Tesla has been the leading electric carmaker in the industry for quite a while and all other large companies consider Tesla to be their main competitor. Companies such as General Motors, Nissan, Ford, and BMW to only mention a few. And these manufacturers around the world have not given up on closing the gap separating them from Elon Musk’s company thus announcing billions of dollars of investments in order to develop electric vehicles.
But interestingly enough Tesla’s owner, Elon Musk, does not view any of these as even close competitors.
On Tesla’s fourth quarter earnings call on Jan. 25, Musk was asked who he thought would be Tesla’s main rival within five years. “I’m curious how you see the current competitive landscape changing over the next few years, and who you see as your chief competitors in five years from now,” an analyst asked him.
Tesla is already playing in a league on its own by announcing a massive price cut on all its models ranging from 7% to 20%, thus challenging all its competitors to do the same. Tesla is aware that other car manufacturers risk putting themselves in the red if they try to respond with comparable price cuts which convinces them more of their superiority.
“Five years from now, I guess a long time,” Musk continued. “I don’t think you could see second place with a telescope.” He then added, “I don’t think it’s any of the companies that we’re aware of. I’m just guessing that someone might pick it up, eventually.”
But a few minutes later he revealed that Chinese car makers might be Tesla’s biggest competition as such: “We have a lot of respect for car companies in China. They are the most competitive in the world. That is our experience, and the Chinese market is the most competitive. They work the hardest, and they work the smartest. We have a lot of respect for the Chinese car companies that we’re competing against.”
As a result, “I would guess there would probably be some company out of China [which] is most likely to be second to Tesla,” he concluded without giving a name.
Hence, while everyone has their heads wrapped around some of the world’s largest and most well-known car manufacturers, the billionaire has some Chinese automaker in the back of his head whom he recognizes as Tesla’s competition.