vfx

wow.

This guy is in Public Relations.









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The world loves to be deceived.

Martin

The rest of that conversation with Siry was even more surreal. In order for Tesla to build my car, they wanted me to sign an additional, special contract with them. Craig Harding emailed it to me a few days later, and it was a doozy:

• It required me to sign a "non-disclosure" that would have prevented me from talking about my Roadster (or any Roadster at all) until September. The devious bit in this clause was that they defined what I was allowed to say about the Roadster as only what is already publicly known about the Roadster, except anything that became public because of something I said. Since I was the spokesperson for the company for most of the company's life, practically everything known about the Roadster became known because I said it!
• I was required to bind my wife to this "non-disclosure" as well! (Like I could even do that...)
• It set my delivery date for July
• I had to agree to accept my car with unbounded defects, so long as the car still met DOT requirements, and so long as Tesla disclosed those defects to me
• The car could have unbounded mileage on it when delivered
• They snuck in a change of language, so that I agreed to get VIN 2 rather than the second car produced, and they wrote the contract so that it would supersede all previous contracts
• etc...

Needless to say, I did not sign that agreement, but instead reminded them that I already have an agreement with terms I like, and that I am still, as always, committed to accept my car per my original agreement.

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Martin Eberhard
Tesla Motors Founder

X-CEOsWife

Martin, you left out the best part, even our kids could not talk about the car! Talk about paranoia!

WarpedOne

How low can they go before hitting the ground and fall apart?

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Tesla Motors Club FAQ
Because, You've got questions!

Chris H.

Gee, and I thought Elon left South Africa to get away from fascism!!!

DDB

I know I'm one of a whole lot of people that hope the Eberhards are not finished with EV endeavors. Preferably a new venture that would result in an affordable sedan that is freeway capable, goes 80 MPH and has a range of 100 miles (hint hint)

It is a shame though with the strong-arm tactics of Tesla, the Company that was to be above the rest.

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Dave

'05 Passat powered by Biodiesel
'54 Corvette

Chris H.

Since the TM blog is no longer posting my comments, I will post my last comment to Darryl here.

Thanks Darryl,

I'm glad that you appreciate my particular brand of constructive criticism... Please do not interpret my questions and observations as "personal attacks", as that is not the case. I simply yearn for the days when I could believe the press releases and blog posts from Tesla Motors.

Many of the people who have reserved a Roadster, or who are contemplating buying one of TM's future models are intelligent individuals who, generally speaking, do not enjoy being given misleading information.

I can tell from your writing that you are also intelligent enough to appreciate the distinctions between the whole truth, partial truth, lying by omission of relevant information, and pure fabrication. Using the plural, when the truth is singular, "tidying up" production dates, deflecting or ignoring valid and relevant questions, explaining delivery delays with facile stories of quality control, any of this sounding familiar yet? These are all forms of obfuscation and deception.

I don't think that you are a bad person Darryl, and I know that you have a difficult balancing act to maintain. Some directives come from above, and you don't have much choice about whether to follow them or not. You love your job, and you have a family to think of, but try, please, to not fall easily into the role of slick sales executive whose commitment to the truth is transient and opportunistic.

I realize that you will probably not post this comment, but I hope that you read it carefully, maybe twice.

All the best, and good luck,

Chris H.

Brent

Usually when someone wants to change the terms of the contract, s/he is willing to give something up in exchange for the new terms. In the way you describe this contract, you would be the one giving up a few rights in exchange for nothing new. Can that be right? Did the contract give you any incentives to sign?

malcolm

*sigh*

Well this is all very depressing.

It is a shame that Darryl feels that this thread is the last straw. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (ahem) to realise that Tesla's handling of Martin's roadster was always going to be a contentious issue for some of the members of this site. If this were any other car company, we wouldn't be privy to this sort of information - but this is the publicity-bed that Tesla have made for themselves. Everything we know about the Roadster program - good and bad - is up for discussion on forums and blogs.

GSP

This *is* very depressing. I am very disapointed that Tesla Motors would treat *any* customer this way. It is in their best interests to treat Martin just like all of the other founders series customers, and honor their contract with him. If they are not rational enough to act in their own best interest, it will not bode well for their survival.

GSP