Tesla Motors would noW need to brace for competition from start ups that are going to be a direct competitor, in addition to stalwarts like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, in the luxury electric vehicle (EV) segment in the years to come. Something that would be even more concerning for Tesla Motors is the fact that all those start ups are backed by Chinese investors and over the years it has been noticed that investors from China usually end up giving tough competition to established operators in any field.
In order to make sure that these start ups are able to compete with the leaders in the industry, the investors have provided them with the sort of money that has allowed them to poach employees from Tesla involved in the engineering and management side of the business. Needless to say, they are serious avout their venture.
According to a report on USA Today, "Atieva, one of those startups, recently unveiled plans to release a luxury EV sedan dubbed Edna within two years. The company, whose Chief Technology Officer is Peter Rawlinson, who led the engineering of Tesla's Model S, is funded by a variety of investors, among them Beijing Auto and LeEco-a software company owned by entrepreneur Jia Yueting.Another Tesla competitor hopeful, Faraday Future, also based in California, like Tesla and Atieva, is funded by Jia as well. The company, which has announced plans to start production of its EV in the U.S., recently snapped up top Ferrari manager Marco Mattiacci to oversee everything from branding to sales and customer experience. Faraday Future, like Atieva, doesn't yet have a car ready for mass production, but it's in the process of building a plant in Nevada where it will make its FFZero1. Two other young companies that have significant involvement from Jia Yueting and other Chinese sources of funding are NextEV and LeSEE." The future is surely exciting for luxury electric vehicle customers in the future.
