"We will never initiate a hostile acquisition, but if a car company thinks that a merger with Tesla is a good idea, we are happy to start a dialogue with it." Recently, Tesla CE0 Elon Musk participated in the Axel Springer event in Berlin. When asked whether he would buy a traditional car company, he answered like this.
There is no doubt that from a narrow perspective, Tesla should be by far the most successful new car building force. As of the close on December 3, Tesla’s share price reached 593.38 US dollars per share, with a total market value of 562.465 billion US dollars; while Toyota, known as the "most profitable car company," had a market value of only 191.314 billion US dollars. In just over ten years after its birth, Tesla's market value has surpassed two Toyotas. Such a growth rate is staggering, showing that its rhetoric of "acquiring traditional car companies" is not groundless.
However, the superficially beautiful Tesla, is it as smooth as everyone imagined? Behind the "bundance of wealth", how strong is its strength? In fact, after a thorough understanding of Tesla's situation, I believe that everyone will feel the "heavy pressure" behind Tesla, and the development of new car-building forces cannot be achieved overnight. The stock price of
is unrealistically high, and the acquisition of traditional car companies has advantages and disadvantages. In recent years, the situation of stocks of new car manufacturers has soared, I believe everyone has been surprised. For Chinese car brands, Weilai, Ideal, and Xiaopeng have been listed one after another. The current market value of the three has exceeded 20 billion U.S. dollars, leading the established car brands such as Kia and Nissan; and technical products such as blade batteries and Han EV Since its debut, BYD shares have broken new highs, surpassing “traditional fuel giants” such as Daimler and General Motors.
Obviously, the automobile industry is closely related to everyone's life, and new energy technology represents the future direction of the automobile industry, with broad development prospects; the capital market has a preference for new energy stocks, which is not difficult to understand. Therefore, it is natural that Tesla, as a leader among new energy car companies, came to the top to become the car company with the highest market value.
The capital accumulated by traditional car companies for decades or even hundreds of years will really be "easily overtaken" by the new forces of car building? Tesla is also very clear: "impossible". Musk said in an internal email published on Tuesday that the reason why Tesla’s stock price is gratifying is that investors have high expectations for it; once this does not happen, the stock will be like a “heavy hammer”. "Souffle" is equally vulnerable. It is worth mentioning that in 2019, Tesla's profit margin was only about 1%.
In other words, at least at this stage, the actual value of Tesla is not as high as the "market value". Behind the stock price figures, it is simply because Tesla has high expectations. At the same time, in order to maintain this "high hope", Tesla urgently needs to increase its profitability. The speed at which it controls costs, increases production capacity, and how it performs may determine whether its stock price is "real money" or "nothing bubble." ".
Compared with the investment and construction of factories, Tesla's acquisition of traditional car companies and the use of them to produce pure electric vehicles are less difficult to operate, short in turnaround time, and less costly, which is a way to solve the current predicament. But on the other hand, the acquisition funds are not a small amount, especially for the asset-heavy auto industry. After Tesla implements the acquisition, it must control capital expenditures more precisely. When to take this step and how to take this step, it is a big question for Tesla.
Intensified competition and a long way to go to stabilize the market position
As a "pioneer" in the pure electric vehicle market, Tesla's early development has been difficult, but now it is finally "suffering all the hardships", and the mass-traveling models represented by Model 3 have become famous as cars. In the market, its endurance performance, assisted driving and other technologies are far ahead, putting a lot of pressure on other new energy brands and even traditional fuel vehicle companies.
Does Tesla really have no rivals? Starting at least in 2020, this question needs to be marked with a big "question mark". Take the European pure electric vehicle market sales in October, the Volkswagen ID.3, which has only been on sale for only two months, topped the list with a monthly sales of over 10,000 yuan, which shows the technical level and market appeal of the Volkswagen brand. , Model 3, which was squeezed out of the top ten sales, will inevitably decline slightly.
In addition to Volkswagen, such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, etc.Hua brands have also begun to deploy in the pure electric market. In this case, Model S and Model X will also become "targeted by the public" and face more stringent market challenges. Objectively speaking, Tesla has cultivated the habit of car owners around the world to adopt pure electric vehicles, which has a heavy weight in the hearts of car owners; but the influence of traditional fuel brands still cannot be ignored. The sight of
has shifted to the domestic market, and Tesla's current situation is not optimistic. I still remember that at the beginning of the establishment of the factory in China, Tesla enjoyed preferential policies such as low-cost land acquisition and low-interest loans, which made many Chinese auto brands envied; however, in order to obtain this preferential treatment, Tesla signed "Gambling agreement", that is, starting from the end of 2023, the annual tax payment must reach 2.23 billion yuan, otherwise the corresponding land needs to be returned, which can be described as "one thought of heaven and hell."
Under such pressure, Tesla had to step up the process of localization and control costs. Even with the infamy of "cutting leeks," it still has to continuously reduce prices to expand sales and increase profitability. According to industry analysts, if Tesla wants to achieve this goal, it needs to achieve an annual output of 500,000 units, but from January to October this year, the cumulative sales of 92,000 units and monthly sales have stabilized at around 10,000 units. Tesla still needs to work harder. In addition, at the end of last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated that it had launched an investigation into 114,761 Tesla vehicles on front suspension safety issues. The investigated models are the flagship models Model S and Model X. Therefore, Tesla will not only face increased costs caused by large-scale recalls, but also a certain discount on its brand image. Coupled with the strong entry of traditional car companies, the future can only be done and cherished.
Conclusion: It is undeniable that Musk has his own adventurous spirit of "breaking the inherent borders and exploring new things", otherwise, there will be no car brand like Tesla that changes the way people travel. However, Tesla is still facing many challenges. It is not enough to be "courageous" alone. If you plan every step in the future, you may be able to truly reflect your value.
This article comes from the author of Autohome and does not represent the viewpoint of Autohome.
