From Guest Blogger Jordan: What Are Major Car Companies Doing in the Wake of Tesla Success?

As the success of Tesla becomes more and more obvious, the largest car makers in the world are starting to feel threatened by this small start-up company. Tesla has reported a profit in two consecutive quarters this year, which is quite surprising, considering that the electric car maker had been struggling to hit production targets and its sales figures hadn’t been too good in the last couple of years. But, Tesla’s shares are now at a record high, sales are much stronger than they used to be, and revenues and market share have been significantly increased lately, which means the major car companies have enough reasons to be worried. Demand for the Tesla Model S in many countries around the world is quite high at the moment, and the company hopes that production will continue to increase in the following months.

Now, all the big car makers started to take Tesla more seriously, and figure out a way to respond to Tesla’s success. The logical step for them would be to offer more energy efficient vehicles that will be more affordable than the ones that are available on the market today. Tesla’s main competitors in the green vehicle market include some of the biggest players in the auto industry, such as Toyota, BMW, General Motors, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz and Audi, to a lesser extent.

Mercedes-Benz, the luxury, high-performance vehicle manufacturer, has developed a series of alternative fuel vehicles in recent years, such as the E400 Hybrid, and the SLS AMG Electric Drive. With such a big name putting such a serious effort into green car technologies, one would expect that Tesla Motors would feel insecure about their future. But, it’s actually just the opposite, as Tesla is supplying Mercedes-Benz with electric power-trains for the 2014 SLS AMG Electric Drive, which means the it’s not afraid of the competition at all.

If there is a company that Tesla should be at least a little afraid, then it’s Toyota. The Japanese car maker has been a green car leader for a long time, with affordable, fuel-efficient plug-in hybrids and electric cars, and it definitely has what it takes to deal with Tesla’s surge. The next generation Prius will come with a series of improvements in the fuel economy department, as well as the exterior design, in efforts to make it look more sporty, and make people look at it as a vehicle that is fun to drive, instead of just a boring, fuel-efficient car.

In addition to Mercedes, there is another luxury car maker that is making a strong push towards green vehicles. It’s Porsche, which has launched the Cayenne S Hybrid, and will introduce the Panamera S E Hybrid in 2014. They are both luxury alternative fuel vehicles, with the Panamera considered to be strongest competitor to Tesla’s Model S. Their performances are pretty similar, but as far as range is concerned, the Panamera has the edge at the moment. However, it is much more expensive than the Model S, which is probably its biggest disadvantage. That is the case with green vehicles offered by BMW and Mercedes-Benz, too, so Tesla’s competitors should focus on making cheaper green vehicles if they want to be able to stave off the threat that is coming from Elon Musk’s company.