Former Ford CEO says Tesla is an 'Iconic Brand'

Former Ford CEO Mark Fields joined Squawk on the Street to discuss Tesla's market performance and demand for electric cars. Fields served as Ford CEO from 2014 to 2017.

He said that Tesla deserves praise for building an "iconic brand" for electrification, and investors have reason to be optimistic. The catalyst for this is the increase in production in China and the further development of the company in Europe.

"If you look at what Tesla has done, they have really created a kind of iconic brand... an aspirational brand for electric vehicles."
"Tesla's done a really good job with early adopters and creating that brand."

Fields notes that Tesla’s competitive advantage is its software, which is already many years ahead of its competitors. Competitors themselves admit their weaknesses. For example, Volkswagen executives, at an internal meeting, said they were far behind Tesla in software development for its ID.3.

Fields said the future of the automotive industry remains autonomous, although specific dates could change. As soon as this becomes a reality, Tesla will also be able to have a key advantage over its competitors, as its vehicles are constantly collecting data today.

"In the case of Tesla, I think... Will Tesla have an advantage because they have that network of users [already] and could that network of users [be used] as a car service or things of that nature?"

Meanwhile, shares of the EV maker have more than doubled over the past six months as investors reset profit expectations amid stronger delivery figures, an ongoing expansion of production facilities and a more disciplined approach from CEO Elon Musk.

Tesla shares are up another 3% premarket, lifting gains over the last 24 hours past 10% and extending a record run with a market cap of over $ 100B. This means that Tesla became the first $100 billion publicly listed U.S. carmaker in extended trading.

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