The Tesla Model S Controversy Unmasked

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The Tesla Model S Controversy Unmasked

by Josh Loposer (Subscribe to Josh Loposer's posts)
Feb 26th 2009 @ 5:00PM

Filed under: Cars and Transportation, GreenFinance

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Back in December, Tesla's SVP Darryl Siry announced rather abruptly that he would be leaving the senior executive position "due to some disagreements in strategy." Now, the plot thickens. According to Gawker, the true reason Siry tendered his resignation is that he disagreed with CEO Elon Musk that the company should start taking deposits on the Model S -- a super sexy-looking $50,000 electric sedan for which there is no factory or financing in place.

Considering all the circumstances surrounding Tesla (and most automakers) at the time -- and even more so now -- it seems pretty reasonable that Siry felt a little weird about taking money for a car with no real production plans. BTW, Tesla started taking deposits last week for $40,000. Some have already started comparing Musk with famous flop-miesters like Preston Tucker. Considering the relative success of the Roadster so far, I think it's a bit way-the-hell-too-early to call Tesla a flop. Granted, it appears that Musk is playing a little bit fast and loose for some people's tastes.

[via Gawker]

Comments [2]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-27-2009 @ 12:38AM

William E. Pommering said...

Apparently this was written by someone with no real knowledge of Preston Tucker, The Tucker Corporation of the accomplishments of the men and women that form the basis of the story behind the Tucker '48.

Flop, indeed!

Try unwarranted and unprecedented regulatory interference.

2-27-2009 @ 10:19AM

P Weiss said...

That is not the real story.. the real story is that the Bush Administration set out to kill Tesla because previous Washington DC was owned and controlled by big oil who also owns Detroit. Tesla turned in all of its paperwork for the multiple DOE loans, WHICH HAD BEEN CREATED UINDER LAW AS EMERGENCY FUNDING TO BE DELIVERED IN 2008 AND NO LATER! And DOE buried the funding and delayed it until Tesla was financially ruined. It should have taken 3 people, 4 days to look over Tesla’s application. They have INTENTIONALLY DELAYED the DOE 136 Money and Loan Guarantee money for FIVE MONTHS in order to kill Tesla. They had the paperwork for almost half a year yet the only looked at it A FEW DAYS AGO because they were ordered to by the NEW White House according to a top former Tesla Exec. There should be a corruption investigation that ties big oil to certain Bush Executives, some of whom are STILL THERE!

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