Automotive Industry: From US to China as Top Manufacturer - Free Essay Sample

Introduction

The automotive industry is made up of manufacturers of the world's most massive truck and passenger automobiles. Automotive manufacturers produce a variety of models and make, which are sold globally across the markets of developed and underdeveloped countries. The industry began in the 1860s with the United States of America, leading in the production of automobiles in the world. In 1980, Japan overtook the U.S and became the world's leading automobile manufacturing country. China took the lead in automobile production in 2009 after producing more units surprising that of Japan.

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The automotive industry has developed over the decades, through the integration of new models and technology. Tesla, an automotive company, is the world's latest technologically advanced automobile manufacturing firm that sells high-performance electric cars and energy storage products. Tesla company was founded in 2003 and sold three electric models of automobiles, including Modell S sedan, Model 3 sedan, and Model X SUV. The self-driving autopilot technology hardware has been available on all models of Tesla since 2016. Tesla is still improving its products to make them accessible to all its customers worldwide; therefore, having the best performance rating in the automobile industry and the global market.

Background of Tesla Automobile Company

Tesla automobile company is an American electric automobile manufacturing firm founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. The company was named after Nikola Tesla, an American investor from Serbia. Eberhard was the Chief Executive Officer, while Tarpenning was the company's financial officer (Eberhard and Tarpenning, 2006). The company received funding from Elon Musk, who is the head of the automotive firm since 2004. Tesla launched its first automobile electric roadster in 2008 ( Vynakov, Savolova, and Skrynnyk, 2016). The roadster achieved 245 miles on a single charge during a test by the company. The analysis depicted that the performance of the roadster was similar to most sports cars powered by gasoline. The test added that the roadster could accelerate from 0 to 60 miles within 4 seconds to attain a maximum of 125 miles per hour. The electric motor of the vehicle was driven by lithium-ion cells, which could be refilled from a standard electrical outlet.

Eberhard resigned as the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla motors in 2007 and later joined the advisory board as a shareholder in the meantime. Tarpenning resigned from Tesla in 2008, and Musk had to take over the CEO position left by Eberhard (Eberhard and Tarpenning, 2006). The company had to stop the Roadster production since Tarpenning, who was then overseeing the development of the Roadster model's software, had left.

In early 2012, Tesla built stations in the United States designed for recharging batteries fast at no extra cost to the owners of Tesla automobiles. The recharge stations were later capable of replacing the complete pack of thModelel S battery. The car gained high ratings on its performance in the global automobile market.

Tesla released its latest Model X automobile in 2015. The Model had the qualities of a sport -utility automobile built on its chassis. The Model also had a maximum speed limit of 295 miles per hour with up to seven seats. There was a demand for a less expensive Tesla vehicle in the automobile market; therefore, the company released their latest Model 3 sedan in 2017, to meet their customers' demand (Aaron, 2015). The Model had four doors with a battery range of 220 miles per hour. The company also diversified its line of business and produced batteries to store electric power and solar energy products. The firm acquired the SolarCity company in 2016 and changed its name to Tesla in 2017, showing the diversification in its line of business.

The Corporate Governance Structure of the Tesla Company

Tesla is the dominant firm in the automotive market leading in the production of electric automobiles. The company has been under the leadership of Elon Musk, who has been the chairman since 2008. Musk has had an executive management team to aid in the company decision making and leadership roles (Larcker and Tayan,2011). Some of the senior and board leadership personnel of Tesla include:

Elon Musk

He is the co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, and director of Tesla motors. Musk initiated the acquisition of SolarCity in 2016, leading the diversification strategy in the line of business of Tesla. The CEO has begun an initiative to establish a large-scale renewable energy company to provide both solar panels and solar storage batteries required to drive Tesla vehicles.

Zachary Kirkhorn

He assumed the position of the Chief Finance Officer of Tesla in March 2019, succeeded Deepak Ahuja, the former Chief Finance Officer who worked for close to 20 years. He was recently the vice president, finance, and business planning in the Company from December 2018 to March 2019.

Jerome Guillen

Guillen has been the president of automotive in the Tesla Company since September 2018. He has led several leadership roles at the company since 2007, including the vice president, worldwide sales and services. He was the Model S program director in the company.

Andrew Baglino

Andrew succeeded Jeffrey Brian in October 2019, who was the former Chief Technology Officer. Surprisingly, Baglino undertook most of Jeffrey's responsibilities, but his title remains as the Senior Vice President, Powertrain, and energy engineering. Baglino has been at Tesla since 2006.

Jeffrey Brian

He was a member of the founding team of the Tesla Company. Has also been the Chief Technology Officer of the company for 15 years. Brian moved to the Senior advisor position in July 2019. He supervised technical and engineering designs of Tesla automobiles as the Chief Technology Officer.

Conclusion

The organizational structure of Tesla is diversified into different divisions to enable easy management of its businesses. The divisions help in implementing different marketing campaigns and financial strategies within the firm. The firm's geographical structure focus on its automobile global market and sales in various developed and developing countries. Tesla has a vast demand for its products in the U.S and Europe. The company is involved in different diversified product lines, including and not limited to automobiles, solar panels, storage batteries, and recharge services to the Tesla owners. Tesla carries out a related diversification strategy in its business lines.

References

Aaron, K. (2015). Elon musk says self-driving tesla cars will be in the us by summer. The New York Times.

Eberhard, M., & Tarpenning, M. (2006). The 21 st century electric car tesla motors. Tesla Motors, 17.

Larcker, D. F., & Tayan, B. (2011). Tesla Motors: the evolution of governance from inception to IPO. Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Closer Look Series: Topics, Issues and Controversies in Corporate Governance No. CGRP-15.

Vynakov, O. F., Savolova, E. V., & Skrynnyk, A. I. (2016). Modern electric cars of Tesla Motors company. Avtomatizaciya texnologicnix i biznes-procesiv, (8, 2), 9-18.