Should Tesla Be Called An Automotive Company, Or A Tech Company Or BOTH?

The answer is **technology**. It's always been about technology.

And good question, Autospies — because it is the dearth of any sort of critical breakthroughs in TECHNOLOGY which have sunk our current (Ford) and past (GM, Chrysler) domestic automakers.

If I were one of the thousands of arrogant, do-nothing executives at GM and Ford, I would be starting to get worried right about now!

As an exec at a domestic automaker, you need to innovate both products and production processes to stay ahead of the geniuses in Europe and Asia who are 1) smarter than you and 2) work harder for less pay.

Execs and GM and Ford weren't following that rule — and now, as a result, we have a BRAND NEW domestic automaker.

Pay attention GM and Ford execs: Your days of being paid $1xx,000 per year to do little more than hold lots of meetings about marketing and "brand awareness" — as meanwhile your company fails to introduce any meaningful technological breakthroughs — are coming to an end soon.

You all need to start finding new careers now.

First off, I don't think the auto makers in Europe and Asia are necessarily smarter or that they work harder. It is more easily explained by better profit margins, fewer healthcare burdens, and better brand identity.

Second, I do think compensation needs to change. The guys at the top don't really do all that much, compared to so the engineers who actually make the damn cars work.

Third, Tesla is probably not going to succeed in the long term. They have some serious problems, particularly financially. More than that, though, Tesla's biggest problem is the CEO. Musk is arrogant and myopic. What he does he does for ego and that always comes back to bite you. Its funny that Musk can be a strength and a weakness at the same time. I think his weaknesses will out weigh his strengths though.

I'd like to call it the rebirth of the American car industry. Perhaps in a few years once Tesla's platforms are proven, they could license the platform and powertrain out to GM and Ford (to help achieve mass market efficiencies of scale) and let those two figure out how to distinguish their offerings with their own style and value propositions.

Hopefully Americans are willing to pay a little more to support our car companies instead of blindly running head first, job lost towards the $25K cash back, 0%/18yr neon signs of the Koreans.