Chapter 779 The Lonely Terminator
Interestingly, it seems that Tesla became a blockbuster after launching the Model S, and the Model S became Tesla's best-selling model...
< br>But the fact is that when Tesla first launched the Model S, because the car still had some problems, sales were not good, forcing Musk to lay off nearly 500 technical personnel from Tesla. He turned into a salesman and asked them to try their best to sell Model S...
Even at that time, Musk took the initiative to find Google, hoping to sell Tesla to them.
What is surprising is that the employees of Tesla are still very capable. They actually sold more than 10,000 Model S, bringing Tesla back to life in one fell swoop.
And Model S has gradually begun to be accepted by consumers, eventually creating an exaggerated scene where the market value of Tesla exceeds the sum of other traditional car manufacturers...
Musk, who is now in front of Barron, is talking about what he said. Although everyone behaves very confidently outside.
But Barron knows that he himself may not be so sure about whether Tesla's new model will be successful.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to have the idea of selling Tesla to Google in the future...
If it weren’t for Barron’s knowledge of the automotive industry in his previous life If not, then he has some ideas - should he wait until after the Model S is launched and Musk has the intention to sell Tesla, then buy the company?
But what makes Barron a little unsure is whether Tesla without Musk can still launch as many popular models as it did in its previous life?
He finally decided to press this idea for the time being and observe the future situation of Tesla before making a decision.
British Auto Group took the initiative to cooperate with Tesla to conduct research on electric vehicles. What do other car companies think?
The truth is, there is no opinion at all, and it is even a bit of fun.
After all, at this time, electric vehicles have not shown much development potential - yes, many people think that electric vehicles are a trend in the future, but what needs to be known is that often, one can The companies that develop new technologies are not necessarily the companies that "pioneering" this technology.
In other words, many car companies have also developed electric vehicles, but they have not invested much energy in it. What's more, the development direction of electric vehicles, such as the batteries they use, and the technical route may not be certain. For example, Japanese car companies are more optimistic about hydrogen energy batteries...
The idea of these car companies is to include electric vehicles New energy vehicles, including new energy vehicles, may indeed succeed in the future, but it is certainly not the time now - they believe that many technologies are not mature yet, and compared with traditional fuel vehicles, electric vehicles still have a long way to go. Therefore, seizing the current advantages in the field of fuel vehicles is the top priority. It is certainly impossible for these vested interests to actively carry out revolution.
Just like Tesla, even though it has launched the Roadster model, no one would have thought that it would be a big success with the next Model S car.
Otherwise, if we can really see this, Tesla will not always be in financial crisis. Those investors or car company groups have already rushed to give it Capital injected.
Therefore, British Automotive Group’s investment in Tesla is nothing more than a blind bet on their part.
In Musk’s view, British Auto Group’s cooperation with them does seem to be interested in electric vehicles. However, judging from the brands owned by British Auto Group and their actions in the field of electric vehicles, this car company’s The goals are different from Tesla's. Tesla's Model S is still targeting models from brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
As can be seen from the Romanian Rimac Automobili company previously acquired by British Automotive Group, the ConceptOne electric supercar that was just unveiled at the Shanghai World Expo, and the company's cooperation with Aston Martin, British Automobile Group In the field of electric vehicles, automobile groups are targeting the high-end luxury market such as supercars and will not compete with Tesla.
What's more, even if the British Automobile Group is interested in mid-range electric cars, Musk will not care too much - on the one hand, at this time, he certainly cannot know for sure that Tesla will For a period of time, Tesla has almost monopolized the market in this field and can threaten traditional fuel vehicles; on the other hand, Tesla is also now developing electric vehicles. Cars have been squeezed out by traditional fuel car companies in many cases. If there can be such a company that also enters the field of electric cars, at least the two parties can be regarded as allies... So anyway, at least in this period, Tesla and The cooperation between the British Automobile Group is still very harmonious, and both parties are also devoted to the cooperative development of electric vehicle technology.
After visiting the Tesla headquarters, Barron returned to Los Angeles and stayed here for only one day, talking with Annika Dawson, CEO of Blue Valley Capital, about working in Hollywood. The investment thing is out of here.
Mainly because he is not planning to meet California Governor Schwarzenegger. After all, Mr. "Terminator" is destined to step down as governor at the beginning of next year, and it is already irreversible.
It can be said that when he took office in 2003, there were so many expectations, but now he is in such a state of despair.
When Schwarzenegger came to power, he launched a series of reform policies. He promised voters - "Audit everything and put an end to crazy financial spending."
In 2004, Schwarzenegger was at the peak of his political career, with an approval rating of 65%. Then in 2006, he easily won re-election.
It’s just that during Schwarzenegger’s second term as governor, the American financial crisis swept across the world. Under the impact of the financial tsunami, California’s finances were on the verge of bankruptcy...
In fact, the California government was already running out of cash as early as February 2009. At that time, the state government needed to face a deficit of up to $42 billion!
Rating agency Standard & Poor's had earlier downgraded California's state bond rating.
In this case, Schwarzenegger had to announce that most officials would cut their salaries by 18%. The state government would have to issue "salary notes" to its employees and contract workers to pay wages. And contract workers can use IOUs to cash out their wages when the state government has money in the future - many civil servants have even begun to take unpaid leave. In addition, the state government also has to slash its education and social welfare budgets.
Since the financial crisis, California’s economy has been hit hard due to the real estate crash, tax revenue has dropped significantly, the unemployment rate has soared, and the state government’s finances have frequently been in crisis. In mid-May last year, the California government announced the auction of seven real estate properties Raise money, including large stadiums, convention and exhibition centers, etc.
In order to make up for the huge budget deficit, the California government proposed six bills and held a referendum. These bills included tax increases, debt expansion, expenditure cuts, etc. The only bill passed by angry voters was that the state government's finances were in deficit. Government workers are not allowed to receive salary increases from time to time.
In the end, because most of the bills proposed by Schwarzenegger were not supported by voters, the state government had to cut back on various education, medical and social welfare expenditures, including cutting 5,000 civil servants, releasing prison inmates early, closing some fire brigades, Eliminating health insurance subsidies for poor children and reducing subsidies for community colleges and abused women and children will have the greatest impact on disadvantaged groups.
So in this California gubernatorial election, Schwarzenegger happily lost to Jerry Brown of the Donkey Party...
During Schwarzenegger’s tenure, California became The first state in the United States to impose mandatory controls on greenhouse gases emitted by factories, power plants and smelters - Schwarzenegger's only political legacy to California.
In addition, when Schwarzenegger left office, California's fiscal deficit reached US$25.4 billion, far exceeding the US$10.2 billion when he took office.
According to some American media, during Schwarzenegger’s tenure, California fell from a wealthy state called the “eighth largest economy in the world” to a state where “no one wants to work.” place.
Well, it's very sad.
(End of this chapter)