Cyber truck

Keith Tanner said:

My theory is that Musk announces stretch goals in public. Want something done in 6 months instead of a year? Tell everyone it'll be done in 3, then the dev team busts their butts and misses the target by 3 months, delivering at 6. 

It's not a theory.  That's literally what he does.  He knows it, and so does everyone that works for him.  But in the end he's still signing the paychecks, so if he says that's the goal, well, that's the goal, however unrealistic it might be.

NorseDave said:

Keith Tanner said:

My theory is that Musk announces stretch goals in public. Want something done in 6 months instead of a year? Tell everyone it'll be done in 3, then the dev team busts their butts and misses the target by 3 months, delivering at 6. 

It's not a theory.  That's literally what he does.  He knows it, and so does everyone that works for him.  But in the end he's still signing the paychecks, so if he says that's the goal, well, that's the goal, however unrealistic it might be.

Right, but he does it publicly and not inside the company. The fact that everyone working for him knows it doesn't matter, it's the outsiders that take it as a promise instead of a goal.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Having worked with a bunch of ex Tesla people I'd say this is incorrect. He publically says E36 M3 to motive or change his business. He then beats the E36 M3 out of everyone to achieve stupid unachiveable goal.  Most Tesla folks don't have a long shelf life. 

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

I don't think we're really disagreeing, those are just two ways to describe the same behaviour :)

Fueled by Caffeine said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Having worked with a bunch of ex Tesla people I'd say this is incorrect. He publically says E36 M3 to motive or change his business. He then beats the E36 M3 out of everyone to achieve stupid unachiveable goal.  Most Tesla folks don't have a long shelf life. 

I've worked with driven people like Elon Musk.  I've been that driven myself in the past.   It's 3- 4 hours of sleep when exhausted past reason.  Then non stop again until goal is achieved or exhausted beyond reason. 
         I've been able to sustain that level of drive for extremely long periods, years even. 
 But it tends to make me not a very likable person. But I do achieve things.  

AClockworkGarage said:

Given the muskrat's abysmally low rate of actually delivering on bis promises I imagine the Tesla ponzi scheme will fall apart long before these make it to production.

If they had delivered when they said the would, maybe they would have done well, but you can only sell lies for so long. Other companies are now producing real electric trucks that you can actually buy. Tesla lost any market share they thought they had.

 

 

 I enjoy those who want to tear others apart.   Whine about delays and cost overruns as if they were important. 
   He's done several really remarkable things. His Spacex  has already saved America 80 billion dollars  and allowed  the Ukraine to use them for free 

   He's made a wholesale change in transportation.  Basically creating the viability of EV's. 
Selling  the #1 most popular model on the globe.  ( without advertisement.). 
   Improving the cars as they can be improved rather then waiting for a new model to be released.  Fixing issues while the car is being recharged. Rather than owners being forced to bring it in to be fixed. 
    OK. It's new.  But change is always happening. We can either adapt to change or be left behnd.  
  
  I'll bet you'd wish you  invested  in Tesla earlier?  

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Having worked with a bunch of ex Tesla people I'd say this is incorrect. He publically says E36 M3 to motive or change his business. He then beats the E36 M3 out of everyone to achieve stupid unachiveable goal.  Most Tesla folks don't have a long shelf life. 

Having interacted with some SpaceX folks, including one that's a good friend, this too is part of his approach.  He basically doesn't want people to spend their career at SpaceX - get in, work your *ss off for ~5 years for good pay and stock options, move on.  He wants new ideas, not "well, we've already done it like this."  Having spent a lot of time in the aerospace industry and worked with lots of people who had been there for 20, 30+ years, that attitude is pervasive.  

You can like it or not, but it's hard to argue with his results.  And I don't think anyone goes to work for SpaceX / Tesla without knowing this going in.  

*I'm talking about the engineering / design side of things, not the folks building stuff on the assembly line.  Can't speak to that.

If anyone saw Jim Farley's interview on a podcast recently (can't remember the name...) it was pretty eye-opening.  He basically said "we're never going to catch Tesla."

In reply to frenchyd :

When you drink too much KoolAid, YOU become the advertising. 
 

if I were to buy an electric truck, I will wait for the Rivian R2 chassis trucks to come out.

In reply to mad_machine :

OK. Nothing wrong with that 

SV reX said:

In reply to frenchyd :

When you drink too much KoolAid, YOU become the advertising. 
 

 

It's OK if you don't like Elon Musk. 
  There are plenty of things I don't like about him too.   I just respect what he's done.  
      My feelings are the same about Henry Ford.   Yes he paid $5 a day when the going rate was  less than 1/2 that but he worked people really hard and demanded that they live a life he approved of.  
   He also popularized cars by making them affordable.   But he kept making the same car too long and sent goons out to beat and kill striking workers. 
  He was extremely anti Semitic and a friend of Hitlers  He started the America first party to give Germany a chance to win the war. 
  
       

I will never understand people's fascination with this guy. Everything he does falls apart under the most base level scrutiny.

The Boring company underbids on public works projects then never delivers, blocking valid light rail projects.

They vegas "hyperloop" is a one lane death trap with no fire exits to be used exclusively by vehicles known to explode for no reason.

And the starship launch was a berk up of such epic proportions that I cannot believe people aren't in jail. 3 motors were dead before they initiated launch, and his water enima system wasn't employed because to quote the moron himself "it wasn't ready" he said the mission had a 50/50 chance of success.

Then you don't launch, you imbecile. What was so important that you had to launch your rocket on 4/20.

Oh... there is is. 

Sure your terrible tin can exploded raining debris all over endangered wildlife habitats and your barstool launch pad with no flame diverters and no water deluge system destroyed itself sending debris into the gulf, all of your fuel tanks and all of the press cars that weren't even parked onsite. 

But at least you launched on the drug number.

Solarcity is a flat out scam.

Twitter is a Charley Foxtrot that is emboldening actual nazis.

Starlink is an unsustainable orbital denial device.

Everything this guy does is a disaster and people suck him off for it. He's not a genius, he just has a rich dad and a complete lack of decency.

NorseDave said:

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Having worked with a bunch of ex Tesla people I'd say this is incorrect. He publically says E36 M3 to motive or change his business. He then beats the E36 M3 out of everyone to achieve stupid unachiveable goal.  Most Tesla folks don't have a long shelf life. 

Having interacted with some SpaceX folks, including one that's a good friend, this too is part of his approach.  He basically doesn't want people to spend their career at SpaceX - get in, work your *ss off for ~5 years for good pay and stock options, move on.  He wants new ideas, not "well, we've already done it like this."  Having spent a lot of time in the aerospace industry and worked with lots of people who had been there for 20, 30+ years, that attitude is pervasive.  

You can like it or not, but it's hard to argue with his results.  And I don't think anyone goes to work for SpaceX / Tesla without knowing this going in.  

*I'm talking about the engineering / design side of things, not the folks building stuff on the assembly line.  Can't speak to that.

If anyone saw Jim Farley's interview on a podcast recently (can't remember the name...) it was pretty eye-opening.  He basically said "we're never going to catch Tesla."

 

 Well said.          I think what I most like about him is as rich as he is he uses himself harder than others. 
       You don't see him owning a Yacht or fancy house.   His plane is pure and simple a tool for him to do what he does.  
  I read someplace where a minute of his time is a million dollars. 

I saw one yesterday while at the Petersen. It's hard to describe how ugly the styling is in person. 

In reply to frenchyd :

You thoroughly misunderstand me.

I don't dislike Musk.  I'm a great admirer of a lot of things he has done.

What I dislike is you idolizing him and regurgitating garbage about his products claiming things that just are not true. 
 

I understand his approach. He says things that promote buzz and keep his products in the spotlight. But just because he makes the news, absolutely doesn't mean it will happen the way he says.

It feels insulting that you never listen to other people who are very knowledgeable about these products.  
 

It's simply not gonna happen, and Musk knows it. It's a strategy for promoting his products. That's all. But don't treat it like gospel. It's spin, and I appreciate it for what it is.

Well this thread has turned.  

Call me when the truck is made in serial production.

Many brilliant people are very quirky. If Musk announced tomorrow, "I'm bored with Tesla and am selling my share", would that surprise many people? What would that do to the resale value of the brand?

Another: You buy this truck, and a year later, he announces that they're lowering the price by $30K. Are owners going to be okay with that?

Quirky means unpredictable, and as good as his product is said to be, I didn't want to have to worry about "what did he say this time?"

alfadriver said:

Well this thread has turned.  

Call me when the truck is made in serial production.

Are you going to buy one?  
       Not me.  I don't like the styling. Nor do I think it would work well for me.  One of the things I do is back my truck into the lake to launch  and recover my boat. Depending on the water level I sometimes have the exhaust burbling underwater.  I doubt an EV would react kindly to that sort of treatment.

   Another thing my truck does is pull my cars around. Sometimes to race tracks a long distance away. 
   I expect my truck to last the rest of my life. Plus it's fully paid for. 

Needs a v12 Jag motor to be popular.

In reply to frenchyd :

I'm finding it difficult to believe it would be priced below a Model 3. I suspect the $39k number is one of Tesla's "after savings" prices that an internet writer took to mean msrp. 

But I'm not buying one, so it really won't affect me anyway.

You simply can't believe anything you read in the press about Tesla, good or bad. There's just too much money to be made publishing Tesla articles. The only valid sources seem to be Tesla's dry investor day presentations (just what's actually in them, not extrapolation from such) and actual stock on hand. I know you can buy a Model 3 for $38,030 because that car is in SLC right now. Add in the rebates available to me and the destination fee and it's a $26,920 vehicle. OK, that I can depend on.

But I can't do that with a Model 2 (which is likely not even the name of the small car) or a Cybertruck. So all we really know is a few tidbits about the drivetrain and production techniques of the  new small car. Everything else is fabricated.