

Tesla Motors CEO: Let Me Run Detroit - peter123
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/elon-musk-on-the-inevitability-of-the-ev-running-detroit-and-firing-a-certain-someone/

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SwellJoe
While I think just about anybody could do a better job with US car companies
than the current management (or of the past 20 years), I don't know that Elon
Musk has proven he has the ability to run a car company effectively, either.

Tesla has consistently delivered late, made numerous financial and legal
missteps, and they've underestimated (dramatically) the cost of producing
their cars (the Tesla roadster is more than twenty grand more expensive than
the early price estimates). That's not to say they aren't learning fast
enough, or that they won't build a great car company...I just think it's early
to suggest that Elon Musk is a genius at running a car company at this point
in time.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
To be fair, this has absolutely nothing to do with Musk actually trying to run
Detroit and everything with getting some free press for saying that he should.

~~~
grandalf
exactly -- and what self-respecting person would "run" Detroit in any other
way than by leading his company to earn market share?

Sounds like he's begging for a cookie.

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Sam_Odio
Elon Musk is CEO, not founder, of Tesla.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk>

That typo is an interesting coincident given the recent lawsuit by Eberhard
(one of Tesla's two founders who was ousted by Elon). It seems like Musk is
using Wired to publicly disparage him: “I said .. 'There will be no assholes.'
I fired someone for being an asshole. And I only had to do that once,
actually.”

While I'm no fan of Detroit's management this Silicon Valley in-fighting is
definitely not what they need.

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brk
Well "Detroit" is really 2, or maybe 3, different "holding" companies, making
up about a half dozen brands (give or take after everything shakes out).

Additionally, 1/2 of "Detroit", Ford Motor Company, while not posting stellar
returns has managed to stay viable and not take any government bailout money.
We will see what the future brings...

So, what he is really saying is "Let me run GM", a job for which he is fully
underqualified and unprepared for.

Paypal was a pretty big success for him. It is unclear if that was more skill
or luck, although it seems like it lands on the side of luck if I had to pick
one or the other. Paypal also gained a rightfully earned reputation, even
before ebay bought them, for having fairly horrible customer service. Maybe
Elon's plan for fixing GM is just to randomly deny valid warranty claims and
seize customer cars without warning (you could file a dispute process though,
if you really wanted to).

Yeah, this whole thing is a PR stunt, but it kind of makes him (IMO) come off
looking like an ass. I might feel differently if his tenure at Tesla has
produced something that has a chance of being a free standing viable car
company, but that is so far not a foregone conclusion.

~~~
ph0rque
I was hoping they meant Eberhardt when I read the title of the article.

~~~
brk
That's funny, so was I!

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pedalpete
My biggest complaint about Tesla and the reason Musk is not ready to 'Run
Detroit' is that we have not seen manufacturing innovations from Tesla, and it
seems they are building a similar infrastructure to the Detroit. Compare that
with Fisker who is designing and marketing cars while leaving manufacturing
and distribution to those with expertise.

What other modern consumer brand manages the entire eco-system from design to
sale? (somewhat ignoring the fact that the Tesla Roadster parts was sourced by
Lotus, the Tesla sedan I believe is completely an in house product).

~~~
absconditus
Apple?

~~~
pedalpete
apple isn't doing their own manufacturing, they outsourced that years ago.
Apple is a design & marketing company, much like Fisker. (sure they have some
of their own 'flagship' stores, but I doubt the majority of Macs/ipods/iphones
are purchased through these outlets.

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Dilpil
Fair enough, he does have previous experience running an unprofitable business
off of government money by appealing to morality.

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jsz0
Sounds like he'd run the US auto industry even deeper into the ground. He has
the same broken mentality of telling consumers what they want and not learning
from what they are actually buying. He just happens to believe that it's
electric cars consumers want whereas the old US auto industry believed it was
gigantic SUVs and hideous station wagon/mini-van abominations even when the
market was changing under their feet. For the most part affordable/dependable
35-40MPG cars are completely acceptable to people. Most people don't need
100MPG hybrids or 100% electric cars and most won't pay the premium for them.

~~~
stcredzero
I'd love an electric with 100 mile range, provided recharging after partial
discharge didn't compromise battery life. That would suit me just fine. Once
economy of scale starts working with the battery tech, this will work out
better economically for a large fraction of consumers.

Even better, EVs with 100 mile range and an optional petro fuel or propane
generator module to turn it into a series hybrid on long trips. I only need
the long-range capability of an internal combustion engine occasionally. Why
do I want to pay for the overhead of hauling such equipment around when I'm
just commuting or running to the store? Essentially, that's what many of us do
with our internal combustion cars. We drive a heavier, noisier, over-capable
long range vehicle that's less appropriate for the short neighborhood trip,
just so we have the long range capability available, even though we use it
only occasionally.

