Tesla Motors: Market Research

About 250 million vehicles are in use in the United States. Around the world, there were about

806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion gallons of

gasoline and diesel fuel annually. The numbers are increasing rapidly; this is why the need for

an electric car is so important. Tesla has developed electric cars which can potentially free the

world of its gigantic dependency on fuel for transportation. In the following, the Companies and

industry background, key selling points, promotional plan, and international expansion ideas

Company Background

Tesla Motors Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based company founded on 2003 By Martin Eberhard, Marc

Tarpenning, JB Straubel, Elon Musk, and Ian Wright. Tesla designs, manufactures, and sells

electric vehicles and electric vehicle power train components. Tesla Motors is named after

electrical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla.

Tesla is known as the only American automaker building and selling a zero-emission sports

car in serial production, the Roaster. They are also immersing in engineering and production

development of a zero-emission premium sedan, the Model S, which will be built in Fremont,

California. Tesla also sells its electric power train components to other automakers, including

Daimler and Toyota.

Industry Overview

The electric car industry can be split into two segments- Affordable value and niche market

segments. The affordable value market consists of big name manufacturers such as Nissan,

which has developed an electric car with the mid-sized Leaf. General Motors which recently

launched the Chevy Volt. Toyota remains a key player as it develops electronic vehicle around

its popular Pruis name. The niche market plays a role in the electric car industry and it’s primary

goal is to attack a specific feature of an electronic car that may not be available to consumers

in the affordable value segment. An example...