Tesla creates history, becomes the world's most-valued car-maker

Who would have thought when they were founded in 2003 that Tesla would become the world's most-valued car-maker in less than two decades? Yet, here we are in 2020, amazed by the fact the American EV manufacturer surpassed Toyota, albeit for a brief period on June 10, 2020, to become the automotive brand with the highest market cap! This, ladies and gentlemen, is history being created.

Tesla's share prices have been rallying for quite some time now, as the car-maker announced successive quarters of profits after years of losing money. With prices rising above $1,000 a share, Tesla's valuation stood at a staggering $188 billion yesterday! With this, Toyota, the world's largest car-maker by volume, slipped to second position with a valuation that was just over $180 billion on the same day.

It's quite an irony Toyota invested in Tesla over a decade back and even jointly developed Battery Electric Vehicles briefly before going on to sell their stake. We can't help but think of the billions of dollars the Japanese car-maker lost by not retaining them.

Incredibly, Tesla overtook Volkswagen - valued just shy of $80 billion - just a few months ago! Is this meteoric rise of Tesla in the share market a sign of things to come?

Armed with a 'S3XY' model line-up, rapidly rising deliveries of the Model 3, the planned ramp-up of Model Y, the Semi beginning mass production end of the year and the crazy Cybertruck slated to join a couple of years down the line, you would be hard-pressed to bet against Tesla.

Here's the list of Top 10 car-makers by market cap, as of early hours June 11, 2020.

Source: reddit.com/user/brandude87

Take these stock prices with a spoonful of salt as they can, at times, be crazy. How else can you describe something that places Nikola - a start-up that hasn't manufactured a single automobile yet - at Number 11, ahead of industry biggies like Nissan, FCA and Hyundai?

Watch this space. Things could get really interesting over the next couple of years.

Tesla stings with the polarizing Cybertruck

When Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck at the sidelines of the Los Angeles Auto Show last week, the collective reactions of those attending the event and watching the live-stream online were - to put it mildly - "What the hell is that?" If someone is telling you that wasn't the case, they're either lying or they must be as crazy as Elon Musk and his team.

The Cybertruck, Tesla claims, has better utility than a truck with more performance than a sports car. That it doesn't look like a truck is a different thing altogether. 

With a polarizing design that sent the internet into a dizzy this past week, the Cybertruck is truly one-of-a-kind. We have never seen a truck like this. And we might never see one like this ever! The Cybertruck's beauty (Damn, we used that word!) is in not letting us decide if we like or detest the way it looks. 

It's clear Tesla wanted to stand out to have a chance at success in a segment that's crowded with big, brawny, gas-guzzling, body-on-frame trucks that loyal customers bought by the millions over multiple generations. And the folks from Fremont, California have executed that to perfection. They have got the internet - and the whole world - talking which wouldn't have happened with a run-of-the-mill design that looks like any other truck. The Cybertruck's 'Indestructible Isosceles Triangle on Wheels' lacks flair, no doubt, but you really can't deny it looks rugged and tough. Tesla's newest Electric Vehicle looks ready to scale Martian landscape (Now you know why Space X wants to take people to Mars!).

Available to order in three variants - Single Motor, Dual Motor and Tri Motor, the Cybertruck can go anywhere between 250+ to 500+ miles depending on the variant. Likewise, acceleration from 0 to 60 miles per hour can take anywhere between an incredible 2.9 seconds or a reasonably quick 6.5 seconds. The newest Tesla is no slouch when it comes to towing either with a claimed ability to haul between 7,500 to 14,000 pounds behind it!

Tesla has released just one shot of the Cybertruck's interiors which shows a minimalistic cabin dominated by a 17-inch touchscreen that controls everything and ample space for six in a 3+3 configuration. 

With a body shell that's made of ultra-hard, cold-rolled stainless steel and a shape that's devoid of curves, Tesla is headed an unknown path. The so-called 'Exoskeleton' might not just help customers save money by eliminating dents, damage and corrosion but also help the car-maker save millions by reducing production complexities. That's not all. The American car-maker has equipped the Cybertruck with an adaptive air suspension, Armor Glass for the windows, lockable tonneau cover for the bed and even on-board power and compressed air for those adventure outings.

As of today, Tesla has garnered over 250,000 deposits of $100 each to get in the queue to get one of these when its finally made and shipped a year or two down the line. That's a cool 25 million dollars of crowdfunding to work on the Cybertruck. If only other car-makers learnt the trick from Tesla, the automotive industry wouldn't be in the state it is right now!

Tesla unveils Model Y, the last of it's 'S3XY' quartet of models

After a lot of hype and fanfare that lasted for months, Tesla finally lifted the veil off the Model Y. This compact crossover completes the American car-maker’s cheeky and much-publicized ‘SEXY’ lineup. Oops, make that ‘S3XY’ although the intention was always to have the ‘E’ instead of ‘3’ until Ford Motor Company put paid to those plans. 

If you don’t know already, the Model Y is the crossover-equivalent of the blockbuster Model 3. The Y not just shares platform and mechanicals with the 3 but also a ton of the sedan’s styling bits.

Clean, minimalist and, to some eyes, a bit bland and boring too, the Model Y looks every bit a Tesla. Head-on, the triangular headlights and the droopy flattened sheet metal panel in place of the grille clearly establishes the Y’s link with the 3. The only giveaway - for keen observers - is the slightly higher ride height to pass off as a crossover. In profile, the roof rises and sweeps down in one smooth arc, giving this compact crossover a coupe-ish look that’s much in vogue these days. A truly panoramic glass roof that runs end-to-end, the stubby boot with an integrated spoiler and a pair of darkened taillights that extend into the boot lid completes the design. If you were expecting fancy ‘gull wing’ doors like the ones on Model X, it’s time to curb your expectations.

The interiors, just like the Model 3, has nothing but seats, a steering wheel and a huge 15-inch touchscreen right in the center of the dashboard. From windshield wipers to the infotainment system, from navigation to air-conditioning, Tesla lets you do anything and everything with this screen and only with it. That’s not good, yes, but that’s how it is and it’s been working well for them this way. Nevertheless, loads of tech including Tesla's famous 'Auto Pilot' will be on offer in the Model Y.

Interestingly, Tesla has designed the Model Y with a capability to seat up to seven passengers with an optional third row seat. With that sloping roof, the headroom is going to be real tight out there for those in the last row! 

Both the base rear-wheel-drive model and the dual-motor all-wheel-drive model come in two variants each. At $60,000, the most expensive of those will have a range of 280 miles and a top speed of 150 miles per hour. With a claimed 0 to 60 mph acceleration time of 3.5 seconds, it will reach there pretty quickly too. Click on the image below that lists crucial specifications for all the four variants.

Unlike the other three models that are built at the plant in Fremont, California, the Model Y will be manufactured at Tesla’s huge Gigafactory in Nevada. An upcoming plant in Shanghai will also build Model Ys to cater to the demand in China and other Far East markets.

Crossover coupes are all the rage right now and Tesla is smartly trying to cash in on the trend with the Model Y. Combine the trendy body-style with the incredible brand pull Tesla has, it’s not hard to imagine a swell order book and a long waiting list for the newest Tesla. Come on now, rush to Tesla's website with your deposits!

Tesla revives the Roadster; It looks gorgeous and goes super fast.

Elon Musk, the man behind the ‘tech-tour-de-force-of-auto-industry’ Tesla, had tweeted earlier this week, “Tesla Semi Truck unveil will blow your mind clear out of your skull and into an alternate dimension”. He couldn’t have been more spot on! 

Blew our mind clear off our skulls, it sure did. It’s just not the Semi Truck which did that. Instead, it was what came off the smoking truck towards the end of the event. 

With nary a hint running up to the event, Tesla dropped a bombshell in front of a shocked crowd that probably had expected a bunch of Model 3 sedans to come out of the just-unveiled Semi Truck. But what emerged was this, the successor to the Tesla Roadster. For those who do not know, the low-volume Roadster was the brand’s first car ever before the Model S came and made Tesla a household name.

Not much about the new car was revealed beyond the fact that it’s a two-door, four-seat convertible with a detachable hard top and some insane specs. Insane, for lack of a better word! 

This new roadster, Tesla claims, can go from 0 to 60 mph (100 km/h) in an earth-shattering 1.9 seconds.. covering a quarter-mile (0.4 km) in 8.9 seconds flat! With a claimed top speed in excess of 250 mph (402 km/h) and a hitherto-unheard-of "620-mile range" (>1,000 km), the Tesla Roadster will become the fastest road car ever built. Period. 

Do we see the engineers at Bugatti, Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari sweating already? 

Tesla’s newest baby has three motors, one in front and two in the rear, drawing power from a 200 KWh battery pack nestled somewhere on its floor, all-wheel drive and torque steering. 

Prices are expected to hover around $200,000 and production is expected to begin 2020. Knowing Tesla’s history in delaying on delivery commitments, you know when the first cars would arrive at customers. Be wary of that if you’re putting in your money ($50,000 is said to be the reservation amount) on this!

Sleek, sexy and gorgeous, the new Roadster is all Tesla needed to steer clear off the spate of negative publicity surrounding the brand’s failure to ramp up the production of Model 3 sedans. In one sheer stroke of genius, Elon Musk, by his own admission, delivered a hardcore smack-down to gasoline cars and all but ensured Tesla remains in the headlines for years to come.

Tesla unveils Semi Truck, its biggest 'electrifying' gamble yet

After building up hype through a series of tweets and a near-revealing teaser, Tesla finally showed the world it’s next big thing. And it’s really big - a Class 8, 18-wheeled, Semi truck that are dime a dozen on American freeways. Needless to say, it’s fully electric and powered by lithium-ion battery packs, like all things Tesla.

With a sleek, sophisticated and aerodynamic design, Tesla’s Semi is impressive the moment you set sights on it. The vertically-stacked LED lights, the smooth and rounded fascia without the ubiquitous grille, the wraparound windshield, the flush-fitting panels that form the cab and the enclosed rear wheels makes the Tesla Semi a truck unlike anything we’ve seen before. 

Access to the cab is through a pair of rear-hinged doors with flush-fitted handles. The absence of a diesel engine up front meant Tesla could drop the nose of the cab down vertically, let the driver sit right in the center of the cabin and allow for full standing room inside. What’s a Tesla without a touchscreen? The Semi gets two of them - 15 inches in size - on either side of the 3-spoke steering wheel and they control everything from navigation to blind spot monitoring to electronic data logging to connectivity to the operator’s fleet management system. These aside, a few cup holders, a solitary button for hazard lights and a jump seat are all that could be seen! 

Safety has been prioritized with the Tesla Semi getting features like a thermonuclear explosion proof windshield, a reinforced battery pack, onboard sensors to look for signs of jackknifing and adjust power to individual wheels to maintain stability, surround cameras and the brand’s popular ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ that makes the truck capable of driving itself on the highway, staying in its lane and maintaining a safe distance from neighboring vehicles.

Alright, let’s talk numbers now as that’s what these trucks are built for. Without a trailer, the Tesla Semi can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (100 km/h) in an incredible 5 seconds, faster than many supposedly fast cars. Hauling a full 80,000-pound load, the same feat is achieved in 20 seconds, almost four times as much faster than a diesel truck. Notably, Tesla claims its Semi climbs 5% grades at a steady 65 mph whereas a diesel truck maxes out at 45 mph. Regenerative braking recovers 98% of the kinetic energy to the battery and the absence of gears and clutch ensure smooth build-up and shedding of speed. 

Incredibly, Tesla Semi has a claimed Drag Coefficient of 0.36 which is superior to Bugatti Chiron’s 0.38! 

Armed with four independent electric motors, two in each axle, and an undisclosed-but-higher-capacity battery pack, the Tesla Semi reportedly generates an equivalent of 1000 horsepower. Being an electric vehicle, all the torque should be available from standstill which is a boon for load-hauling trucks. Tesla’s claimed range is 500 miles, better than what was expected to be honest. As always, Tesla has come up with a buzzword with this unveiling. Welcome 'Megachargers', the solar-powered high-speed DC charging solution that adds up to 400 miles in 30 minutes and can be installed at origin or destination points or along heavily-trafficked routes. 

Crucially, Tesla claims superior reliability owing to fewer moving parts than a diesel truck and lower total cost of ownership with expected savings of over $200,000 over a million miles on fuel cost alone with its Semi.

Bookings for the Tesla Semi can be done with an advance payment of $5,000 and production is expected to start 2019. Add a couple of years buffer and you know the earliest date you'll have your Semi delivered. 

As much as Tesla tries to present its Semi as a tempting proposition for fleet operators, the challenge ahead is quite clear. Tesla isn't the first-mover in electric trucks and it's not going to be easy convincing the targeted clientele. At least, not as easy as convincing the hundreds of thousands of car-buyers that hopped onto the Tesla bandwagon.