When Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly denied a report that Tesla had canceled its work on the $25,000 “Mannequin 2” regardless of the challenge ending weeks prior, Tesla executives have been “alarmed” by Musk’s public lie, in keeping with a brand new report by Reuters.
In April 2024, Reuters reported that the long-awaited $25,000 Tesla, nicknamed “Mannequin 2” by the general public, had been canceled.
Instantly after the report, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded, stating “Reuters is mendacity (once more).”
Nevertheless, when he made this assertion, Musk knew that the report was right, and that he had cancelled the challenge weeks earlier.
This new info comes from a report by Reuters right now, citing firm paperwork and the usual “individuals acquainted with the matter.”
The general public denial brought on confusion amongst Tesla executives, a few of whom puzzled if the challenge was again on, or who have been involved that clients might delay purchases ready for a product that they and Musk knew would by no means come.
It additionally involved executives as a result of an settlement Musk made with the SEC which required a lawyer to supervise his Tesla-related tweeting actions, after he had beforehand been caught deceptive buyers into considering he had secured funding to take Tesla non-public.
Musk’s lie in regards to the $25k Mannequin 2 challenge stopped a decline in TSLA inventory, which had slid by 6% thus far that day, and the inventory recovered partially by the top of the day. Given the market-moving nature of the assertion, and the subject material of being about Tesla’s future plans, it was thought that this may be one other clear violation of Musk’s settlement with the SEC.
Musk’s historical past attacking fact
Musk has a protracted historical past of taking umbrage with the press and authorities regulators, and getting in public fights with individuals for the smallest of slights. These assaults are sometimes immature, as within the examples of his lewd statements in regards to the SEC, or an pointless assault on a diver throughout a rescue operation.
Reuters has been certainly one of his predominant targets, however he has usually proven disdain for the media, and this perspective isn’t new.
In 2018, he floated the concept of making a web site to rank “fact” in media, proposing the title “Pravduh.” The thought got here after a sequence of adverse reviews about Tesla, making it clear that the hassle was much less about fact, and extra about Musk feeling slighted about current protection.
In an identical vein to his assaults on Reuters, he and the Tesla board lately denied a WSJ report that they have been looking for a substitute for Musk as CEO. Musk responded personally, stating that it was an “EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS” for WSJ to publish a “DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to incorporate an unequivocal denial,” though WSJ reached out to Tesla and was given no remark beforehand.
One of many causes WSJ couldn’t get remark beforehand is as a result of Tesla dissolved its PR division years in the past. Firms hold PR departments in order that press can have a transparent a constant concept of an organization’s place on the matter, and in order that journalists can attain out to the corporate for remark beforehand. Musk’s anger at WSJ for not together with a denial from a division that he himself dissolved means that maybe he relishes the chance to strike out towards the media, as his personal actions have been chargeable for the shortage of communication between Tesla and the media.
He even focused us right here at Electrek after we revealed a real and truthful article critiquing Tesla’s plan to cost homeowners $1,500 for {hardware} they already purchased. After our report, many different media reported the identical story, and some days later Tesla lowered the value to $1,000 (when it nonetheless ought to be zero, and a minimum of one proprietor has prevailed in small claims as a result of our report).
Instantly after Tesla lowered the value of the improve, we discovered that Elon Musk had blocked our web site’s account on Twitter, and in addition blocked my colleague Fred Lambert, who was not concerned in reporting the story. We have been additionally banned from future Tesla occasions as a result of our true and truthful report.
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