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Virgin Considering Tesla Rival?

Billionaire Richard Branson has made no secret of his dream to conquer space with the Virgin Galactic brand. Now, the British mastermind has hinted he may be considering another space: the growing electric vehicle market. Branson already rivals Tesla f


Billionaire Richard Branson has made no secret of his dream to conquer space with the Virgin Galactic brand. Now, the British mastermind has hinted he may be considering another space: the growing electric vehicle market.

Branson already rivals Tesla founder Elon Musk in the space game - Musk also operates the pioneering SpaceX company - but a move into the automotive market would see the pair competing on a second front.

Speaking with business paper Bloomberg at this week’s Miami round of the new Formula E series, where Virgin fields an electric race car, Branson teased that the company’s involvement could be a sign of things to come.

"We have teams of people working on electric cars (for Formula E)," Branson said.

"So you never know - you may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business. We will see what happens."

Virgin is just the latest company to be rumoured for a first-ever entry into the automotive market, with tech giants Google and Apple also believed to be planning their own electric - and autonomous - vehicles.

Google has been open about its work on a uniquely styled self-driving EV and, while Apple has yet to confirm plans, photos and reports in recent weeks suggest the company is up to something in the segment.

As for Tesla, Elon Musk told press this week that his company’s already impressive EVs are not far away from having the technology to offer reliable autonomous driving.

“I almost view it as a solved problem,” Musk said. “We know exactly what to do, and we’ll solve it in a few years.”

MORE: EVs | Autonomous Driving | Tesla

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