Tesla’s ambition is to accelerate sustainable transport – this makes it the only larger car brand focused on this single purpose, while other brands talk about sustainability as one of several objectives. As long as other car companies are still invested in fossil fuel engines, they can’t compete with this purity of focus. Tesla’s message is much simpler and more powerful than if a traditional brand says, “we believe in sustainability and have the objective to sell 80 per cent of our cars as electric versions by 2030.” Tesla can say “we are electric”, versus “we would like to be electric but aren’t yet – please bear with us.”

The more straightforward a story is, the more value is created. Now Tesla is more valuable than Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW combined. This should be a wake-up call for incumbent car companies to change from lip service and PR stunts towards action and dramatically improved brand storytelling. If the story is not simple, they will lose relevance and as no one likes a story they’ve heard before, copying is not an option.

Another critical factor in storytelling is how entertaining it is. Musk stated on Twitter that, “Tesla will make fabulous short shorts in radiant red satin with gold trim.” He followed it with a second tweet, “Will send some to the Shortseller Enrichment Commission to comfort them through these difficult times”, a jab at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with whom he has feuded for years.

The result: when the short shorts launched earlier this month, in the promised shiny red colour with “S3XY” (a tribute to the four models Tesla is currently selling) written on the backside, the website collapsed due to the traffic. The shorts sold out in minutes for a price of “US$69.420” – another nod to the SEC, as he took Tesla private in 2018 at a stock price of US$420. Resellers are already offering the shorts at prices closer to US$200 and I expect prices to climb further as demand grows. Assuming production costs will be negligible, the value creation through one simple story is impressive.

Luxury is the ability to create extreme value and that is maximised through storytelling. No one would ever think of buying the short shorts without the story. They might have ended up in a clearance sale if they were simply shorts made by a fashion brand without any story. But with an entertaining, witty, provoking story, Musk showed the world again how extreme value is created.

Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter .