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As Tesla, the US electric carmaker, has become the world's largest carmaker by market capitalization, its market capitalization now exceeds that of all traditional carmakers, including the big three in the US combined. For better development, Musk said a few days ago that he was willing to buy a traditional car company.

When Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla, talked about buying traditional cars at an award event organized by German broadcaster Axel Springer last week, Mr Musk said Tesla would be willing to start a merger with another traditional car company.

"We will never launch a hostile takeover, but if a car company thinks a merger with Tesla is a good idea, we are happy to have a dialogue with him," he said. " It can be seen that Musk has a positive attitude towards acquiring or merging with traditional car companies.

According to the current market capitalization of Tesla, it is not unthinkable to acquire other car companies. According to the rules of the American Stock Exchange, Tesla does not need to obtain shareholder approval for trading when his outstanding shares increase by no more than 20 per cent. In terms of its market capitalization, it can be said that it did not hesitate to buy BMW, Daimler, or even gnash its teeth to buy Toyota.

However, according to an analysis by Reuters, Daimler may become the most suitable traditional car company for Tesla to acquire. Reuters believes that because Ford and General Motors, both American brands and competitors, do not meet the merger criteria, and the Volkswagen brand is currently developing a large number of electric platforms, the two are in a competitive teammate and ally relationship; while BMW is basically ruled out because of its equity problem, so on the whole, only Daimler is the best choice. Because Daimler and Tesla are a good match, because Tesla's customer positioning is more high-end, it is easy to accept luxury models.

In fact, Daimler and Truss have a long history. At that time, Tesla was mired in the global economic crisis and was even rumored to be going bankrupt. Tesla turned to traditional car companies for help. In 2009, Tesla successfully won a $50 million grant from Daimler and exchanged for a 10 per cent stake in Tesla. Unfortunately, Daimler sold its stake in Tesla a long time ago, and in 2014, Daimler sold its stake in Tesla for $780 million and terminated its powertrain supply agreement with Tesla. After all, Tesla, who is now at his peak, has a market capitalization of $60 billion.

Reuters also predicts that if the acquisition is successful, Daimler will be able to help Tesla increase production fourfold. After all, the acquisition of traditional car companies may help Tesla solve the capacity problem faster than the self-built factory. The production cycle of the acquired factory is faster, which also helps Tesla to further expand capacity and market advantages. It is understood that Tesla currently has a total of 4 factories in the global market and is temporarily unable to achieve the 10 million-level target.

However, if there is a really successful acquisition or merger, it is worth thinking about who will lead the acquisition, whether Daimler will turn to more fashionable electric design, or whether Tesla will be assimilated by Daimler tradition.

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