Following the news that Tesla’s market capitalisation now exceeds that of Toyota, making it the most valued carmaker in the world;

David Leggett, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“The automotive sector is among the most severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and facing decimated markets this year. GlobalData’s base COVID-19 light vehicle sales scenario forecasts a fall of 17.8% on 2019 to 73.9 million, a greater hit to the market than in the 2007/8 financial crisis. Against this background, the share prices of many automotive companies and suppliers have been hit.

“However, Tesla has out-performed the sector in terms of market capitalisation, and is well positioned to further grow from accelerating sales of electric vehicles over the next few years. It is seen as having a favourable mix of upcoming products, engineering expertise, manufacturing capacity as well as retail and marketing strengths that will mark it out as a winner in the post-COVID-19 business landscape.

“Tesla’s decision to recently open a plant in China, a market that is rapidly recovering and where it leads the EV segment this year, has aided in the company’s current success and positive prospects. Moreover, second quarter deliveries and output data confirm that Tesla is performing much better than its peers and on course to deliver over 400,000 vehicles in 2020, up on 367,000 last year, in spite of the COVID-19 dent to the global market.

“Although Tesla volume is small relative to long established car companies such as Toyota, it is seen by investors as more agile than many of its competitors and likely to continue to perform relatively well as more of its electric vehicle products come on stream.”