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The relentless rally in Tesla Inc. shares has driven its valuation close to the consumer product behemoth Procter & Gamble Co. as investors bet on the electric vehicle maker’s ability to dominate the automotive market of the future.

Tesla Inc.’s soaring valuation led to a downgrade by Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi on July 28, who said it is difficult to justify the market capitalization even using best-case scenarios.

Volkswagen AG’s CEO again praised Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk, this time for showing it’s possible to profit off electric cars even in the midst of a global pandemic.

Tesla Inc. lowered the deposit that buyers in China have to put down on its cars, seeking to keep sales momentum in the face of intensifying competition and reductions in the government’s electric-vehicle subsidies.

The prospect of a Tesla Inc. factory in the Austin, Texas, area has moved a big step closer to reality, after Travis County commissioners on July 14 approved tax breaks the electric vehicle maker requested.

After a torrid rally that saw shares more than double since early May, Tesla Inc. is taking a pause on July 15, even as the broader market rises on the hopes for a coronavirus vaccine.

Tesla Inc.’s relentless surge continued July 13 amid several upcoming events that include the possible unveiling of new battery technology from the electric vehicle maker, entry into a lucrative new market and the potential inclusion of the stock into the prestigious S&P 500 Index.

Zero-emission truck maker Nikola Corp., which recently jumped to a publicly traded company from its startup perch, has begun building prototypes of its heavy-duty battery-electric model in Germany and is set for groundbreaking on a plant in the United States this summer.

CEO Elon Musk sent an email to Tesla employees before the market opened June 10 declaring that it is “time to go all out” and put Tesla’s Semi into volume production.