More Australians own Tesla shares than Tesla electric vehicles

Data from share trading firm Stake has revealed that there are more Australians who own Tesla shares than those who drive them.

More than 17,000 people have bought shares in the Californian EV maker via Stake alone, compared to the approximately 10,000 Tesla vehicles owned nationwide.

Of course, the reasons behind the low numbers of electric vehicles in Australia are many: The price of the EVs, access to charging infrastructure and concerns about driving range are often cited as barriers to uptake.

Additionally, the federal government continues to drag its feet on a national EV strategy to encourage uptake, as many of its trading partners have.

The figures, shared first by Motley Fool, indicate that whilst many Australian drivers may not yet be in a position to buy the car itself, belief in the company’s potential is substantial.

More than $A600 million worth of Tesla shares have been traded in 2020 through Stake, Motley Fool reports – just one share trading firm that has noted the interest Australians hold for the electric vehicle company, which is now the sixth biggest US company by market value and which has skyrocketed sevenfold since the year’s start.

“Tesla is undeniably the market leader with approximately 3 times larger market share than 2nd placed Volkswagen,” Stake CEO Matt Leibowitz was quoted as saying by Motley Fool.

Although interest in Tesla is undeniably high, it has also engendered a high degree of trading in other electric vehicle stocks as Australian share traders clambering to repeat the success of Tesla, such as with China’s Nio which saw a huge surge in trading that exceeded Tesla in August.

Leibowitz attributes Tesla’s surge in value not so much to its stance on speeding up the slow-turning cogs of the legacy auto industry to transition to clean electric transport.

Rather, he underlines the “cultural cache” that Tesla has built up as a company, in a way more akin to tech giant Apple than any car maker ever has.

“Whether it be selling Tequila or short-shorts for $69.420, it’s become the sort of brand that recruits loyal followers not just transactional customers — Apple-esque,” said Leibowitz.

Its for this reason that Stake is planning a “world-first” electric vehicle time trial event in association with the official Tesla Owner’s Club in Australia, which it hopes will become a fixture on the motorsports circuit.

“It’s these category-and-culture leading brands that can really stir the popularity of investors the world over,” says Leibowitz.

“This is one of those industries that is really poised to completely disrupt and overhaul its predecessors and when you’re at the beginning of that inflection point, potential growth is enormous.”