate FCF per unit. It is a tall order.
(Not financial advice do your own research etc etc)
EDIT: Also note that Tesla has stated in an earnings call that they are looking at 50% CAGRs moving forward, and I do think that they could be undershooting this number a bit.
- notJim 5y agoI don't follow this very closely, but hasn't Volkswagen already shown they're not that far behind, and aren't they already outselling Tesla in Europe? I've watched a lot of the ID4 reviews (since I'm in the US and we don't get the ID3), and the issues with the car seem very minor, and potentially fixable with OTA updates. If they end up selling a lot of them, that should take a lot of the wind out of Tesla's sails IMO.
- clomond 5y agoI am hoping that VW and others can get to scale quickly. If priced correctly (not too high), I don’t see why VW won’t be able to sell every car they are able to make. The key thing when looking at these metrics are that it is primarily a supply defined market rather than a demand defined one. And, it is about offering a low enough price such that the market will buy it - while hopefully gaining some positive margin on each. The outselling of Tesla I’m not going to take at face value yet until Tesla’s Berlin factory comes online. Note that Europe sales thus far have been dependent on imports and that it’s quite likely Tesla has been focused on delivering and collecting cash on NA/Asia sales and having the European customers wait a few quarters.
- hindsightbias 5y agoWith ICE vehicles being 98% of the market it's not about competition for a sliver of the market. It's about who can scale. And that is a function of batteries and car bodies. Tesla probably leads in batteries, whereas VW leads in factory capacity.
- nawitus 5y agoEuropean car brands (combined) sold more EVs in January-March than Tesla. Also, Nissan was selling more EVs than Tesla for many years. It just doesn't seem that difficult to scale EV production. Source: https://insideevs.com/news/504647/global-plugin-sales-march-2021/ https://insideevs.com/news/504647/global-plugin-sales-march-...
- babesh 5y agoThe EU imposes a 10% tariff on imported cars. That makes EU built EVs more competitive within the EU. Tesla is building that Berlin factory to decrease shipping costs and time and also to not have to pay the tariff. Perhaps more interesting is that the more popular EVs in Europe are hatchbacks. Hatchbacks are more popular than sedans in many European countries. Tesla is missing a car to compete in that segment. The current normal of competition between countries is to allow foreign car companies to build factories in their country. I bet that if a country's car industry faces an existential threat, the country will tilt the playing field further in that country's car companies favor. I do not expect that Tesla will be allowed to wipe out other country's car industries. It may be allowed to become the preeminent EV maker (which it already is if you count by market cap). I think that Tesla will need to try to win in other areas: EVs for countries without strong car industries, energy storage, self driving cars, etc...