Can Tesla justify a $300bn valuation?

Elon Musk's company is the world's most valuable carmaker, but it has never made a profit

When Elon Musk tweeted in May that the share price of Tesla was too high" at $780 (622), it caused a brief moment of panicked selling by investors in the electric carmaker. Yet two months later Tesla had overtaken Toyota as the world's most valuable carmaker in a remarkable rally in which its market value briefly topped $300bn this week.

Tesla has never made an annual profit but the company has a market value equivalent to a third of the combined US, EU and Japanese auto indices - despite an expected share of only 0.8% of the global auto market this year. That disconnect has prompted re-evaluation from some investors and euphoria for others as they try to work out if the carmaker can ever justify the heady valuation.