Partnership from Hell? – Tesla’s Controversial CEO Elon Musk Gets Controversial, Again; Offers free ammo to a law suit against him!

June 16, 2009 at 10:16 pm

(Source:Autobloggreen & Wired)

Image Courtesy: Wired - Wired's Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson (L) talks with Tesla's Elon Musk (R)

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, is no stranger to controversy and has proved it time and again.  Be it labelling a poor reporter “douchebag” or calling the Toyota Prius “not a true hybrid,” he has always had a way to get into controversies. Appearing at WIRED’s business conference, Disruptive by Design, in Manhattan yesterday and said the following while declaring that he’d like a chance to run Detroit:

It’s not out of the question to have unions, but if there’s going to be a union, they’d better understand that they’re on the same side as the company. I’m against having a two-class system where you’ve got the workers and then the managers, sort of like nobles and peasants […] Most of our experienced factory workers come from unionized environments, and we asked them what benefit did they see in unions. They said, ‘Well, if their boss was an asshole, they had recourse.’ “I said, ‘Let’s make a rule: There will be no assholes.’ I fired someone for being an asshole. And I only had to do that once, actually.

One of the charges against him in the the lawsuit from his former partner Martin Eberhard is that Musk falsely claims that he is the founder or creator of Tesla Motors. Now with words like the above, Musk is probably indicating he is not really afraid of facing the lawsuit nor has any intentions of toning down. WIRED‘s article is titled: “Tesla Motors Founder: Let Me Run Detroit.” Whoops.
“When the mess gets sorted out, I’d like to have a conversation with whoever’s in charge at the time — the car czar or whoever — and say ‘I’d like to run your plants, if you don’t mind,’” Musk said.  What would he do? Hint: he doesn’t think much of namby-pamby hybrids. In the future, Musk said, only electric cars will make sense.  Reiterating what he said of Toyota Prius, he likened such cars as “splitting the baby” in the style of King Solomon — a compromise that delivers neither the perfect gas-driven or electric-driven experience, due to the duplicate equipment required to harness dual energy sources.
For those interested and have plenty of time at hand, here is the video of Chris Anderson’s interview with Elon Musk. Enjoy!