Tesla shares have risen nearly 20 percent in the last month, but that doesn’t stop the only billion dollar carmaker in attracting all types of new potential sectors to disturb, at least from an investor and analyst perspective.
Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas is not one to get away from some ideas that many investors would consider long -term. In a recent note, Jonas brought up some interesting discussions about Tesla’s potential in the EvTol industry and how he believes that CEO Elon Musk’s response was not convincing enough to postpone it completely.
Teslas Elon Musk says electric aircraft would be ‘fun problem to work on’
Musk said Tesla was “stretched pretty thin” when a question was developed about a plane that was developed. Jonas said:
“In our opinion, it’s a specific other type of answer. Is Tesla an aviation/defense technical company in auto/consumer clothing?”
Musk has been pretty aware of things that Tesla won’t do. Although he has not unequivocally denied aviation equipment, including aircraft and drones that he has with things like motorcycles, it does not look like something that is on Musk’s mind.
Instead, he has focused the vast majority of his time at Tesla on the vehicle’s autonomy, AI and Robotics, things he sees like the future.
Tesla and China, Robotics, Pricing
Morgan Stanley’s note also discussed Tesla’s skill in its various areas of expertise, how it will accompany Chinese competitors, as there are more, and run on affordable EVs in the country.
Tesla is the US’s key to keep up with China
“In our opinion, Tesla’s expertise in manufacturing, data collection, robotics/ physical AI, energy, supply chain and infrastructure is more critical than ever before putting the United States on an even footing with China in embodied AI,” Jonas writes.
It’s no secret that Tesla is a leader in revolutionizing things. To generalize, the company has really dipped its finger in all the different pies, but it is also considered a manager in tech, and this is where Chinese companies really have an advantage.
Robotics and ‘Humanoid Olympics’
Jonas mentioned China’s recent display of robots running half marathon and competing in martial arts as “Gamification of Robotic Innovation.”
Tesla could be at the forefront of the effort to launch something similar as the analyst predicts that the American version could be called “Humanoid Ninja Warrior.”
Pricing
Tesla is ready to launch affordable models by the end of 2. quarter, which leaves this month for the company to release some details.
While the pricing of these models remains in limbo with $ 7,500 tax deductions that are likely to disappear at the end of 2024, companies in China have been able to utilize incredibly aggressive pricing models. For example, Jonas brings up tiles, which is priced at almost $ 8,000.
Tesla can utilize an incredibly wider market if it can handle prices to even less than $ 30,000, which is here, many hope the affordable models will end.
During the Q3 2024 earnings, Musk said that $ 30,000 is where it would be with the tax credit:
“Yes. It will be like with incentive. So 30k, which is a kind of key threshold.”