Gary Black, managing partner at The Future Fund LLC, said Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has "underinvested in marketing forever," contrasting the EV maker with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s strategy.
In a post on X on Saturday, Black said Apple dominates the cell phone business because it pairs a great product with great marketing.
Autonomy Could Become a Commodity
In an earlier post, Black said that within three to five years, every ride-hailing service will offer both chauffeured and self-driving options across its products, including Uber Black, Uber X and Uber XL.
In that scenario, he said, unsupervised autonomy becomes a commodity, meaning a product so widely available and similar across providers that it no longer sets one company apart. He said every other innovation in automotive history has followed that path and that he does not believe this time will be different. He added that it is not that he fails to value Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.
That is why, he said, Tesla must turn its first-mover advantage, or head start, into a lasting edge through "superior advertising and execution." Otherwise, he warned, Chinese and other manufacturers could take its business, as happened in EVs over the past five years.
Black’s Marketing Argument
Black has made this case before. In April, he estimated Apple’s annual advertising spend at about $2 billion. He said Apple spent hundreds of millions promoting the first iPhone in 2007.
In August, he said Tesla cannot match Apple’s $4.4 trillion market value by relying on word of mouth and Musk’s posts on X alone. He tied the lack of marketing to Tesla’s weak five-year stock performance.
The gap has persisted this year. Apple shares have gained 24.22% year to date, while Tesla has fallen 12.64%.
The issue is growing more pressing. Tesla is known for doing little traditional advertising, even as it expands beyond EVs into robotaxis and its Optimus humanoid robot. CEO Elon Musk has said these could be trillion-dollar revenue drivers. Black said Tesla lacks the marketing leadership to support that push.
Trading Metrics
| Company | Market Capitalization | Annual Trading Range (52-Week High–Low) |
|---|---|---|
| Tesla | $1.51 trillion | $297.38–$498.82 |
| Apple | $4.91 trillion | $243.42–$345.34 |
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
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