Talk is cheap but he has people buying his BS. Tesla is worth more than all the other car companies combined. Someone explain how that can be?
Musk has his followers and definitely his believers. What he promises is just over the hill, and when one gets to the other side, there is a new and better promise just over the next hill. They keep following him and making him richer.
The guy is so full of himself that he first claims he will save the world with his electric cars. His goals are constantly shifting, but he consistently fails to reach them before he shifts them. I don’t understand how supposedly intelligent people keep falling for guys who lie their way to the top.
Musk said making an affordable car has been his “dream” since joining the company. While Tesla has jump-started the EV market by offering its premium Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, Musk has missed his targets to deliver electric vehicles attractively priced for the mass market.
“We specialize in making the impossible merely late,” he said at an event in February to celebrate the launch of Tesla’s engineering headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Here is a timeline of his comments on affordable vehicles.
2006
Musk unveiled his “secret” master plan, opens new tab under which he said he would build affordable electric cars. “So, in short, the master plan is: Build sports car, Use that money to build an affordable car, Use that money to build an even more affordable car.”
2016
Musk said Tesla would launch a $35,000 Model 3 electric sedan before government incentives by the end of 2017, but the version was only briefly available starting in 2019. At present, Tesla’s least expensive car after a recent price cut is $42,990 for a Model 3 standard range version. It costs about $35,000 after U.S. government incentives of $7,500 that could be cut in half starting in March depending on requirements for battery minerals.
jANUARY 2022
When asked by an investor about a $25,000 car, Musk said Tesla was not developing the car, saying “we have enough on our plate right now, too much on our plate, frankly.” The question is “sort of the wrong question, really,” he said, adding that what overwhelmingly matters is when the car will be autonomous.
OCTOBER 2022
Musk said Tesla was working on the next-generation vehicle, which would be probably be about half the cost of the Model 3 and Y platform. Tesla said its cost per vehicle was $36,000 in late 2021.
From another article:
Musk rarely meets his self-imposed deadlines, but he’s always excelled at marshaling others to his cause with grand pronouncements and sprawling visions. Now he’s looking beyond cars, and even robots. “I really want today to be not only about investors who own Tesla stock, but anyone who is an investor in Earth,” he said.
People are starting to see what he is and compare him to Trump.
Still, it seems quite likely that there will be a lasting impact in response to Musk’s provocations, especially in Hollywood. And, given the industry’s influence over consumer behavior, this effect will likely become more pervasive — nationally, or even globally, says Edwards. “When you have that level of hubris, you do and say the dumbest things. And I would say that Trump and Elon are very similar. They do and say some of the dumbest things,” he says. “If Elon continues on this path, he’s going to find himself without a company in the U.S.”
Overstatements, obfuscations and broken promises regarding the unveiling and production of future Tesla products — a “semi” tractor-trailer, a new sporty roadster, an entry-level vehicle, this robotaxi — are so frequent as to be standard operating procedure. Since Tesla entirely eliminated its public relations department four years ago, The Hollywood Reporter can’t confirm that this event (already postponed once this year) will occur at all.