In the third century BC the city of Rhodes, in celebration of the defeat of Demetrius I of Macedonia, built the Colossus, a 30-metre-high statue of the sun god Helios. It became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Now there is a new Colossus to wonder at, not a statue but a supercomputer, reputed to be the most powerful in the world. So which American tech company built it? Apple, IBM, Google, OpenAI? Actually, none of the above. The new Colossus has been built by a US auto company… Tesla. How come?

In the space of 14 years, Tesla has risen from being the manufacturer of an electric sports car based on the Lotus Elise and powered by mobile phone batteries to an EV behemoth which, despite competition from China’s BYD (Build Your Dreams), is the world’s largest producer of EVs. Tesla has achieved this with only two mainstream models – the Model 3 sedan and the Model Y, a mid-size SUV. (It should be noted that these figures do not include hybrids. Nor should they. As one analyst wittily pointed out, in technology terms it would be like a company sticking a petrol engine on the back of a horse in the early 20th century, when the world transitioned from horses to internal combustion engines.)

Sales of Tesla’s Model Y (a four-year-old car) are poised to now overtake Ford’s F-150, which has been America’s top vehicle every year since 1977. Last year, Tesla’s SUV was the world’s best-selling vehicle, even though it is relatively expensive compared to the previous title holder, Toyota’s subcompact Corolla.

If this year has been a year of consolidation in terms of Tesla’s EV sales, next year is likely to see a second wave of exponential growth. The now-dated Model Y is likely to be replaced. As with the Model 3, which was replaced at the end of last year, the improvements in build quality, technology and battery life are likely to be spectacular.

In addition, next year Tesla is slated to build a cheaper ‘Model 2’ using elements of a revolutionary manufacturing system called the ‘unboxed’ method, which is expected to cut production costs by 30 per cent.........

© The Spectator