Chowdhry: Low Oil Means Nothing To Tesla

Lower oil prices may be negatively impacting auto manufacturers and auto sales numbers nationwide, but there's one notable exception: Tesla Motors Inc TSLA.

In a recent note, Global Equities Trip Chowdhry explained that "lower oil prices has [sic] zero impact on Tesla Auto Sales." This claim is backed up by consumer motivation for purchasing Tesla initially, cited as "driving experience" and "Auto-Pilot" – the innovations Tesla popularizes, which sets it apart from even high-end, luxury vehicles.

Related Link: 12 Catalysts To Move Tesla Higher

The Research

Chowdhry said the firm had come to its conclusions through interviews with a sample of 27 Tesla owners.

Over the last month and a half, the firm gathered information from these select users (25 Model S owners, two Model X owners):

• The "Natural Extension:" Chowdhry noted that all of the surveyed participants own iPhones, and expressed that "Tesla feels like a natural extension to their iPhone Experience." That experience being the ability to use the device throughout the day, plug it up at night once home and then be ready and refreshed the following morning.
• Unlike Anything Else: Furthermore the responses came resoundingly in unison that the driving experience surpassed anything else, with one respondent saying simply, "Instant torque is awesome," and another, "[I] would never go back to an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine)."
• "Generations Ahead": All of the people interviewed stated that the Auto-Pilot feature motivated them to buy their Tesla vehicles and indicated that the technology exceeded anything the average consumer could expect over the next generations from other companies.

The Takeaway

While the lower prices of oil may negatively affect other car manufacturers and dealers, because of Tesla's innovations and delivery of unique experiences, Tesla has anecdotally escaped this. Summed up by one of the participants, "Tesla has perfected the driving experience, which is superior to even Ferrari, probably because Elon Musk himself drives a Tesla, he is not chaffered around, and hence he continues to perfect the driving experience."