They said that if you have money, you’ll never want for friends. Well, someone needs to tell that to Elon Musk, because in spite of the millions he has brought in, he’s surrounded by doubters who are waiting for Tesla to go the way of Pontiac.

It’s true that he has a tendency to tweet before he thinks, but that doesn’t seem to have any effect on Tesla’s stock value. In fact, Tesla is doing extremely well. Todd Harrison is convinced these numbers aren’t real, though, and he might not be the only one.

How much is Tesla worth?

Say what you want, but the numbers don’t lie. Tesla’s stock is on the rise, and the current prices have even outpaced Toyota. While Tesla is not considered to be worth more than the Japanese company as of yet, there can be little doubt that Tesla is on the rise.

CNBC reports that Tesla is showing a profit in spite of COVID-19. For the second quarter of 2020, Tesla reported earnings $2.18 (ex-items) vs. $0.03 per share, a revenue of $6.04 billion vs. $5.37 billion, expected, and a net income of $104 million (GAAP). 

That’s not the end of the good news for Tesla, however. One of the factors holding the electric car automaker back is the lack of inventory. The demand is there, but Tesla isn’t producing enough. 

Elon Musk is about to change that. He has announced he’s building a new factory near Austin, Texas. The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y will be produced there.

Is Tesla just a fad?

In spite of all the clear cut facts and numbers, some think that Tesla is just a fad. While some of them tend to ignore the details or outright question the legitimacy of the numbers, there might be something to what they say.

The sedan market used to be the most popular automobile type on the road. That has begun to change over the past few years, however. Trucks and SUVs are becoming more and more popular and are edging sedans out. In fact, Ford and Chevy have worked toward completely cutting their sedan lineup out.

Then, let’s not forget the automakers that went belly up. Isuzu, Suzuki, and De Soto used to be huge automakers and were able to compete with the likes of Toyota and Chevrolet. Then they made the announcement that the company had gone belly up. 

Is Tesla going to follow in the way of some of these other automakers? It doesn’t seem that way at the moment. The electric market is so hot that even the new Hummer will be electric. With this in mind, Tesla is probably just beginning to blossom.

Is there even a market for the Cybertruck?

The Tesla Cybertruck has taken a bit of a beating from critics, and some may be wondering who will even buy it. It doesn’t even look like a truck, so who is it marketed to?

Elon Musk addressed this in an interview with Jay Leno. Musk made it very clear that he’s more than aware that the Cybertruck isn’t your typical truck, and he did that deliberately. 

Some might argue that this was a brilliant move. For most trucks, it all boils down to how much it tows, its size, and whether or not it takes diesel. There’s really not much to discuss outside of that unless you get into trim levels because most trucks look basically the same. 

That can’t be said for the Cybertruck. It looks like it would be more suitable for exploring the moon than it would be driving down the highway. Musk seems to think it has a market, however, and is even driving cross country with it.

So will the Cybertruck sink or swim? We really can’t say. Either way, it’s certainly drawn a lot of attention to itself. Whether it turns out to be another Pontiac Aztek remains to be seen.