Electric vehicles manufacturer, Tesla Motors Inc, has emerged as one of the most renowned and respected electric car brand in the world. The company is greatly expanding its product range, with the unveiling of its cheap, and mass market Model 3 on the 31/03/2016. Tesla also recently announced (in Elon Musk’s master plan) that they would be building an electric minibus and a new compact SUV, called the Model Y.
The car maker has been hit by controversy after a few Tesla EVs have crashed while they are in autopilot mode, causing 1 fatality. Joshua Brown was killed after his Model S crashed while it was in autopilot mode earlier this year in May, in Florida. A preliminary investigation found that the driver was speeding, travelling at 74 MPH in a 65 MPH zone.
Tesla Motors Inc’s Vice President of Sales Development made some controversial remarks at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars. He described the vehicles of Tesla’s competitors as appliances.
Specifically, he said “In essence, they’ve delivered little more than appliances. Now, appliances are useful. But they tend to be white. They tend to be unemotional.”
An article recently published on Auto News said that he criticized rival electric cars. The article reads “O’Connell, who spoke at CAR Management Briefing Seminars on Tuesday, singled out the Nissan Leaf, Kia Soul EV, BMW i3 and Chevrolet Spark EV as electric vehicles that don’t provide enough range or performance and cost to much to appeal to most consumers.”
As of 20:25 GMT (on the 03/08/2016), a share in Tesla Motors Inc is down by $1.29, or 0.57%, trading $225.92 per share. The car maker currently has a market cap of $32.55 billion, which is high for a firm that currently produces a relatively small number of cars. Tesla is set to greatly increase its output with the introduction of its Model 3. Initial deliveries are scheduled for late 2017.