Tesla Opportunities

Weight

Rating

Score

Strong Demand in Europe

Assembling in Netherlands

Battery market

Launched home battery this summer

China, other Asian markets

Struggling to gain traction in China

New Products

More or less on schedule

Other Vehicle development

Nothing in the pipeline

Economic Incentives

Does well

Threats

Low Gas Prices

Gas prices do not affect Tesla demand

Increased competition

Technological superiority

Trade Barriers

China a notable problem

Economic slowdown

Not expected to affect Tesla

Product launch delays

Some minor delays

Charging Station delays

Rollout ok

Whether Tesla is doing well in its industry or not sort of depends how the industry is defined. Among electric car makers, Tesla has demonstrated technological superiority over the past few years. There have been many new entrants, both startups and established car companies, but none have been able to challenge Tesla on technology, so the company has maintained its competitive advantage. It has not yet converted this market share in a way that would make it anything other than a niche vehicle, however. In the context of the overall automobile...

While Tesla has been able to succeed in building its brand in Europe, the company has struggled to gain a foothold in China. There are significant trade barriers, and arguably the greatest competitive threat will come from China, where Tesla lacks any meaningful intellectual property rights protections.
Overall, the company's performance has been strong for a startup, but it is too young and small to be considered a major player in the automotive industry; the hope is that it will be a disruptive player, however, and will be able to maintain its technological leadership in the long run.

New products are the key to the company's growth right now, because Tesla needs to roll out new products in order to build its share, and increase its revenues, which are necessary in light of the high fixed costs. The company has one new vehicle this month, and is expected to launch a mainstream electric vehicle in 2016. How that vehicle compares with the competition will say a lot about what sort of long --run potential the company has versus the major car makers. On the whole, however, there is a lot of good that Tesla is doing. But by no means is the company's track…