BUS 478 – STRATEGY / SECTION: D300

Tesla Motors Inc. Case Synopsis
Date: March 17, 2014 [Edited]

Yafeng(Elsie) Liu Yingying Kang Hao Wu Chan Chen Edith Hon

Firm history
Background Tesla Motors, Inc. is an American company that was founded in 2003 by a group of brilliant and innovative Silicon Valley engineers. These engineers proved that electric vehicles could be awesome substitute of the gasoline powered cars. Tesla not only designs, produces and markets electric cars, but it also provides advance electric vehicle powertrain components to other automakers including Daimler and Toyota. (Tesla Motors) Tesla headquarters is located in Palo Alto, California, and it has wholly-owned subsidiaries in North America, Europe and Asia. At present, Tesla has more than 2000 employees. It has 31 stores and service locations spread worldwide, and more stores are expected to be opened in the future. In 2012, Tesla opened its first store in Toronto as the first step to enter the Canadian market (Tesla Motors). Tesla aims to offer high-performance and electrically powered vehicle at a price affordable to the average consumer. In 2008, Tesla first gained widespread attention by producing the Tesla Roadster, a solely electric operated sports car. Tesla then expanded its technological advantage to the luxury sedan market. Model S, a zero emission and sustainable luxury sedan, was then introduced as their second vehicle to the electric vehicle in 2012. The third model named Tesla model X is scheduled to be delivered to the market in 2014. Thus, Tesla is the only automaker that sells zero-emission sports cars in serial production at present (Mangram, 2012). Mission Statement To accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible. Tesla’s goal is to accelerate the world’s transition from gasoline powered