Brand Value and Positioning: A Case Study of Tesla

This report discusses the brand value and positioning of Tesla, analyzing its brand history, portfolio, and hierarchy. Learn how Tesla has achieved success in the automotive industry.

Running Head: MANAGEMENT
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Digital business
5/31/2019

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Executive Summary
In modern organisations, managers emphasize the concept of brand value, and positioning to
enhance their growth and success. The report has mentioned operations and activities of the
automotive company, Tesla and the aspects that increased the value of the brand in the
industry. From the analysis, it has been found that Tesla has achieved the mission of best
drive and customised cars with effective performance over years.

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Brand positioning, values and brand equity...........................................................................................3
Tesla Corporation and brand history......................................................................................................3
Portfolio of the product/brand and hierarchy.....................................................................................4
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................4
References.............................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The assignment is the discussion of the concept and understanding of the brand values, and
the other aspects related to the growth and success of the company. In this report, the key
aspects of the brand, such as brand equity will also be discussed, as these elements determine
the value of the brand and sustainability in future years. To gain an understanding of these
concepts, the company, ‘Tesla’ has been selected, to analyse the brand history and hierarchy
of the brand, from the Keller’s brand report card.
Brand positioning, values and brand equity
The brand equity determines the reason as why the consumers make the purchase decision for
a product, or a particular brand. Thus, marketers need to focus on the aspect of building
brand equity as a top priority to sustain and grow in the competitive market and earn high
profits (Wheeler, 2017).
Tesla Corporation and brand history
Founded in the year 2003, the automotive company, Tesla Inc. is headquartered in the Palo
Alto, California. It has been found that the company deals in the manufacturing of the
electric cars, uses Solar City subsidiary. The founders of the company were encouraged to
start a company or firm after the GM led the recall of all their EV1 electric cars within the
same year, and destroyed them (Bao, 2018)
It has been found that the company, Tesla launched cutting-edge battery technology, in the
year 2008 and electric powertrain. Energy solutions has been created by Tesla for gaining a
ecosystem, and ensure availability of customised vehicles. In the year 2008, the company
released their most prominent first electric car, i.e. Roadster. The car attained the average of
245 miles on a single charge. It was also found that the performance of this electric car was
comparable to many of the gasoline powered sports car (Bao, 2018). The role of Elon Musk,
founder has been found important in the product designing of their car, i.e. Roadster.
Later on, in the year 2012 the company Tesla stopped the production of their electric car i.e.
Roadster for shifting their operations for their new model i.e. Model S sedan, acclaimed by
the Automotives for the performance and design features. Moving on, in the beginning of

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2012 the company built their stations, which are termed as Superchargers in United States
and Europe designed for increasing the charging speed of the batteries and reduce the costs of
Tesla. In the year, 2015 the brand Tesla released a new Model X, called as ‘crossover’
vehicle with the sport-use facilities. Besides, these set of models or cars, the company also
moved to the manufacture of solar energy products, and brought about the first solar panel
company, Solar City in the year 2016. Henceforth, the discussion stated about the history or
working of the company in context to the manufacture or establishment of the vehicles or
products (Tesla, 2018).
Portfolio of the product/brand and hierarchy
Tesla produces or deals in four varied models, with the major variations according to the
versions, determined through the aspect of driving style and environmental factors. The
concept of brand hierarchy is defined as the aspect of assessing the brand strategy of Tesla.
The aspect of brand hierarchy is analysed through mentioning the aspect of number and
nature of the common and distinct elements of their products in industry. In the concept of
brand hierarchy, it is understood as the way through which the brands are related and
differentiated from one another. The diagram below has mentioned the aspects of two
sections, of the automotive company Tesla (Brexendorf and Keller, 2017).

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First part represents different models of the brand, in their cars or vehicles. On the other
hand, the next part represents different types of their products in energy. This explains the
concept of portfolio or brand hierarchy of the brand.
Conclusion
To conclude the above discussion on the brand value, positioning, and the aspects of brand
hierarchy, Tesla has achieved a great success. The company has successfully achieved the
mission of accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable transport. Thus, the report has
effectively discussed all the aspects as mentioned in the Keller’s brand report card.

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References
Bao, B. (2018) November. Tesla: A good company to invest in? In 2018 International
Conference on Economics, Business, Management and Corporate Social Responsibility
(EBMCSR 2018). Paris: Atlantis Press.
Brexendorf, T.O. and Keller, K.L. (2017) Leveraging the corporate brand: the importance of
corporate brand innovativeness and brand architecture. European Journal of
Marketing, 51(9/10), pp.1530-1551.
Davis, S. (2014) Tesla, Tesla, Tesla: Building A Power Brand From Scratch. [online]
Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottdavis/2014/02/24/tesla-tesla-tesla-
building-a-power-brand-from-scratch/#5dda9eae7e31 [Accessed 31/05/19].
Heding, T., Knudtzen, C.F. and Bjerre, M. (2015) Brand management: Research, theory and
practice. United Kingdom: Routledge
Tesla. (2018) Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
[online] Available from: https://www.tesla.com/about [Accessed 31/05/19].
Wheeler, A. (2017) Designing brand identity: an essential guide for the whole branding
team. United States: John Wiley & Sons.