The electrical pioneer is currently valued at $ 1 trillion.
(Photo: AP)
Dusseldorf The technology, the design, the personality of Elon Musk – Tesla is a great company, no question about it. It is not for nothing that the electrical pioneer is by far the most valuable car manufacturer in the world today.
On Monday, positive news fueled investor imaginations. The car rental company Hertz announced that it would buy 100,000 pieces of the Model 3 by 2022. And in Europe, the Tesla model was the best-selling car in September. Tesla’s market value rose to over $ 1 trillion on Monday.
Investors have high hopes. You see Tesla as more than just an electric car manufacturer. Tesla is developing a platform that grows with every vehicle and becomes indispensable thanks to the best software, autonomous driving technology and services such as the Powerwall and solar power.
Nevertheless, the current record valuation seems exaggerated, as the electric pioneer has many weaknesses that are overlooked by investors.
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Weak service
Tesla’s service network is still patchy – but an essential prerequisite for successful fleet management. Hardly any workshops, few contacts: Tesla assumes that its electric cars require little maintenance. In fact, there are far fewer parts moving in every “Electric Vehicle”, which keeps wear and tear to a minimum.
But according to previous experience, the fleet operators are left alone with broken indicators or other simple problems. The repairs take longer than with other manufacturers. That would be a huge problem for car rental companies: every day a vehicle breaks down, it cannot be rented out. If Hertz has the same experience as numerous companies with Tesla company cars, it could be a rude awakening.
The contract from Hertz may be a test for Tesla, but not a breakthrough in the fleet business. Only when the car rental company extends the cooperation after 2022, others should also gain confidence. And only then should investors drive the price up.
Monthly sales figures fluctuate greatly
The fact that the Model 3 overtook all combustion models in European sales in September is perhaps a respectable success. But this success report should also be treated with caution. Tesla sales are particularly volatile. After all, all Teslas that are sold in Europe are currently still imported. Monthly registration numbers therefore depend on the container ships from China and fluctuate greatly.
What is also suspicious: The sales record falls in the last month of the quarter, of all places. In that, Tesla typically does everything it can to push the numbers up for Wall Street. Internally, this procedure is called “the wave”. In an internal email at the beginning of September, Musk wrote to his employees that they should “work for the biggest wave in Tesla history”. For example, Tesla lured customers with the offer of being able to charge the Supercharger for a year.
With all legitimate hopes in Tesla, the trillion valuation currently seems exaggerated. As of now, Tesla is eight times as valuable as the entire VW group. Tesla may be a great company, but investors are exaggerating.
More: Why Teslas are the exception as a company car in Germany