As I read it, Bob's concern seems to be more with the high fixed costs of running the company stores than that of vehicle-develpment expenses. IMO he has a point, but we'll have to wait and see.

 

BTW, I expected a number of different opinions/posts when I opened the thread. I've always liked Lutz myself, but I know he's a polarizing figure, just like Iacocca was....and I respect the opinions of those who disagree.

 

What Bob Lutz fails to understand is that the economics of keeping Tesla in business are only part of the story. Elon Musk is a billionaire on a mission, Tesla can loose lots of money, he has plenty to keep it running and my guess is he will.

 

As has already been suggested, controversy sells, and what can be more controversial than a battle of egos, a battle of larger-than-life characters or a battle of blowhards? And there are no larger blowhards in the auto industry right now than Lutz and Musk.

As was also suggested, these larger-than-life characters tend to bend history to their liking, which is not necessarily the truth. So Lutz can get away from his earlier claims that hybrids and EVs will never sell. And Musk can continue to act as though he alone founded Tesla, when, in fact, he bought into the company (and perhaps had more than a gentle hand in bending the company to his image).

Let me suggest that perhaps Lutz has an ulterior motive. Perhaps he sees an opportunity to take advantage of Tesla. But, of course, he needs to bend things his way and that may very well be what he is trying to do. Argue it down and when investors (and buyers) start to bail out, he can swoop in and make a killing.

 

That's well deserved, and purely self-inflected. I'm not sure Tesla deserves all the hate spewed on them, especially the states trying to keep them out with their own stores.

 

You need to start with passion, and then later on balance it with the numbers. You cannot be a leader if you start the game with numbers in your head and no passion in the heart.

 

No one is piling on VW they brought the entire thing on themselves, in fact I'd say the press in general is going very easy on VW.

 

I personally agree with that, I think people have been pretty kind to VW.

 

I was simply referring to the amount of piling going on....not necessarily to what was deserved or not. I personally think that some of what VW is getting is deserved...not necessarily all. We still don't know the complete story of who did what at VW, and who was responsible. It may turn out that all of it is deserved.....maybe not. We'll see.

 

There's a phrase: "Known, or should have known." It doesn't matter which executives "didn't know"; it's their job to know. In fact, Bob Lutz's most recent column is on exactly this.