An
Apple Car will be very disruptive to Tesla. However, it will not be an
end to Tesla. Lets look at the automotive industry right now.
Right now, the “Big 3” are General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
What
if the Big 3 were Apple, Tesla, and one other car company? Right now,
this is nothing but speculation which could become a reality.
Tesla’s
biggest “mistake” is that it does everything in a new way. It is trying
to manufacture cars in a “simpler” way made for electric vehicles. This
is causing huge delays. They create their own batteries and they do a
lot of the work themselves which is often criticized.
However, once they perfect the Model 3 production line, the Model Y will be a breeze to build as will the Tesla Semi truck.
Tesla will be able to produce a million cars a year by 2020 or 2021. [1]This
means they will produce 1/3 of the amount of cars of GM. However, due
to their stock valuation, they could be 10 times the size of GM.
Now
lets look at Apple. Project Titan opened in 2014 and they are still
working on it today. It will be a self driving electric car and it will
be a competitor for Tesla. However, it might be the competitor Tesla
needs.
Right now, there is no real alternative to Tesla. Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf are “okay” but nowhere near perfect.
Let’s
say Apple releases the Apple Car with a 300 mile range, and using the
Supercharger network (As Tesla wants to make the Supercharger network
standard). This would increase the image of the electric car.
People would buy Apple cars and think of the electric car in a much more positive way. This translates to sales for Tesla.
Right
now, the Electric Vehicle market is very small. It is dominated by one
state in the US and very few people outside of California buy them. This
is a problem. If Apple released an electric car, people would be more
excited about electric vehicles and Tesla would see sales increase. It
happens with every industry.
In
the end, an Apple Car may appear bad for Tesla however, it could be the
best thing that ever happened to Tesla and the electric vehicle
industry.
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