Investors have watched the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) with much excitement during 2020 and they were not disappointed when the year came to a close. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in particular finished the year on a high making a big impact on the Nasdaq by adding 2% and its share price climbing over $700 for the first time.
Now, the one question everyone is asking is whether reached its target of 500,000 deliveries as was projected. Tesla CEO, Elon Musk sent his usual emails during December urging his employees to press on with production in order to reach the company’s quarterly and yearly targets.
At the beginning of the year when Musk announced its 500,000 goal for 2020, the industry, investors, and analysts felt it was ambitious and then the Coronavirus pandemic hit, which threw a curveball for Tesla’s growth plans and production had to be suspended at its Giga factories in both California and Shanghai. Despite having to face a number of obstacles, Tesla made up for it and put the efforts in to ramp up production and get construction going for the manufacturing of new Tesla models in Berlin, Texas, and Shanghai.
Regardless of the issues that Musk has had to face, it is possible the EV manufacturer has succeeded in reaching his targets and perhaps even surpassing them. Demand for Tesla vehicles is increasing as well as interest in its future software and battery technology. If the carmaker can sustain momentum with its manufacturing expansion, there is a lot of growth still ahead. Even though Tesla is the leading all-electric vehicle manufacturer, there are competitors on the horizon hoping to gain a bigger piece of the EV industry market share.
All eyes will be on Tesla’s quarterly vehicle reports to confirm it reached its 500,000 target but investors will have to wait until mid-January. And the moment those figures are released, Tesla and the analysts will shift the focus to 2021 as expectations continue to grow.
The new year will also see Tesla making a move into foreign markets, such as India. The country’s transport minister Nitin Gadkari has confirmed the US-based EV manufacturer is going to bring the Tesla Model 3 sedan to India.
Gadkari spoke to the Indian Express, a national daily newspaper, and commented that Tesla is planning to start operations in the region in the early part of 2021.
The first phase is the sales of the Tesla Model 3s, which will be imported from the US. Tesla is looking into producing vehicles locally, but it depends on how the market adopts Tesla and if consumer demand will warrant an India-based factory setup.
Other reports from India say that the Model 3s imports are only expected to start later in the new year and that Tesla will probably start taking vehicle orders from January. However, it could be a tough market for Tesla to penetrate and it is not quite the same as Europe and China.
A subsidiary of Suzuki, Maruti Suzuki is headquartered in New Delhi and the auto company has already made headway with capturing nearly half the market with its locally produced compact and affordable cars. Maruti's produces the Swift, which is a small hatchback that has a starting cost of $7,000, which is quite a price tag for Tesla to compete with. In 2019, India’s other top selling car was the Hyundai Creta that cost around $13,500.
The country offers huge potential for Tesla but it’s going to be interesting to see how it can supply a price sensitive market with affordable electric cars. Tesla sales in India will be a good indicator whether the EV company has a chance to recapture some of the market and continue its progress of expansion.
