Why Tesla is like no other car brand in history

Elon Musk

There might be many exotic, plush and outrageous cars heading to India this year, many of them electric. But none have created the sort of buzz that’s been created by Tesla, Inc.

The Palo Alto-based electric carmaker’s meteoric ascent in its less-than-two-decades long existence, has made it something of an industrial anomaly. Not only because of the messianic image of its CEO Elon Musk (although that has on occasion, helped) but because the brand single-handedly altered the perception of electric cars and what they could do. Despite only 17 years of its existence – making it slightly older than a foetus when compared to century-old automotive giants like Mercedes-Benz and Ford – Tesla has stacked-up a staggering list of achievements. Here are some to begin with:

1.            It’s the most successful American automotive startup

Back in 2003 when Tesla was starting out, there hadn’t been an American automotive startup since 1925 (the founding year of Chrysler). And the declining fortunes of the American “big three” i.e Ford, GM and Chrysler was cited as a major reason. Brands like Plymouth had recently shut down and the odds that Tesla would survive, let alone thrive as a brand were indeed very slim. Not only did Tesla become the first U.S automotive company to go public in the last 50 years, it went on to outsell some of the biggest car brands in the world, in their home country.

2.            It’s the fastest growing car brand in the world

Last year marked a watershed moment for Tesla when its market-capitalisation went up to $600 million dollars. According to a report filed by Reuters, this made the electric car maker more valuable than the five largest carmakers in the world combined. Let that sink in for a moment. This, a decade after the American automotive industry was in the doldrums, with brands like Pontiac having shut down. By July 2020, Tesla’s valuation was $208 billion dollars, making it the most valuable car company in the world.

Despite some of the best-selling cars in its home country being large, petrol-powered trucks and sedans, Tesla has forced its compatriots into reconsidering their production strategy for the immediate future, putting the final nail in the coffin of fossil fuel-powered cars.

3.            It’s broken many records

The year 2011 marked the coming of age of Tesla, as a brand. Unlike the Lotus Elise-based Tesla Roadster, the prototype of the Tesla Model S was home-grown. With the Model S going into production in 2012, Tesla had their first critical hit on their hands. Not only was it luxurious and spacious, the Model S was and continued to become ludicrously quick.

In 2016, Tesla launched the Model S P100D Ludicrous, which reached 0-100 in an astonishing 2.5 seconds, making it the quickest four-door production car in the world. It wasn’t the fact that the Model S, in its four years of existence, was now as fast or faster than some of the rarest, most pedigreed hypercars in the world. It was the fact that it could do it, while being able to seat four and not compromise a single function as a luxury sedan. Times were truly changing.

It’s not just speed records. Last year, the Tesla Model 3 became the fastest charging electric car in the world, requiring the least amount of total charging time while on a test run across the UK. In 2019, the brand broke its own sales record by spending only 1hr 31mins and 32 seconds charging while going from one end of the UK to the other.

4.            It’s been to outer space

Yes. Elon Musk launched a Tesla Roadster into orbit, with the red convertible cruising around the Earth in outer space, at a speed of 29000 kph. The car hitched a ride on Space X’s Falcon Heavy Rocket. It eventually exited Earth’s orbit, sending it closer towards Mars and unless it collides with an asteroid, the Roadster will continue to float in outer space for eternity.

5.            It’s clocked the maximum distance through autonomous driving

Autonomous driving tech has been a tricky area for Tesla. While it’s still trying to work out the kinks, particularly with regards to the tech’s life-saving decisions, it’s still the only brand to have clocked an astounding 3 billion miles of autonomous driving, as of 2020. According to a report by Trefis, the efficacy of self-driving technology comes from machine learning, which means that the more people use Tesla’s self-driving tech (a neat business model that involves people unlocking the pre-installed tech by paying for it) the more intuitive and advanced the technology becomes. In comparison, it’s only rival in the autonomous tech business, Waymo has logged 20 million miles of autonomous driving on public roads.