Neither is Aston Martin, but they're a profitable and successful UK based auto manufacturer.
There are many successful companies that never achieve the kind of brand awareness that you are identifying. It's generally not a condition for success.
I am an auto enthusiast and Tesla is very well known among enthusiasts. Appealing to enthusiasts (Early Adopters) is an acceptable business strategy. Tesla doesn't need to market to a wider audience yet.
I fail to see the issues that others are claiming here. Assuming they can meet demand (last I heard there is significant demand for the Model S, I don't have data to cite at the moment) and are profitable with at that volume their risks seem to me to be more of the typical manufacturer's risk. Quality and warranty issues, aftermarket support, production costs, etc. Not so much from weak market demand.
EDIT: HN won't let me reply to your comment yet so I'll do it here.
I'm disagreeing with what I feel you're implying with this:
I think a large proportion of the 10s of thousands who have bought electric cars in Japan don't know of Tesla either.
But I suspect they aren't that well-known by the general public.
I read that as "This is Tesla's market, they're not known in this market, this is a risk to their business". I disagree with that. That is not their market and that market (general public, 10s of thousands of electric car buyers in Japan) is unimportant at this time because they're very well known within their target market.
Sure, I agree with you. What part of my comment are you disagreeing with? Previous comment says that Tesla changed the image of the electric car, I'm skeptical of that.
(except that I don't get your example of Aston Martin as not well-known brand. It's James Bond's car!)
There are many successful companies that never achieve the kind of brand awareness that you are identifying. It's generally not a condition for success.
I am an auto enthusiast and Tesla is very well known among enthusiasts. Appealing to enthusiasts (Early Adopters) is an acceptable business strategy. Tesla doesn't need to market to a wider audience yet.
I fail to see the issues that others are claiming here. Assuming they can meet demand (last I heard there is significant demand for the Model S, I don't have data to cite at the moment) and are profitable with at that volume their risks seem to me to be more of the typical manufacturer's risk. Quality and warranty issues, aftermarket support, production costs, etc. Not so much from weak market demand.
EDIT: HN won't let me reply to your comment yet so I'll do it here.
I'm disagreeing with what I feel you're implying with this:
I think a large proportion of the 10s of thousands who have bought electric cars in Japan don't know of Tesla either.
But I suspect they aren't that well-known by the general public.
I read that as "This is Tesla's market, they're not known in this market, this is a risk to their business". I disagree with that. That is not their market and that market (general public, 10s of thousands of electric car buyers in Japan) is unimportant at this time because they're very well known within their target market.