Cars and Drivers

Tesla's $33 Billion Valuation Challenged by New Porsche Product

Porsche has released a concept car powered by electric batteries similar to those used by Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA). While the Concept Study Mission E will not be manufactured anytime soon, it proves that a large ultra-luxury company can challenge Elon Musk’s cars, and probably soon will. While Tesla may not face an immediate rival, it will have trouble defending its extraordinary $33 billion valuation.

The Porsche concept car is fast: 0 to 80 in 3.5 seconds. It takes only 15 minutes to charge. It has a particularly long range of 500 km and is light with plenty of use of carbon fiber. Car experts and enthusiasts may argue that the vehicle is no better than the Tesla S P85D, which goes 0 to 60 in as little as 2.8 seconds and costs just over $128,000, but Porsche has several advantages.

Among those edges is it pedigree. Early versions of the Porsche were released in the 1950s. Porsche also dwarfs Tesla in revenue, posting over 15 billion euro in sales last year. And Porsche has a large dealer network while Tesla has almost none. AsTesla tries to get a foothold outside the United States, Porsche already has a huge one.

Tesla’s problem goes well beyond Porsche. Its success has drawn the keen attention of virtually every large manufacturer in the world, both at the luxury level and the mid-level of car pricing, to beat the Tesla Model 3 and its new Model X crossover. Porsche, for example, has been highly successful with sales of its Cayenne crossover, which ranges in price from $58,000 to over $160,000, spread across six models.

Tesla may keep its lead as long as another five years. However, large car companies have a way of turning concept cars into real ones quickly. That is when Tesla and its $33 billion market cap will be on the line.

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