Encore: Tesla vs Detroit | Appetite for Destruction | 4

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After weathering an investigation by the government for their EVs catching on fire, Tesla is hit by another probe after things get deadly. But the company is dedicated to Autopilot, its self-driving system. And once again, nearly every iconic brand in Detroit is following along. Elon Musk amps up his Twitter commentary, offending multitudes and putting fear into investors. But company value skyrockets. As Tesla moves into the 2020s, its' facing hurdles that were unimaginable just a few years ago, from alleged racism to a worldwide pandemic. The effects of these and other crises are still playing out as Tesla heads into the future.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This series originally aired in 2022.
0:09.7	A note to listeners, this episode contains adult content and language.
0:16.4	It's February 2015 at Tesla's corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
0:22.6	A Tesla communications manager looks up from his laptop to see a colleague at the door.
0:27.7	Oh, hey, you want to order some lunch? I was thinking Chinese.
0:31.2	I don't even think about Chinese food right now.
0:34.8	You got to learn to separate food and business. Come on, have you seen the numbers?
0:39.0	We're getting hammered by Chinese EVs and hybrids. We only sold 3500 cars there last year.
0:44.8	That's way below what Elon projected. And on top of that, we lost woo.
0:49.7	Tesla lured Veronica Woo away from Apple to lead Tesla's expansion.
0:54.8	As company president in China, she wanted Tesla to partner with other car dealerships.
1:00.4	Musk wasn't having it. After only nine months on the job, Woo left the company.
1:07.3	That was a gut punch, but the buyers do love their Tesla's and are super active on social media.
1:13.1	So what? That love's going to disappear if they can't charge their electric cars.
1:17.6	Nearly 75% of people in China's urban areas live in apartments where most can't
1:23.8	charge their cars. And some owners say shared garage charging poses a fire hazard.
1:30.2	Musk promised 10 months ago that he would have a network of hundreds of high-speed supercharging
1:35.2	stations soon. Right now, there are only 23 making potential customers nervous about buying.
1:43.7	And we have another problem. What's that? The Model S is pricey, which wealthy Chinese people love,
1:50.4	but it's like a foot shorter than most luxury SUVs. You know, it's go big or go home in that market.
1:57.4	The Model X will be in China next year, and it's tall, but just like the Model S,
2:01.5	it's going to need a lot more supercharging stations.
	...

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