Here's why Tesla is not the next Apple (TSLA, AAPL)

That's a big summarizing statement from the case made by Loup Venture's Gene Munster, Doug Clinton that Tesla, with a $50-billion current market cap, is destined to become the next Apple (market cap: $770 billion.)

Munster was a noted Apple analyst when he was ensconced at Piper Jaffray, and he's now out on his own with a venture fund. Thematically, he's looking for another Apple, and Tesla is clearly it.

Tesla combines all the elements that Apple enthusiasts love to tout about the tech giant: visionary leader (Elon Musk and Steve Jobs), cultlike following, sexy products, a walled-garden approach the user experience. It has for some time, and certainly since Jobs' death, been extremely tempting to slot Musk into a role as the next Steve, and to promote Tesla as the latest high-tech, big-growth company.

Conveniently overlooked in this analysis is Tesla's inability to make money; its difficulties achieving its production and deliveries targets; the meager global market for electric vehicles; and most critically the fact that Tesla is effectively not a consumer electronics company, but rather an auto manufacturer.

Not a tech company

This distinction between Tesla-the-carmaker and Tesla-the-Silicon-Valley-tech darling is nothing new. It's actually becoming progressively more evident as Tesla produces more vehicles and heads toward the introduction of its mass-market Model 3 later this year.

But Munster and his colleagues can't resist the Apple-Tesla analogy, no matter how tenuous it is. To support their case, they offer five key similarities between the companies: brand; visionary leadership; integrated hardware and software; halo effect; reshaping a market.

Munster believes that Tesla's high-satisfaction rate thus far among owners means that Tesla matches Apple on that brand-love front. But with Apple, we're talking about a huge chunk of the market just for iPhones (beyond Apple's other products); with Tesla, we're dealing with a sliver of car owners.

Musk is certainly a visionary leader. In fact, he's much more visionary than Jobs. And that could be a problem — Jobs wasn't out to save the Earth or colonize Mars. His driving ambition was basically to make people happy.

As far as integrated hardware and software goes, Munster thinks that because Tesla does just about everything itself, it has

But that's bogus because most other major automakers could commence OTR updates tomorrow if they wanted, but they're unsure if it makes sense for consumers. In terms of autonomous driving, Tesla has been running its system for several years, but the owner base is still tiny, and the technology is distinctive, favoring cameras and sensors rather than more expensive laser-radar tech.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Business Insider.

Here's why Tesla is not the next Apple (TSLA, AAPL)

Not a tech company

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