Tesla CEO Elon Musk sways Daimler to invest $11B in EV development - Sensationalist Headlines

[media]https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/912036765287845888[/media] [media]https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/912384568790999040[/media] [QUOTE]Daimler AG, parent company to Mercedes-Benz, has responded to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s tweet that the company was “off by a zero” when it pledged to invest $1 billion in growing its electric vehicle manufacturing footprint. The German-based automotive giant which reported $180 billion in revenue in 2016 confirmed that they have upped the ante and will invest at least $10 billion in development of next-generation electric vehicles and over $1 billion in battery production. Mercedes brand executive Markus Schäfer stated, “We are significantly growing our manufacturing footprint here in Alabama, while sending a clear message to our customers across the U.S. and around the world: Mercedes-Benz will continue to be on the cutting-edge of electric vehicle development and production.”[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-twitter-daimler-commits-10b-ev-development-1b-battery/[/url]

That's pretty funny actually. I like how Elon's got everyone on the ropes, but that puts his sales in danger. I'm sure other brands can come up with something better eventually. But then again, Musk wants to be a power provider more than a auto maker, right?

[QUOTE=Rocâ„¢;52716915]That's pretty funny actually. I like how Elon's got everyone on the ropes, but that puts his sales in danger. I'm sure other brands can come up with something better eventually. But then again, Musk wants to be a power provider more than a auto maker, right?[/QUOTE] I think he knows better than to try to pull an Apple and destroy his competition only to have it backfire. He may, in some way, really actually give a shit about fair market and the fate of the world.

[QUOTE=Rocâ„¢;52716915]That's pretty funny actually. I like how Elon's got everyone on the ropes, but that puts his sales in danger. I'm sure other brands can come up with something better eventually. But then again, Musk wants to be a power provider more than a auto maker, right?[/QUOTE] I doubt he really cares about sales and profits, he didn't delve into EVs to make money. IIRC was selling Teslas at a loss until recently. He got into EVs to drive the EV market and force auto manufacturers to reply to the popularity of Teslas, thus forcing auto manufacturers to take steps away from fossil fuel vehicles.

I know it's mostly formality and all, but it's still funny to me how they feel the need to put "Tesla CEO" in the title as if people dont' know who Elon Musk is. I suppose it makes sense in the context now that I think about it.

[QUOTE=Cyke Lon bee;52716959]I doubt he really cares about sales and profits, he didn't delve into EVs to make money. IIRC was selling Teslas at a loss until recently. He got into EVs to drive the EV market and force auto manufacturers to reply to the popularity of Teslas, thus forcing auto manufacturers to take steps away from fossil fuel vehicles.[/QUOTE] You also know that he runs a power company right? If everyone gets on EVs, he'll be making even more money than he already is (and it's a nice big margin). But he also is obsessed with green tech so hey.

A 94 character tweet resulted an $11B investment. Thats $117 mil per letter.

[QUOTE=bob4life;52717051]A 94 character tweet resulted an $11B investment. Thats $117 mil per letter.[/QUOTE] I doubt Musk had any sway in Daimler's investment. Such large investments take months to plan out and most major car companies are investing in EV so this is more of a publicity stunt. You can make the argument that Tesla created a massive fuss about EV so it encouraged companies to invest more into them.

[QUOTE=Adelle Zhu;52716946]I think he knows better than to try to pull an Apple and destroy his competition only to have it backfire. He may, in some way, really actually give a shit about fair market and the fate of the world.[/QUOTE] He strikes me as a person that obviously wants profits, but is in it more for the good change it can bring to the world. Otherwise, he'd just stop with Tesla and probably not spend billions with SpaceX and all his other ideas. It's just that, on the topic of Tesla, anyone out there can make a better product than anything Tesla has atm, and he'd probably lose a fair bit when that came out of the skunk works. But I guess he really doesn't cares much about that and just wants change more than he'd want money, like you said.

Of course you want profits, you're going to look real silly if you're trying to make a big change to the world and everybody looks at you and sees "company that bled money for years and went out of business".

I'm fairly positive Elon has always said that Tesla was never necessarily supposed to be the most successful car company in the world, just the one that shook the market enough to get everyone else moving towards EV faster, and it's arguably worked

A rising tide lifts all boats.

[QUOTE=Riutet;52717985]A rising tide lifts all boats.[/QUOTE] Especially when it's because of global warming.

Daimler? Oh god no. Their electronics are shit enough as it is, a whole electric car would last all of 50000 miles before utterly shitting the bed in the most ridiculous ways.

[QUOTE=MrJazzy;52716981]I know it's mostly formality and all, but it's still funny to me how they feel the need to put "Tesla CEO" in the title as if people dont' know who Elon Musk is. I suppose it makes sense in the context now that I think about it.[/QUOTE] You'd be surprised. I have to explain that he owns Tesla and SpaceX any time he comes up in conversation with my girlfriend.