In this guide on car stock and other automobile stock, we will look at the biggest companies and ask whether it’s a good idea to invest in them or not. These companies helped to kick manufacturing up a level a century ago and they have been at the forefront of it ever since. They are companies we rely upon, creating products we all want and aspire towards and products that can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
On the surface, they sound like the perfect companies to invest in. But what happens when you dig a little deeper? What happens when you look beyond the surface and ask if car stock is the way to go? That’s exactly what we plan to do.
The Best Car Stock to Buy
In a moment we will tell you weather it is a good idea to invest in car stock or not. We’ll be brutally honest with you, even if our “advice” is not going to win us any brownie points from our readers. But before we get to that, we need to focus on the biggest and best players in this industry.
As you may know, General Electric are a huge company and they are one of the biggest car stock in the United States, yet they went bankrupt not so long ago and only just managed to drag themselves back into the black following a bail out. So, if car manufacturing is such a lucrative venture, then why did they fail?
Well, there are many reasons for this, but the main one is brand power and recognition. They are known for producing big muscle cars, which is not ideal in an age where everyone wants smaller cars and more economical engines. Also, while they are dominant in America, they barely sell outside of it, and many of their brands, including Chevrolet and Buick, are just unheard of elsewhere.
If you want a good example of what a potential profitable car manufacturer looks like, then take look at Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). They are are the forefront of innovation and are taking this industry to new levels. They don’t make a lot of cars, certainly not enough to rival the biggest players in numbers, but most of the ones they make are sold and there is always high demand.
Then you have the likes of Toyota, who sell more cars than any other, have global recognition and are also looking to develop new tech to prepare them for the future.
Should You Invest in Car Stock?
It all depends on how you look at it. On the one hand, this could be a great time to invest in cars. After all, there are more cars on the road than ever before and the numbers are only increasing. We have an insatiable appetite for cars and that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon.
However, there is a flip side to this coin that may make you think twice about car stock. For one thing, cities are expanding. There are more people living inside city limits than ever before and the cities that have previously afforded a lot of space and freedom in the past, are getting smaller and more limited. In the world’s biggest cities, including New York and London, no one drives because it’s just not practical.
If other cities grow at the same rate, then car use will decrease, more and more will turn to public transport and car stock will be worthless. Except, it’s not even that simple, because there is a third option, a third side of the coin if you like, and that comes in the shape of electric cars and other innovations.
If companies like Tesla and Google can succeed in creating economical and environmentally friendly cars, as well as self-driving cars and other advanced tech, then even city dwellers in London could return to their four wheeled machines and continue their reliance upon them.
So, What does this Mean?
There was no definitive answer above. We didn’t tell you whether you should invest in car stock or not. And that’s because we don’t really know. Your guess is as good as ours. However, what we will say is that some big car stocks and shares can make for a great addition to any stock portfolio.
Stock portfolio should include an array of different companies from many different industries. It’s a way of not keeping all of your eggs in one basket, of diversifying. When you do this you guard against many negatives and potential issues, but it also makes things a little more interesting. So while we can’t offer a complete positive or negative with regards to investing in automobile manufacturers or retailers, we would certain recommend and that you look into it.
This is an industry that is worth an obscene amount of money. Think about it for a moment, most people will buy a car in their lifetimes and many of us will buy several. It’s like anything else, from laptops to beds, in that we need them and we buy them sporadically. The difference is that cars can cost tens of thousands. So, it goes without saying that the companies that dominate this industry are always going to make a pretty penny and the ones that can find a way to monopolize it in the future will make themselves and all of their investors very rich indeed.
Final Word on Car Stock
We have mentioned a few key car stocks in this short article. If you click the hyperlinks on these mentions then you will be taken to full guides where we discuss them in more detail. However, there are many more that we have written about. To see these, take a look at the menus above and the “Car / Automobile Stock” one in particular. If you scroll over this then you will see a number of guides drop down, all of which contain a wealth of info on the companies in question.