It’s not often that the auto industry sees a new entrant. Other than a few small ones, the players in the industry have remained fairly static since the 1960’s.

But could that change soon? Is it time for a new company to take some of the market share?

Elon Musk, founder of Paypal, Space X, and Tesla Motors, is hoping the answer is a yes.

Musk started Tesla Motors, Inc. in 2010. Since then, the value of the company’s stock has increased nearly tenfold.

Tesla initially didn’t seem like much of a threat; it didn’t produce its first car, the luxury Model S Sedan, until two years after the company’s founding. Tesla is now projected to sell its 50,000th Model S by the end of October.

The next most recent attempt at an entry into the auto industry is the ill-fated DeLorean Motor Company (which, despite its failure, is still my favorite car company of all time,) which only sold 9,000 cars before being shut down in 1983. After a mere two years, Musk has blown the DeLorean’s sales out of the water.

Tesla has experienced quite a bit of success so far, but many ask about the company’s future. It seems to look pretty good.

Surprisingly, the automotive giants and oil companies, whom Tesla is a huge threat to since all the cars are solar charged and fully electric, have done little to stop the growth of Tesla.

Many speculate that General Motors (GM) and Ford conspired against the DeLorean Motor Company to shut it down before it could take off. Since Tesla managed to dodge that bullet and start unhinged by its competitors, there’s a good chance that the snowball is already too large to stop from rolling.

The company is not free of doubters. Many people tend to scoff at the idea of Tesla going much farther. After all, the company only produces rather expensive luxury electric sedans.

However, many people are starting to see all electric cars as a huge plus. As the technology improves, they grow cheaper and more effective, becoming a much larger rival to dirty combustion-powered cars.

There is also growing support of green technologies with the threat of climate change becoming more of a forefront issue.

Tesla could easily steal green customers from GM and Ford’s hybrid cars (which aren’t even really green due to the  hybrids using gas- and coal-powered electricity rather than solar). To do this they only have to advertise that all Teslas can be charged for free from hundreds of strategically placed solar-powered car chargers throughout the world.

Another reason some may still doubt Tesla’s expansion is because even though the Model S appeals to green consumers, it’s still a very niche market. The car has an upper five-digit price range, and although the Model S is extremely high performance, it’s still expensive. Therefore, larger automotive dealers may view Tesla only as competition for their luxury vehicles.

While this is true for the moment, it won’t be for long. Musk has announced plans to release several new cars: the SUV Model X, the super card P85D, and the economical daily driver sedan, and the Model 3.

With that lineup, Tesla will be appealing to a lot of consumers with a unique competitive advantage over the other companies: all of their cars are completely green.

If Ford and GM didn’t see Tesla as a threat earlier, they had better start doing so now for their own sake. Otherwise Tesla might be a brand seen quite a bit dominating the street in the near future.