Tesla has lost its ground as the most valuable car maker in the US as the company's shares slid below General Motors. The electric car firm's market value, however, continues to be in full swing so far this year.
General Motors just dethroned Tesla from being the most treasured automaker after its shares recently moved ahead of the Palo Alto, California-based manufacturer. Tesla on Thursday lost 5.6 percent in trading and on Wednesday 7 percent. On Thursday alone, Tesla botched US$3 billion off its market value, making its total shares drop to US$50.7 billion. GM lost US$211 million only, dipping its market value to US$52.6 billion.
Tesla's market value dipped by 20 percent since trouncing an all-time high on 26 June, though its stock is still 45 percent higher this year compared to last year's. Tesla declined to comment on the recent plunge in stocks. In April, Tesla surpassed the market value of industry leaders GM and Ford Motor which is three times larger than Fiat Chrysler.
While plummet did not make investors happy, Tesla got away with it since the industry is leaning towards electric and self-driving cars, a development in the business that Tesla has been putting efforts on. Car manufacturers around the world have been trailing this path like Volvo, whose owner Geely is planning to stop the production of gasoline-powered cars by 2020.
Tesla is now gearing up for the first batch of the release of Model 3 later this month. This marks a crucial time for the company since the forthcoming car model is the cheapest of the bunch. On Monday, the company divulged that it is facing an extreme shortage of large lithium batteries for the car but was resolved later in June.
