Tesla chief executive speaks his mind as company faces obstacles

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Elon Musk, the PayPal co-founder who made a large fortune -- about $200 million -- when EBay acquired the company in 2002, has figured out the entrepreneurial maxim, “How do you become a millionaire in high-tech? Start with two.”

Musk, who bounces between ideas like Heidi and Spencer bounce between reality shows is a serial entrepreneur and with that, some ideas seem to work, such as Solar City, a company Musk is involved in that builds solar power systems for homes and corporations. And some are just so odd that we find them awesome, such as Musk’s space exploration company Space-X, which recently won a $1-billion contract from NASA to resupply the International Space Station after the space shuttle retires in 2010.

But Musk’s most noble, or ignoble, if you are one of those types, company is Tesla Motors. It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Musk and Tesla. First Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard sued Musk and Tesla for libel and breach of contract stemming from a variety of personal and professional issues with Musk and the company.

Then, at Wired’s business conference, Disruptive by Design, which took place in Manhattan recently, Musk, who is never one to shy away from controversy, commented publicly on the state of the automotive industry. “When the mess gets sorted out, I’d like to have a conversation with whoever’s in charge at the time -- the car czar or whoever -- and say ‘I’d like to run your plants, if you don’t mind.’ ”

Musk then went and put the smack down on the Toyota Prius by remarking, “A Prius is not a true hybrid, really. The current Prius is like, 2% electric. It’s a gasoline car with slightly better mileage.’
Ouch. And considering Tesla has made about, hmmm, one-millionth of the amount of the Prius, I am not sure he has room to comment.

We drove the Tesla Roadster a few years ago and were nonplussed by the vehicle. That said, there have been changes and some system upgrades, but, well, meh.

Musk said recently that the material cost of the electric car company’s Roadster sports car has dropped to about $80,000, which should help the company reach profitability next month. In a blog post on Tesla’s website, it was noted that the material cost, which is the total cost of the parts and components that make up each vehicle, was as high as $140,000 in the summer of 2007. The Tesla Roadster has a starting sticker price of $109,000, or the same price as a fully loaded Porsche 911, which we’d rather own.

But no matter who says what about the Tesla Roadster – whether or not it’s the car of the future, or a shining example of Vaporware at its finest -- Musk can at least take satisfaction that his company is worth a cool billion and he builds rocket ships.

-- Jon Alain Guzik

Jon Alain Guzik is editor in chief at Driverside.com