Once again, the emperor of e-car makers is without clothes. Tesla's production, which grew by a meagre 4% in the first quarter, only increased by 2% from April to June. At around one trillion dollars, the valuation still corresponds to that of a tech company with immense growth potential. But who wants to bet on Tesla's robotaxis conquering the global market today? According to data from the US Department of Transportation, Model Y and Model S are among the 25 vehicles with the highest fatality rates per kilometre driven - despite Autopilot.

It is only a matter of time before Tesla is kicked out of the „Magnificent 7“, the unofficial elite club of tech giants. The other members have something that the e-car pioneer lacks: Amazon dominates online retail. Microsoft is the leader in PC, office and communication software. Alphabet is the king of online search and smartphone operating systems. Nvidia virtually invented the AI chip category. Meta is the leader in social media. And Apple's iOS is the most profitable platform with the highest customer loyalty worldwide. Who is missing from the list? Tesla. The e-car manufacturer does not dominate any market and its customer loyalty is not based on an ingenious platform but on the appeal of a visionary CEO with increasingly impaired vision.

However, Tesla's problems are no reason for its German rivals to breathe a sigh of relief. In Wolfsburg, they prefer to focus on themselves anyway, as the surprising dismissal of Chief Human Resources Officer Gunnar Kilian on Friday afternoon showed. Global dominance will certainly not be achieved in this way. Cars are a commodity and gap dimensions have become secondary for many customers. Even software advantages, which Tesla had for a long time, are proving to be ephemeral. The Chinese smartphone provider Xiaomi recently demonstrated just how low the barriers to market entry are for tech companies. Tesla's rise to a company worth trillions gave some managers the illusion that a golden era of mobility could be at the end of the transformation. Tesla's misery has robbed them of this illusion. The car is losing its exceptional position and is now only serving as a mobile version of people's digitalised living space. Who earns the most from this is an open question. However, it is unlikely to be companies with huge staffing levels and gigantic production networks.