[ISL]

That return can only be realized if OP sells. It sounds like OP's intent was to buy shares in a long-term business/vision, not in a stock.

In the long term, markets are a weighing machine, but in the short term, they are a popularity contest.

In August 1998, YHOO traded under $10/share. In December 1999, YHOO traded at > $100/share, a > 1000% return over 16 months. From February 2001 to February 2003, YHOO traded under $10/share. Markets are fickle.

[teslacar]

That is because Yahoo got overtaken by Google's superior ad platform and search. Tesla has no obvious viable competitors. It is a premium product that caters to a specific demographic, much like the iPhone in 2007.

[zitterbewegung]

Have you heard about this car company called Chevrolet ? They have this car called the Bolt. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Bolt

[blhack]

What vehicle that Tesla produces is most similar to the bolt? Tesla produces high end luxury cars. The Chevrolet bolt is not that.

[freehunter]

Arguably the Model 3 is not a high end luxury car either, not priced at $35k. The Bolt is a direct competitor to the Model 3 with first-mover advantage.

The only argument against that is one has a badge that says "Chevrolet" and the other says "Tesla". If the Model 3 didn't have the Tesla name, no one would think anything of it. It'd just be yet another compact electric car, yawn, who cares, and then they'd buy the Chevrolet.

[blhack]

I'd say that the model 3 is comparable (in price also) to the BMW 320i.

The Chevrolet Bolt is similar in price, but I think somebody making a comparison between a BMW and a Chevy would be similarly mistaken. BMW and Tesla are luxury car manufacturer. Chevrolet isn't.

IMHO, the bolt is overpriced. It's a crossover SUV from a manufacturer that is known for making low cost, high-volume cars. It looks like it is most similar to the Chevy Trax, which starts at $21,000.

[kmonsen]

I would say a model S has more in common with a mid range Chevy than a luxury car. This will probably be more true with the model 3.

They are fun to drive, but try a Tesla and then a Audi, BMW or Mercedes and it is a different world inside the car.

Tesla is not a luxury car, just a very highly priced and high performance car.

[twblalock]

The Bolt is not a crossover SUV. It's a compact hatchback car with low ride height.

[twblalock]

The Bolt is GM's first practical EV. If it succeeds, GM could easily choose to compete in the luxury EV market against Tesla.

If GM decided to do this, it would have many advantages over Tesla: a huge dealership and service network, lots of suppliers, easy financing, and all of the other perks you get when you buy a "normal" car from an established company.

[btilly]

Tesla aims to have razor thin margins for the thing that they actually produce. So their lack of dealers who supply an automatic mark-up is something that they cite as a strength, not a weakness.

The thing that Tesla is producing, however, is really expensive to build right now. The cost curves are great for it to come down, but until they do they are in the ironic business of selling expensive things with thin margins.

GM would find it harder than it thinks to compete against Tesla with an equivalent product. Just as Tesla is running into challenges scaling up production.

[jonknee]

> So their lack of dealers who supply an automatic mark-up is something that they cite as a strength, not a weakness.

They don't have an automatic mark-up, but car dealers also operate on razor thin margins (the real money is in service and trade ins). However dealers pay their own rent and even spend money advertising. Tesla is on the hook for all of its dealerships, a significant cost that its competitors don't have. In the end I don't think it's such a game changer. It makes sense for Tesla, but doesn't magically make things cheaper.

[dilemma]

>So their lack of dealers who supply an automatic mark-up is something that they cite as a strength, not a weakness.

But it's not.

[teslacar]

Did you hear about sarcasm? It's not a premium product. does not have the cachet as Tesla .

[twblalock]

The primary threat to Tesla is Tesla's own ability to execute and succeed long term.

Developing a long-term-viable car company is hard even when it makes regular old gasoline cars. Tesla also needs to fulfill the Model 3 preorders, and that process could be derailed by a number of issues: manufacturing speed, quality control, factory problems, etc. That's a big challenge for a company that has made small numbers of high-end luxury cars until now.

I'm impressed by Tesla's success so far, but if I were to invest in a car company today, I would rather invest in GM. They are getting into the electric car market big time with the Bolt, and unlike Tesla, they already have realized economies of scale in car production. If the Bolt succeeds, GM could choose to produce a car that would be a good competitor to the Tesla Model 3.

[dragonwriter]

The growth plan for the automotive business is specifically to expand beyond the premium market and escape the limited demographic, though.

And to achieve that plan, they have to deal with lots of competition.

[vecinu]

What about all the other manufacturers focusing on electric-only vehicles?

[teslacar]

Tesla caters to specific high-end market, which it dominates by far. Many also tried to copy the iphone and ipod but also failed