Tesla stock surge sees it briefly become America’s most valuable car firm
It may be a relative minnow when it comes to car sales but as far as share prices are concerned Tesla has become a titan of the US business community, with a surge in its share price briefly valuing the electric car maker as the country’s largest vehicle manufacturer, before quickly falling back again.
Tesla’s market capitalization surged to reach $51.17bn, leap-frogging industrial giant General Motors just one week after it eclipsed Ford on the back of promising sales figures which showed a record number of deliveries being made of the green vehicles.
Despite this Tesla remains just a drop in the ocean in terms of sales with just 76,000 cars being driven off the forecourt – in comparison to the millions of sales racked up by General Motors and Ford over the course of 2016.
Tesla is a loss-making manufacturer of luxury electric vehicles, accounting for a paltry 0.2% of the US market versus GM’s dominant 17.3%.
Despite these Lilliputian beginnings billionaire founder Elon Musk has promised to ramp up production to 500,000 by 2018.
The stock surge will be music to the ears of Chinese internet giant Tencent, which bought a five per cent stake in Tesla last week.