Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD
Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just
Try GOLD - Free
Tesla could end up like Ford: losing its pole position as dull corporate rivals race ahead
The Observer
|August 10, 2025
US stock market outperformance relies on the “Magnificent 7”: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (Google, Android), Meta, Nvidia and Tesla. Over the last decade, these stocks typically returned at least 500%. Without them, stock market rises would have been less than 2% a year after inflation.
Pretty much everyone has an Apple or an Android phone. A new firm would struggle to break into that duopoly. Nokia, Blackberry: they came and went. Apple and Alphabet would have to really mess up to be in trouble. Walmart will do its best to cut Amazon down to size, but economies of scale in online retail and delivery are real.
But Tesla is vulnerable. Not because some people hate Musk for supporting Trump or because others hate him for attacking Trump. But because lots of good, rival electric cars mean Tesla has no market power. In 2013, Autocar magazine described the Tesla Model S as "a triumph", its 300-mile range about three times that of any other electric car available. Add in the supercharger network - then exclusively restricted to Tesla - and Teslas were the only EV that worked like a normal car. That gave the firm market power.
This story is from the August 10, 2025 edition of The Observer.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM The Observer
The Observer
Can a biopic of the Boss be anything other than blinded by his light?
Heavens above, not another biopic. I'm still in recovery from A Complete Unknown, James Mangold’s attempted unveiling of The Mysterious Soul of Bob Dylan starring Timothy Someone-or-other.
2 mins
October 26, 2025
The Observer
Reeves is still only getting part of the Brexit message
The financial markets, and much of the media, seem obsessed by the level of public sector debt and borrowing.
3 mins
October 26, 2025
The Observer
The anonymous Twitter troll account set up to discredit Virginia Giuffre
The online attacks came thick and fast, all 479 of them designed to discredit the accuser of Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew.
5 mins
October 26, 2025
The Observer
Badenoch and Farage should stop playground politics of making rules they can't keep
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's the golden rule I remember being taught as a child in primary school. Not a bad guiding principle.
3 mins
October 26, 2025
The Observer
Museums are in the pink while corporate sponsors remain shy
By embracing private philanthropy, the sector has received record sums, however businesses are feeling burnt by protests, write Nicole Fan and Stephen Armstrong
3 mins
October 26, 2025
The Observer
'Democrat saviour' or 'commie bastard': Mamdani, would-be king of New York
The 34-year-old socialist set to become the Big Apple's first Muslim mayor may be the left's greatest hope - and biggest threat. Hugh Tomlinson joins the new star of US politics on the campaign trail
8 mins
October 26, 2025
The Observer
Use Russia's money
Europe has missed its chance to hit Putin's finances
2 mins
October 26, 2025
The Observer
Struggling 'clean food' brands dig in for long haul
Autumn, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, wrote Keats. Not if you're in the plant-based food industry. Sales at major brands, including Oatly and Beyond Meat, are stalling.
2 mins
October 26, 2025
The Observer
Reeves mission: to build a European Silicon Valley centred on 'golden triangle'
Brexit is costing the UK 80bn a year in lost taxes, hitting output by up to 8% and investment by more than twice as much. The chancellor has her work cut out
5 mins
October 26, 2025
The Observer
Academics sign letter of support after ‘vile’ abuse of Israeli professor
Tom Watson, Margaret Hodge, Michael Grade, Prof Andrew Roberts and hundreds of academics are among more than 1,600 signatories of an open letter condemning a “targeted harassment campaign” against an Israeli professor at a London university.
1 mins
October 26, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size