Topic > The Rise of Tesla Motors - 1030

The automotive market has been handled by companies like Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford, BMW and many other companies, but one of the newest and emerging companies in this market is Tesla Motors Inc. Tesla has been around for a little over 10 years and has come a long way from where it started. Tesla now sells luxury electric vehicles unlike any other electric vehicle today and has big expansion plans in the future. Tesla may not be one of the largest automakers today, but it will one day be considered alongside companies like Toyota and Ford. Tesla is one of the newest automakers around, but it's had a long road to get to where it is today. Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors in July 2003 in California, and in April 2004 billionaire PayPal founder Elon Musk invested in Tesla and joined the board of directors. Musk became CEO of Tesla in 2008 and still holds that position today. In March 2008, Tesla began production of its first car, the $109,000 Roadster. Tesla ultimately sold 2,150 Roadsters. In June 2010, Tesla shares began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange and gained 40.5% from its initial public offering (IPO) price of $17, closing at $23.89. The IPO raises $226.1 million. Even starting off strong on the stock market, in January 2011 Tesla, reporting full-year financial results for the first time, said it lost $154.3 million in 2010. In 2012, Tesla began selling its biggest car successful to date, which has been the best-selling. Model S. It was estimated that they sold over 25,000 Model S vehicles in 2013. It wasn't until 2013 that Tesla began to see a profit over its 10 year existence. The road to where I am today hasn't been easy, but now things feel like... half way there... these are all short term things that Tesla has put in place to help them keep moving in the automotive industry, but there is a plan that may be why they are the car company of the future. In 2014, Tesla Motors announced that it plans to build a "Gigafactory" to produce lithium-ion battery cells, boosting technology that has the potential to revolutionize the automotive industry. Works Cited Muller, J. (2014). Tesla, gaining momentum, expects a big increase in sales in 2014. Forbes.Com, 24.Solomon, B. (2014). Tesla raises $1.6 billion for "Gigafactory" and next-generation vehicles. Forbes.Com, 18.Aaron Smith and Chris, I. (2014, March 28). Tesla Installs Fire Shields Under Model S. CNNWire.Farzad, R. (August 27, 2013). Tesla is now worth $20 billion. http://www.businessweek.com.Ann-Marie, A. (2014, February 27). Tesla announces revolutionary "Gigafactory". Mashable.com.