Quote:
Originally Posted by jammies
The biggest, richest companies in the world used to be oil companies, and now they have been supplanted by tech companies that didn't even exist a few decades ago. That's why Tesla is valued in the hundreds of billions, being a tech company at core, and having the best tech. They might lose that edge, but to the likes of Ford and Nissan? Toyota and Daimler - maybe. But history is littered with companies that failed to retool and rethink fast enough to quell upstart competitors. Where is US Steel* now?
In the 1970s and 80s, Japanese vehicles went from unreliable, cheap jokes to almost causing all three big American manufacturers to go bankrupt, with only government bailouts saving them. Nobody thought in 1972 that anyone could break into the American market in any significant way - until fuel economy became paramount, and Detroit couldn't adapt quickly enough despite the technology theoretically being merely an extension of what they already did, and not an entirely different field.
Being big and being established in a market doesn't guarantee anything when that market drastically changes. Some of the titans will adapt, some will go under, and someone else will take the place of those that die. Maybe not Tesla, but they've got an enormous head start on anybody else.
*Once the biggest company in the world, now number 27... among steel companies.
|
History is filled with startup and niche car companies that failed or were bought out by the giants. It's pretty rare for a car company to exist independently, and has been that way for decades. Which Is why I suspect they may get bought eventually, probably by one of the majors that finds themselves with no other choice after they fail to adapt. So probably Chrysler.
I don't think Musk would really care in 10 years if that happened. He'd take the money and invest in something else new. I think his goal through all of this was creating the tech, not so much a car company. That just came along with it.