Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk usually take the time to provide some pretty detailed responses to criticisms of his company’s business model or technologies. But his frustration with New York Times columnist Randall Stross led to some rather humorous name-calling. Musk told Sarah Lacy of Yahoo’s Tech Ticker Stross is a “huge douchebag, and an idiot.” In a separate interview with internet talk show host Kevin Pollack, Musk said the deposits being placed on the Model S are safe, and he will personally guarantee them.
Stross wrote a controversial column for the NYT criticizing Tesla ’s request for less than 1.5 percent, $350 million, of the $25 billion Department of Energy loan program for makers of energy efficient cars. The Times later retracted the column, but not before it received significant exposure online.
Stross’ argument is based around the fact that Tesla currently sells a high-end sports car as its only model, and is planning a luxury sedan next. Stross contends Tesla’s cars can only be afforded by “the rich,” and therefore the company should not receive government loans. Stross has been criticized for ignoring the fact that Tesla plans to introduce lower cost cars as the technology comes down in price.
“Why would he pick on the little guy who’s trying to do good when you’ve got egregious waste of money in the tens of billions occurring in Detroit?” asked Musk in response. “He should understand that when you have a new technology it takes time to optimize it.”
“Effectively what he would be saying is if you can’t immediately make a new technology affordable to everyone, then you shouldn’t do it. That’s ridiculous,” he added.
In his interview with Pollack last week, Musk made similar comments about the costs associated with new technologies. Musk indicated Tesla’s focus is to make electric cars that are price-competitive in their segment. “It’s very important an electric car be a comparable price to other cars of its type,” he said. He often likens the company’s Roadster to being competitive with a Porsche 911, and the Model S competitive with the BMW 5-Series .
“And this is the problem that GM is going to see with the Volt. They’re having trouble bringing the cost of that car below $40,000. And that’s problematic when you’re talking about a car that is essentially intended to compete against gasoline cars in the $25,000 to $35,000 range.” After launching the Model S, Tesla hopes to roll out a sub-$30,000 all-electric car codenamed BlueStar, at which point Musk reckons the economics of such a vehicle will make sense.
“The plan of action was and is to produce an expensive car in low volume, then a medium cost car in medium volume, and then a lower cost car in high volume. That was my plan from the beginning and that remains the plan today,” said Musk. “The overarching point of Tesla is to accelerate the electric car revolution,” he added.
Regarding the over seven hundred $5,000 deposits placed by customers on the 2012 Model S, Musk said even if Tesla goes bust, the money will be refunded. Musk, whose net worth is in the hundreds of millions, has personally guaranteed the deposits.
“I’m personally standing behind the reservation payments,” he said. “If anyone is concerned about us going out of business, the only thing you should worry about is if I get hit by a bus,” he joked. He went on to say he’s making sure he has a life insurance policy to cover that unlikelihood.
Tech Ticker Interview (7 min, 30 sec):
Kevin Pollack Interview (60 min):
