Well, Tesla passed Ford in valuation while selling fewer EVs. And on the technological side, these comments aren't that unsubstantiated either.
The negativity might be more of a reaction to the discrepancy between the wider perception and valuation and the realistic prospects, than just the latter.
Is it really clear that it will be harder for Ford/BMW/Toyota to transition to a thorough electric line up than for Tesla to master mass production? If not the valuation and hype are hard to justify.
The reason that the former scenario is not completely absurd is of course batteries. If Tesla can produce their own batteries while everyone else has to buy from China, they will capture a lot of profits that everyone else will miss out on.
Maybe that's the upside potential that people miss out on.
That still doesn't explain the extreme negative emotional reaction.
Amazon passed Walmart in valuation while having 1/4 the sales and none of the profit. Twitter is worth six times what the NY Times is. Netflix has half the income of CBS and is worth six or seven times more. And so on. That kind of valuation discrepency isn't particularly unusual when there's a bet being placed on a more distant outcome related to growth.
> Tesla passed Ford in valuation while selling fewer EVs.
Ford isn't selling more EVs than Tesla; Ford is selling hybrids that burn fossil fuels, their strict-EV business is an embarrassment. Ford is also still selling millions of fossil fuel-only burning vehicles annually. Surely it's curious that that warrants less criticism than Tesla's lagging ramp on Model 3 production.
Lots of car companies flounder. GM went bankrupt. It's extremely difficult to compete in the auto industry, it's extremely capital intensive; which is why North America and Europe have seen very few new successful car companies in the last ~40 years. The US hadn't seen a new public car company since 1956.
What makes Tesla especially deserving of the extreme negativity?
Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to criticize Mercedes or Ford for not producing a million plus electric cars already? Aren't all the other automakers overwhelmingly failing the environment and the general well-being of their customers by having dragged their feet for decades on this? Those companies are putting out about ~88 million (!) fossil fuel cars & light vehicles per year. I find it difficult to understand how the context makes sense.
If Tesla was selling 1/4th of the number of cars that Ford is selling there would be a lot less negativity.
Also I was thinking of the Chevy Bolt, not Fords stuff, my mistake.
Your arguments are also ignoring that I was exactly addressing the question of distant growth potential.
Finally I am very much of the camp that criticises classical car-makers for their inactivity. I also think that Tesla, even if it goes under, will have played an important part in transitioning the industry, by pushing things along faster than they otherwise would have moved.
The negativity might be more of a reaction to the discrepancy between the wider perception and valuation and the realistic prospects, than just the latter.
Is it really clear that it will be harder for Ford/BMW/Toyota to transition to a thorough electric line up than for Tesla to master mass production? If not the valuation and hype are hard to justify.
The reason that the former scenario is not completely absurd is of course batteries. If Tesla can produce their own batteries while everyone else has to buy from China, they will capture a lot of profits that everyone else will miss out on.
Maybe that's the upside potential that people miss out on.