The company itself is known around the world but not a lot knows where it came from. During my research, I have found surprising information about the rise of Tesla. In contrast to what most of you (and I) think, Tesla Motors was not found by Elon Musk, but rather by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in July 2003 (TechCrunch). Only in 2004 did Elon Musk join the company and became the Chairman of the Board.
In 2005, Tesla signed a production contract with Lotus to help manufacture most of its cars which was the Tesla Roadster model which was released in July 2006. By the end of 2007, Ze’ev Drori, a proven tech entrepreneur, became CEO and president of Tesla. Despite laying off 10% of the company’s workers and turning the company from making losses to profit, he did not last a year at Tesla.
In 2007, the start of the revolution arrived. Elon Musk
became CEO and invested more money into Tesla, adding to his previous
investments in the company. It didn’t start well as between 2008 and 2012, as
they struggled to sell its 2,250 Roadsters on time while reassuring its buyers
about its credibility. It was also during the time when Top Gear spoke out
against the Roadster which ensured Tesla’s failure in selling its first
released model.
In 2008, they released their Model S, the first model that
popularized their brand. Following the release, Tesla also made a strategic
partnership with Daimler AG (owner of Mercedes-Benz) as they acquired 10% of
Tesla in 2009. In the same year, they also took a $465 million loan from the
United States Department of Energy and paid it off in 2013, which was 9 years
early. In 2010, they raised $226 million in its initial public offering and became
the first car company to go public since Ford in 1956.
2 years later, they released their SUV model, Model X while
also creating a supercharger network in California which expanded to 200+
stations worldwide as of now.
However, Tesla’s stock price fell more than 20% when 3 Model
S sedans caught fire in 2013 although they came back in 2014 as they delivered
28,000 Model S in July 2014. It also soon released its dual motors version of
the Model S which is famous for its ‘Insane’ then renamed ‘Ludicrous’ mode
which allows the car to speed up from 0-60 mph in a mind-blowing 2.8 seconds.
It also further diversified its products into solar panels as they revealed Tesla Energy and the acquisition of Solar City. This allowed Tesla to market renewable home charging as the solar panels and ‘Powerwall’ which stores the energy obtained from the Solar Panels, which powers the home and the Tesla cars.
Their most recent expected release is their claimed ‘affordable’ Model 3 sedan which costs $35000 at its base price. How famous the car is during the pre-order period before the unveil can be shown how there was 518,000 pre-orders despite the public not knowing anything about the car itself.
In conclusion, the count of the pre-orders for the Model 3
compared to the sales for its Roadster shows how much Tesla has come from its
humble beginnings to compete in the mass market as an automobile company that
aims to induce zero carbon emissions. As a tech geek and environmentalist,
Tesla is a company that I admire. However, there are aspects, like financial
and time management planning, that I do not like about Tesla as proven by its
frequent failures to meet its deadlines and budget. Despite that, their marketing
techniques are radical and has proven to be successful, which may revolutionize
a new method of marketing in the mass market. Learning from a successful
company, be it the positive side or negative side, would help me set up my own
company in the future.
-William Tjen
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