Offended, Elon Musk discredits BYD

The CEO of Tesla responded to the announcement that BYD became the world’s leading electric vehicle manufacturer in 2023.

“Tesla is an Artificial Intelligence and robotics company that many see as an automobile manufacturer.” It is with these words that Elon Musk aimed to elevate himself above the fray and no longer be compared to BYD. Clearly, the announcement that Tesla is no longer the global leader in electric cars is difficult for the South African businessman to accept.

While sales volumes are quite close throughout 2023, the dynamics are very different in practice between Tesla and BYD. The Chinese company now sells nearly three times as many electrified vehicles in a month, thanks to a very high sales pace.

Tesla will no longer be able to catch up with its rival, this is an accepted fact, even with a model priced at 25,000 euros. Increasingly fierce competition will only chip away at Tesla’s market share in the future. Musk knows this, which is why he has been working for months to pivot Tesla into an energy producer, interconnecting it with his social network X or his SpaceX rockets.

From a semantic standpoint, Musk is right: Tesla is no longer just a car manufacturer. A large portion of its revenue comes from its charging network, patents, home energy solutions, etc. This unique position greatly contributes to the company’s market value, with a capitalization of 743 billion dollars as of January 5, 2024.

Will investors perceive it this way? Nothing malicious, but Tesla’s stock has fallen nearly 7% since December 29, 2023, following the announcement that BYD had taken command. Is there a cause-and-effect relationship?

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