News
Tesla can tap into a $360B market in Europe, but it has to address its service first
SAP SE, a German software maker and one of Europe’s largest tech companies, provides cars for company and personal use as a perk for its workers. And as electric cars continue to gain ground in the region, SAP has noted that its employees are starting to show increasing interest Teslas. Despite this interest and specific requests for Teslas every month, SAP has decided not to purchase any of the American firm’s electric cars. The tech firm’s rejection of Teslas was primarily due to one key factor: the electric car maker’s small service network.
Keeping the Status Quo
SAP’s company car fleet today remains populated by vehicles from veteran premium automakers like BMW AG and Mercedes-Benz. In a statement to Bloomberg, Steffen Krautwasser, who manages the company’s 17,000 company cars in Germany, explained SAP’s stance on Tesla’s electric vehicles. “(Servicing teams) need to be there at short notice, and Tesla still has some work to do. The interest in Teslas is extremely high, but we simply can’t offer them at this point,” Krautwasser said.
SAP is not the only company with strong views about Tesla’s service network in Europe or its lack thereof. Ursula von Stetten, a spokesperson for chemicals giant BASF SE, also cited that Teslas couldn’t be options for its 50,000 German employees until the electric car maker establishes a robust service network. “Teslas will be available as soon as the appropriate infrastructure is in place,” the spokesperson said.
A $360 Billion Market
Considering these sentiments, it appears that Tesla’s service network in Europe is costing Elon Musk a significant number of EV sales. About 60% of all new vehicle sales in Europe, after all, are made through corporate channels. This translates to the company car market in the region being worth about $360 billion. So notable is the size of Europe’s corporate vehicle segment that the industry is expected to play a crucial role in determining just how fast the region could retire the internal combustion engine and embrace sustainable transportation. That being said, Tesla is, for now at least, largely absent from this market.
Apart from Tesla’s weak service network in Europe, companies have also cited the electric car maker’s refusal to offer bulk discounts and its lack of long-standing relationships with the region’s biggest companies as reasons why the American electric car maker is lagging behind its local rivals in the corporate vehicle segment. This is true to a point, especially considering that veteran automakers have decades of experience tailoring some of their vehicles to be the perfect company cars. Tesla does not do this with its vehicles, though many of its trademark features like Autopilot would likely be appreciated by corporate workers who spend long hours at the office.
Electric Opportunities
What’s interesting is that Europe’s corporate car sales are actually rising by about a fifth over the past decade as companies take advantage of generous subsidies, including tax breaks, value-added tax rebates, and depreciation write-offs. Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based research firm, has remarked that in Europe’s eight biggest corporate vehicle markets alone, the aid is worth $38 billion per year. But inasmuch as Tesla is lagging in Europe’s company car market, the region’s aggressive sustainability goals hint that the electric car maker has the potential to close the gap between itself and legacy automakers.
So far, only about 4% of cars bought by European companies in 2019 had a plug, and this list includes Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles. Amidst the region’s push for sustainability, battery-electric vehicles like the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y may very well become preferable alternatives to cars typically used as company vehicles. Germany, Italy, and France are among these regions, with the countries boosting subsidies for battery-powered vehicles as part of their pandemic stimulus programs last year. The trend is continuing too, with BloombergNEF estimating that Europe would likely see sales of about 1.8 million hybrid and battery electric vehicles this year alone. The following years would likely see this number rise even further.
To tap into Europe’s corporate vehicle segment, Tesla has to ramp its service network at a rate that’s far more aggressive than before. And while Teslas generally require a lot less maintenance due to their all-electric design, the company has to tangibly exhibit its capability to service multitudes of vehicles without breaking a sweat. A robust mobile service team would be invaluable in this light, and more dedicated service locations would be extremely beneficial. Such improvements would likely increase the confidence of companies whose employees are already requesting Teslas to be their corporate vehicles. If Tesla is able to accomplish this, then the Elon Musk-led electric car maker might be on track to take a piece out of of Europe’s $360 billion corporate car pie.
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Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
Tesla launches 200mph Model S “Gold” Signature in invite-only purchase
The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Tesla has launched a new solution to a rare but relevant Supercharger problem with a new Virtual Waitlist, a remedy that will solve sequencing confusion when there is a line to charge at one of the company’s locations.
Teslarati reported on what we called the Virtual Queue last month. In rare occurrences, there were physical altercations at Superchargers when someone might have cut in line to charge. Tesla started to develop some sort of system that would resolve this issue, and now it is finally rolling it out.
Tesla launches solution to end Supercharger fights once and for all
It will start with a Pilot Program, and Tesla is calling it the ‘Waitlist.’
Announced on May 11 on the official TeslaCharging X account, the pilot program is currently active at sites in Los Gatos, Mountain View, and San Francisco in California, as well as San Jose, CA, and the Bronx, NY (East Gun Hill Road). Drivers are encouraged to share feedback directly through the Tesla app to refine the system before a potential broader rollout.
We’re now testing a new waitlist feature at 5 Supercharger sites. Share feedback through the Tesla app to help us make it better.
– Los Gatos, CA – Los Gatos Boulevard
– Mountain View, CA – El Monte Avenue
– San Francisco, CA – Lombard Street
– San Jose, CA – Saratoga Avenue
-… pic.twitter.com/epTVzpJxgW— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) May 11, 2026
Tesla released the video above to showcase the feature, which automatically joins the waitlist when your vehicle has the Supercharger with the wait as the destination in the navigation. There is also a notification that lets you know your place in line.
In this specific example, the video shows that the wait is less than five minutes, and that there are two cars ahead of the one in the video:
Credit: Tesla
Having a wait at a Supercharger is relatively rare, but it does happen. It is even more frequent now that there are more EVs allowed to use the Supercharger Network. Those non-Tesla EVs can also join the queue, as Tesla added in its social media release of the pilot program that they can join the waitlist using the Tesla app.
The release of this program should help alleviate the rare risk of incidents at Superchargers. Tesla will expand this program as it sees fit, and it gathers valuable data and reviews from users.
Investor's Corner
Tesla Optimus is already benefiting investors, top Wall Street firm says
Piper Sandler has updated its detailed valuation model for Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), concluding that at recent share prices around $400–$420, investors are essentially acquiring the company’s ambitious Optimus humanoid robot project at no extra cost.
Tesla Optimus is already benefiting investors from a fiscal standpoint, at least that is what Alexander Potter at Piper Sandler, a top Wall Street firm covering the company, says.
Piper Sandler has updated its detailed valuation model for Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), concluding that at recent share prices around $400–$420, investors are essentially acquiring the company’s ambitious Optimus humanoid robot project at no extra cost.
Analyst Alexander Potter, in the firm’s latest “Definitive Guide to Investing in Tesla,” built a comprehensive framework covering 17 separate product lines.
This granular approach values Tesla’s core businesses—including electric vehicles, energy storage, Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, in-house insurance, Supercharging network, and a standalone robotaxi operation—at approximately $400 per share, without assigning any value to Optimus or related inference-as-a-service opportunities.
“At $400/share, we think investors can buy Optimus for ‘free,’” Potter stated in the note. Piper Sandler maintained its Overweight rating on Tesla shares and a $500 price target, which implicitly attributes roughly $100 per share to the robot-related businesses— a figure the analyst views as potentially conservative.
The updated model incorporates elements often overlooked by other sell-side analysts, such as detailed forecasts for Tesla’s insurance operations, Supercharger revenue, and a distinct valuation for the robotaxi business separate from FSD software licensing. It also accounts for Tesla’s 2025 CEO compensation plan for the first time.
Potter acknowledged that his estimates for 2026 and 2027 fall below Wall Street consensus, citing factors like declining deliveries from certain discontinued models and reduced regulatory credit income.
However, he expressed limited concern, noting that traditional vehicle delivery metrics are expected to matter less over time as FSD subscriber growth and robotaxi deployment metrics gain prominence. On Optimus specifically, Potter suggested the humanoid robot program, combined with inference services, “arguably will be worth more than Tesla’s other businesses combined,” though the firm has not yet produced formal long-term forecasts for these segments.
Tesla shares have traded near the $400 range in recent sessions, reflecting ongoing investor focus on the company’s autonomous driving progress and expansion into robotics and AI. The Optimus project remains in early development stages, with Tesla aiming to deploy the robots initially for internal factory tasks before broader commercial applications.
This Piper Sandler analysis highlights the growing emphasis among some investors and analysts on Tesla’s long-term technology platform potential beyond its current automotive and energy businesses.
As with any forward-looking valuation, outcomes will depend on execution timelines, technological breakthroughs, regulatory approvals for autonomous systems, and market adoption of humanoid robotics—areas that carry significant uncertainty and execution risk.
The note underscores a common theme in Tesla coverage: differing views on how to quantify emerging high-growth opportunities like robotics within the company’s overall enterprise value. Investors are advised to consider their own risk tolerance and conduct thorough due diligence regarding these speculative elements.
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla launches its solution to rare but relevant Supercharger problem
