Elon Musk's reaction to Clooney

[Jack6591]

A perfect analogy. Well said, Elon.

 

[evme]

Did anyone see this?

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1088465_does-george-clooney-really-hate-tesla-electric-cars

According to GCR Clooney only got stuck once and his beef was with the Tango. But he once ran into an issue with the roadster and took it out on it. He didn't even put 2000 miles on it. And Tesla was very proactive in constantly maintaining it to make sure he doesn't run into any issues despite him never driving the car.(since he was not in the area where the car was much)

 

[tray loader]

Did anyone see this?

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1088465_does-george-clooney-really-hate-tesla-electric-cars

According to GCR Clooney only got stuck once and his beef was with the Tango. But he once ran into an issue with the roadster and took it out on it. He didn't even put 2000 miles on it. And Tesla was very proactive in constantly maintaining it to make sure he doesn't run into any issues despite him never driving the car.(since he was not in the area where the car was much)

Even if Clooney is a poseur.Even if he is a smug with low self esteem who always pulling out the same old jokes as the article suggests.
Even then, You simply cannot argue as Elon did.
That´s the way Toyota acted after the first failures.
That´s the way the Audi bosses roared after the first retirees crashed in their garages.
We know better leads nowhere.He should apologize.He might have apologized after a lot of the recent incidents.
Modern men can do this.

 

[evme]

Even if Clooney is a poseur.Even if he is a smug with low self esteem who always pulling out the same old jokes as the article suggests.
Even then, You simply cannot argue as Elon did.
That´s the way Toyota acted after the first failures.
That´s the way the Audi bosses roared after the first retirees crashed in their garages.
We know better leads nowhere.He should apologize.He might have apologized after a lot of the recent incidents.
Modern men can do this.

Based on the article, Musk and Tesla has been more than generous to Clooney and went the extra mile which no other manufacturer would probably have done. Clooney is the one who decided to take this to a national stage. Musk countered with a joke. There is nothing wrong with the way Musk handled it.

Personally, I think the opposite. Modern society is too obsessed with apology and too little with action. Anyone can apologize and then do absolutely nothing. Tesla did everything they could for him, that is worth more than any apology.

 

[moollar]

Even if Clooney is a poseur.Even if he is a smug with low self esteem who always pulling out the same old jokes as the article suggests.
Even then, You simply cannot argue as Elon did.
That´s the way Toyota acted after the first failures.
That´s the way the Audi bosses roared after the first retirees crashed in their garages.
We know better leads nowhere.He should apologize.He might have apologized after a lot of the recent incidents.
Modern men can do this.

I seriously think that you have missed the point of the remark - it wasn't really directed at George Clooney at all. I very much doubt that George Clooney would have been offended by it as it wasn't a dig at his complaint (in fact, I would go so far as to say that the comment implies an acknowledgment of the fact that George did have a genuine issue 5 years ago). It was squarely pointed at the media who were hyping up an irrelevant comment from an interview that was not really even about electric cars, let alone any issues that are currently occurring (with the Roadster or the Model S). Yet, that is what the media has hyped it up to be about.

Now, if people were currently having issues like George was having 5 years ago and Tesla were being dismissive of it, then I would totally agree with you. However, this is not the case. As mentioned in the GCR article, Tesla weren't dismissive about the issues back then either (and probably went further out of their way to rectify the situation than other car manufacturer might have).

 

[tray loader]

You don't "get it". I am so glad he is not catering to this opinion.

Thank god, there´s more people seeing it the way I feel.
The "Clooney Lapsus" only was a symptom to the underlying immatureness.

Regrettably, I've cashed out my chips earlier today for a nice gain and have decided to bank it in a couple rental properties, and a decked out P85 for January delivery.

I got into TSLA for the long term potential, and to support the move to EV. However, I've found myself disillusioned by their repeated poor performance on the public relations front. My background is PR. Anyone can get great press coverage when the news is good. But it's when companies face adversity that you see their true corporate communications chops. The bloodletting we've seen has been completely unnecessary, and any attempts by Tesla to blame the media completely misses the point. Tesla failed to take ownership over their message with the first fire. In those critical first 24 and then 48 hours they were silent. They let others speak for them, and they allowed the void of information to be filled by naysayers, negativity and the ill-informed. The ensuing panic harmed the company, not just the stock price. You'd think they would have learned from the first fire, yet they didn't. They failed again with #2, and then yet again with #3. With the accident, their PR team was unavailable for comment for nearly an hour after the story exploded online. At a time when news cycles are measured in minutes and seconds, Tesla has shown itself as a deer in the headlights. They need show themselves as more responsive, more transparent and more prepared.

The stats Elon laid out with fire #1 may have been true then, but they're not true now. By stating those odds, he set himself up for disappointment if there was a fire #2 in the near term, which there was, followed by #3. In New York, he presented more stats which were not entirely apples to apples accurate at best, and misleading at worst. He planted new defensive stakes in the ground (no one injured in the fires; no one ever seriously injured in any Tesla accident; no deaths in a Tesla ever). With those comments, he stacked more dominoes at the feet of bears and haters that the law of numbers will some day topple.

When the first fatality happens in a Tesla - it's matter of when not if - I don't have confidence based on their performance with the fires that they have a plan to deal with it. Will they blame the driver? Will we hear about the fatality from Tesla first, or will it first get discovered by the Stocktwits on Twitter? Do they have a written contingency plan to deal with it, or, like Elon said in NY, will they respond to the next crisis by first waiting and seeing how others respond?

To me, the responses to date smack of denial, bafflement or arrogance. It seemed as if Elon was miffed by the public reaction, and how dare people be so stupid to overreact. Yes, people overreacted, I don't think any of us here disagree. That's what ill-informed people do. Yes, people are stupid. Yes, the media gravitates toward the sensational. Yet his reaction, and the failure to adequately respond since (where's the imminent blog post Tesla promised a week ago?) belies a potential failure of Tesla to truly grok the implications of this negative publicity, and how to stop it. Rather than communicating more, they're communicating less. This short term publicity is causing long term harm to the company. It's harming the faith, trust and enthusiasm of their supporters. It increases the risk that demand many not always outpace production capacity.

And now we see the bungled update of 5.8, and its undocumented changes. Is the height restriction deliberate or a bug, or was it both buggy and deliberate? Why the silence? After three days, how come the company hasn't communicated such a simple message to its owners? The latest from a representative is a confirmation that there was a change made to the height settings, yet it's still not clear if it was deliberate or not. See: Air Suspension no longer lowers at highway speeds (FW update v5.8) - Page 47 - "I was just told by Tesla Ownership that while they do not have an official response from management, they have heard from engineering that (and i am paraphrasing) that 5.8 changed the way the car's air suspension works..."

By the measures above, all of which at their root are based in flubbed communications strategy and therefore self-inflicted, I have to conclude that the underlying long term value of the company I held at $190 now has a lower long term value today. As a long term investor, the long term is no longer so blindingly bright as it once was. I think the next few months will be rough. Q4's performance is likely to be muted by battery supply issues and the fire. At this point, I think it's more likely we'll see a sub $100 price than a $150 price.

I wish all the investors here the best of luck. I look forward to joining some of you as an owner soon. And if things change and my risk/reward calculus justifies it, I hope to get back in for the long term.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

.../ Thank god, there´s more people seeing it the way I feel.
The "Clooney Lapsus" only was a symptom to the underlying immatureness. /...

It’s a bit funny though, don’t ya think? Not a word about Clooney in that quote…