View of the ‘Tesla Straße 1’ road sign in front of the Tesla factory site. Tesla chief Musk visits the site of his electric car factory.
Jorg Carstensen | image alliance | Getty Images
Tesla has lost ground in Europe, with its Model 3 now becoming the fourth best-selling pure electric vehicle (EV) on the continent, according to recent statistics.
The European electric vehicle market is now the largest in the world in terms of sales, following an increase in 2020 that accompanied a decline in China. The registration share of new electric cars is twice that of China and five times that of the United States
In a note on Wednesday, the head of Saxo Bank’s stock strategy, Peter Garnry, said that the overtaking of Tesla by Renault, Volkswagen and Hyundai in recent months should “act” on shareholders.
“Tesla will be successful and become one of the largest automakers in the future, but the competition is heating up and that calls into question the $ 805 billion market value,” Garnry said.
Tesla shares rose by more than 21% in the first two weeks of 2021, after rising by more than 700% in 2020.
Garnry noted that November European vehicle registration figures showed that plug-ins, a combination of pure electric and hybrid vehicles, increased by 198% year-on-year, while the total number of car registrations on the continent it fell by 14%.
Plug-in vehicles now account for about 10% of the overall market share in Europe, with pure electric vehicles accounting for around 5.4%.
Garnry said customers said Tesla sales are usually stronger in the last month of the quarter, but pointed out that sales fell in both October and November.
In the latest EV rankings, Renault Zoe remained in first place, closely followed by VW ID.3, according to sales figures from the EV Volumes plug-in vehicle market database. Hyundai’s Kona was third ahead of the Tesla Model 3.
“While this should worry Tesla shareholders, it is even more striking that the Model S and X are not in the top 20, despite direct competing models such as the Audi e-tron on the list.” Garnry added.
Tesla was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
On Thursday, Luca de Meo’s new Renault CEO announced that the French carmaker will switch to a more electric line, along with the construction of a battery factory in France with one of its suppliers.
“We will move from a car company that works with technology to a technology company that works with cars,” de Meo said.
China demands “heart and lungs”
Tesla shares are currently trading at $ 845 per share, and in a note on Thursday, US investment firm Wedbush Securities raised its price target to $ 950 per share from $ 715, with a $ 1,250 stock scenario. .
Wedbush cited an increase in demand for electric vehicles and China’s Model 3, which he described as the “heart and lungs” of the case for holding Tesla shares.
“While there are more than 150 automakers aggressively pursuing the EV opportunity globally, right now in the EV market, we believe it’s the Tesla world and everyone else is paying rent,” Wedbush analysts Daniel Ives and Strecker Backe said in note.
They projected that by 2022, more than 40 percent of Tesla’s total sales will come from China, while Democrats who control all three branches of the U.S. government will provide a substantial boost to larger electric vehicles, having in view of the climate agenda of President-elect Joe Biden.
“We believe that China’s growth story is worth at least $ 100 a share in a Tesla case, as this EV penetration will increase significantly over the next 12 to 18 months, along with major battery innovations coming out of Giga 3 (Tesla’s Factory in Shanghai), “they said.