Tesla and Elon Musk – how do they fit?

A couple of days ago, 18 May, Julie Carrie Wong wrote from Fremont, California (USA), about the staff from the Tesla factory. They were not being paid much – its 10,000 human workers only getting paid around $22 each hour. Too many of them got hurt at work, according to the article. This was not a good read, and yet, looking into the history of Tesla, it sounds – to me – that this situation has changed very recently. Elon Musk, the CEO, says its “factory safety record has significantly improved over the last year.” Will these people be working for more money and less work in this future company?

Tesla was founded in 2003 and the first of its cars, the Tesla Roadster, was produced in the Fremont assembly facility in 2008. Today the company is valued at $50 billion, much provided by shareholders.

Motoring wrote, in 2014, about the release of the Tesla Model S in Australia, priced in excess of $96k. In 2016/17 the Model X SUV was available in Aus, with “falcon wing doors”. It was (is) available for $111,900 or more, according to Car Advice. They then reported that the Tesla Model 3, the “new People's Car”, was to be released in Aus in 2018 for around $60k.

How is Tesla working out in Aus, when they aren't even made in Aus? How do they compare to, say, GM – Holden, which used to be made in Aus? Some Holdens had been made entirely here since 1948, but by 20 October 2017 they say they'll be finished up here. (Have look at the other article dated 5 December2013.)

In 2015 there were some races between the Tesla Model S P85D and Australia's fastest four-door sedans, the Supercheap Auto Racing Holden Commodore V8 Supercar and the Walkinshaw Performance W507 HSV GTS. The Tesla won. In 2016 Car Review gave the Model S reviews 8.5; they jumped up in 2017 to 9. If you're interested or are possibly thinking of leasing or buying, have a look at their review page.

Elon Musk is a billionaire. He was one of the co-founders of Tesla in 2003. They built a powertrain for a sports car around the Nikolas Tesla AC induction motor, patented in 1888, and it went into the Tesla Roadster in 2008. Previously Musk had co-founded PayPal, which was sold and is now the world's leading internet payment system. He had also founded the SpaceX company in 2002. In Feb 2013 he was videoed at his TED talk about SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity. Sydney Morning Herald wrote yesterday about Musk “...building brain-computer interface to protect against AI singularity”.

So, with Musk juggling three companies, how does Tesla come into the present against GM Holden? And BMW, Porsches, Mercedes, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota and so many other car manufacturers? Well, according to the funding timeline in Wikipaedia, they started making money in April 2004, nearly went bankrupt in November 2008, and has since then become a successful car manufacturer. The Consumer Report, also mentioned in Wikipaedia, “ranks Tesla as the top American car brand and the 8th among global carmakers.” 

That sounds quite a bit different to what Musk had said about the capital value of his company in the Wong's article at the top of this post: market capitalisation of Tesla of more than $50 billion is unwarranted; it produces just 1% of GM’s total output; it is a money-losing company. Yet they are now reporting improvement in their workplace safety. If that keeps happening, if their staff received more – much better – income, then maybe the despair could vanish.

Electric cars are – must be - the future. Aus's Car Review gave some very good reviews of the Tesla, and to quadruple the manufacturing of the car for 2018 might just make that company an eye-opener for every other manufacturer.

That's a pretty excellent sounding electric car and the Tesla company future.