In: Operations Management
Company description
Tesla Inc. is primarily involved in the design, development, manufacturing and sale of electric vehicles and storage applications. It provides associated services such as service centres and vehicle charging facilities. It has the following key operating segments:
1. Automotive – it is involved in the core activities of electric car design, development and sale
2. Energy Generation and storage – This segment handles all activities related to energy storage products and sale of solar power. It is also involved in developing and selling energy storage products and solutions for commercial establishments, residential users and utilities.
The company was founded in July 2003 by Elon Musk, Jeffrey Straubel, Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard. The current CEO is Elon Musk. It is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It was originally known as Tesla Motors and was named after Nikola Tesla. In 2010, the company raised $226 million from its IPO. As of April 8, 2020, individual stakeholders held 31.65% of the company, while mutual fund holders and other institutional buyers hold 28.74% and 24.63% of the company, respectively.
The company’s first electric car was Roadster, which was released in 2008. In 2012, it stopped the production of Roadster to focus on newer models, such as Model S. In the same year, it started building charging stations and gave free charging to its customers. In 2017, the company name changed from Tesla Motors to Tesla Inc.
Tesla’s target customers are usually male, more than 45 years old and high income earning. To increase its demographic appeal, Tesla is introducing newer models with a lower price point.