特斯拉粉丝对马斯克的看法出现分歧
越来越多的特斯拉投资者对埃隆·马斯克创历史新高的薪资感到不满，原因在于马斯克一直在做“兼职”首席执行官。
股东们将于今年的股东大会上对马斯克新的薪酬方案进行投票，此前，特拉华州法院已经否决了2018年已经通过的向其支付560亿美元薪酬方案。这是有史以来最高的薪酬金额，比特斯拉自2020年首次发布净利润以来的收入总和都要高。
之所以出现这个令人咋舌的数字，部分原因在于，如果马斯克拿不到这么高的薪资，那么特斯拉就得主动与SpaceX以及马斯克旗下的其他一些公司竞争其时间。
不过，最近，这位首席执行官似乎更热衷于反对非法移民和多元化招聘，而不是拯救特斯拉的核心业务。
在今年的前3个月，季度车辆销售出现了疫情以来的首次下滑，令人吃惊的是，美国市场需求呈现出了疲态。
本周发布的一篇研究称，部分问题源自于其线上人设。《巴伦周刊》发现，在销量数据公布后，马斯克撰写特斯拉的推文数量还不及迪士尼（Disney）。
亨宁·舒尔茨抱怨说：“重要的一点在于，我们得让这个薪酬计划运转起来，只有这样才能让马斯克专注于特斯拉。”不过如今，他的投资“明显”缩水。
在本周第一季度灾难性的销量发布之后举行的太空论坛上，这位IT专业人士对其他特斯拉投资者说：“我依然对马斯克充满信心。不过，他得专注于特斯拉，而不是抱怨或批评边境问题。”
《财富》杂志联系了多位特斯拉的老员工，询问他们是否担心公司的走向。
反馈渠道出问题了
很多特斯拉老员工并不信任主流媒体，认为报道始终都有失公允，而且将原因归咎于汽车竞品对手利用其广告经费购买负面报道。
那些提供反馈的人士似乎已经对此不抱幻想。
尽管有人批评马斯克在政治上的分歧，但其意见主要集中在马斯克并没有尽到其作为特斯拉首席执行官的职责，而且他们感觉几乎没有人愿意站出来大声疾呼这件事情。
曾几何时，推特（Twitter，现为X平台）可以作为一个有效的反馈机制，用于迅速向马斯克反馈外界的各种看法。然而，有人认为这位特斯拉首席执行官被自己在平台上的热度冲昏了头脑。
电动汽车驾驶网站Electrek主编弗雷德·兰伯特表示：“反馈通道彻底瘫痪了。如今，马斯克沉浸于其超级粉丝的赞颂之中，同时把所有正当的批评声音当作攻击。”弗雷德此前曾谈论过过度崇拜马斯克这一错误行为。
在与《财富》杂志交谈时，兰伯特称，他刚进入这一行业的时候，自己曾自愿担任社交新闻网站 Reddit 特斯拉子版块的版主。
在近十年的时间中，他一直在负责公司的新闻报道工作。这个刊物是当时首批科技类在线刊物之一，由9to5Mac创始人赛斯·温特劳布创办。
最近，兰伯特开始远离马斯克，因为遭到公开的邮件显示，马斯克一直赞成OpenAI成为一家盈利公司，而且是一家受他控制，并非微软控制的公司。
兰伯特在当时写道：“他始终都持有这种想法。这并非是那位从前被我视作英雄的人。”
在与《财富》杂志交谈时，兰伯特认为这位首席执行官犯了一个战略错误，即将精力放在昂贵的不锈钢赛博卡车上，却牺牲了在2020年9月电池日上曾调侃过的价值2.5万美元的入门车型。兰伯特认为该车型能够进一步推动业务增长。（马斯克如今似乎将大部分精力放在了无人驾驶出租车Robotaxi上，而此前路透社在周五报道称，他已经暂停了入门车型的开发工作。）
4月5日，马斯克在X平台上发文称，特斯拉机器人出租车Robotaxi将于8月8日面世。
从兰伯特的案例可以看出，业界对于马斯克看法的分歧正在扩大。
尽管大多数人并不在乎马斯克如何分配自己的时间，因为他们首先支持的是这个人，然后才是这家公司，但呼声日渐高涨的少数人希望马斯克能够完全投入到特斯拉最初的使命当中，也就是实现交通的脱碳。他们担心这项计划已被遗忘，因为这位首席执行官在X上发表自己看法之余，将重心转移到了机器人和人工智能领域。
马斯克忘记背弃的诺言，转投机器人和人工智能
在YouTube账号“特斯拉经济学家”账户里，新西兰用户李（Lee）发布了900多条针对特斯拉的视频。
他告诉《财富》杂志，经历了无休止等待Semi卡车、电动敞篷跑车Roadster和入门款，马斯克背弃一个又一个承诺后，他对马斯克的批评越发尖锐。
当中最令人失望的，或许是特斯拉大力宣扬的新一代4680电池进展极为缓慢，创新的干式电极涂层也未能达到规模，原本该技术可以颠覆资本支出和制造成本。
“从那以后，公司一直在走下坡路，”他说。
然而，马斯克主进度计划的第二部分尚未完成，又下断言称特斯拉的未来在于机器人技术。
与此同时，核心汽车业务进展不顺，去年靠一系列降价才实现180万辆的销量目标。
“我相信他早预料到了，所以才会提前抛售股票，”李说。
他还批评马斯克明知道自己发推文就能操纵价格，还在粉丝中推广“狗狗币”等模因加密货币。
马斯克推广“柴犬”主题加密货币也是类似情况，他怀疑马斯克诸多失信之举都是为实现巨额薪酬计划（现已作废）而拉高股价。
现在，希望主要寄托于高级驾驶辅助系统“完全自动驾驶”（FSD）软件收入突然激增。
“公司的命运似乎取决于FSD，”这位专门制作特斯拉相关内容的博主表示，“至于实现的可能性和具体价值，就见仁见智了。”
本月，FSD去除了“测试版”字样，替换成“有监督”，很多人认为此举意味着软件测试和验证已经结束，如此一来就可以确认9.26亿美元递延收入中很大一部分，从而挽救充满挑战的一季度利润。
特斯拉稳重的财务总监离职让人感觉沉重
长期以来，资产管理公司Gerber Kawasaki联合创始人罗斯·格伯一直大力支持特斯拉。
然而，跟很多公司的初心粉丝一样，他对借债收购推特表示批评，认为该笔收购占用了马斯克大量时间。
两年前，格伯曾自荐担任特斯拉董事会候选人。
一季度销售不佳，说明马斯克转移了注意力，更关注为收购推特背上的130亿美元债务，之后格伯呼吁大规模改组董事会并任命新独立董事。
4月2日，格伯在社交平台表示，“一年多来，我一直在警告潜在的可能性。现在已经出现。是时候让股东评判应负的责任了。按照法律规定，特斯拉董事会应立即改为独立董事。”
他直言不讳的回报是马斯克死忠粉的连番辱骂。
本周，马斯克也骂资产管理人格伯“太白痴，傻到不知道自己是白痴”。
马斯克向来喜怒无常和反复无常，要靠服用精神药物氯胺酮控制，然而只要性格沉稳的财务总监扎克·柯克霍恩在他身边，问题就不大。
去年5月，《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）甚至称扎克为“维持特斯拉经营的高管”，暗示柯克霍恩在接替马斯克的候选人中优势明显。
三个月后，他突然离开了公司，而且没宣布任何理由。现在如果马斯克出状况，董事会里没有合适的接任者。
“扎克是非常优秀的高管，也是很有希望的领导者。马斯克却放弃了他，”格伯告诉《财富》杂志，“所以除了马斯克，没人能经营特斯拉——没人够优秀。”
呼吁日益分裂的粉丝团结一致
《财富》杂志采访了三位特斯拉资深人士，他们都因曾警告特斯拉有可能在竞争激烈的电动车领域落后中国比亚迪等公司受到冷落。
现在，小米新车也构成了新的威胁，这家颇受欢迎的手机制造商推出了运动型电动车，外观跟保时捷Taycan电车几乎一模一样，价格比特斯拉Model 3还低数千美元。
目前，各派粉丝很难统一起来确定公司未来发展方向：应该坚持从毁灭地球的化石燃料魔爪中拯救世界，还是为男性、女性和孩子们造机器人？
奥马尔·卡齐是Third Row Tesla播客创始人之一，也是能接触到马斯克本人的非官方品牌大使，本周他号召社区所有粉丝团结起来支持特斯拉首席执行官。
“埃隆·马斯克是特斯拉最重要的资产，”他在论坛上告诉舒尔茨和其他人。“股东情绪很大，提出应该把马斯克赶走，应该炒掉他，我们有可能保不住马斯克。”
很多人早就听腻了六年前Model 3量产期间马斯克睡在工厂里的老故事，如果听说马斯克像过去一样管理公司，而不是浪费宝贵的时间在X上讨论引发分歧的政治问题，人们会更满意。
“这是判断某人是特斯拉粉还是马斯克粉的试金石，他们认不认为特斯拉值得首席执行官全职投入？”兰伯特说。“但如果马斯克没法摆脱有问题的反馈循环，我觉得以后他正面影响超过负面影响的机会不大。”（财富中文网）
译者：梁宇
审校：夏林
越来越多的特斯拉投资者对埃隆·马斯克创历史新高的薪资感到不满，原因在于马斯克一直在做“兼职”首席执行官。
股东们将于今年的股东大会上对马斯克新的薪酬方案进行投票，此前，特拉华州法院已经否决了2018年已经通过的向其支付560亿美元薪酬方案。这是有史以来最高的薪酬金额，比特斯拉自2020年首次发布净利润以来的收入总和都要高。
之所以出现这个令人咋舌的数字，部分原因在于，如果马斯克拿不到这么高的薪资，那么特斯拉就得主动与SpaceX以及马斯克旗下的其他一些公司竞争其时间。
不过，最近，这位首席执行官似乎更热衷于反对非法移民和多元化招聘，而不是拯救特斯拉的核心业务。
在今年的前3个月，季度车辆销售出现了疫情以来的首次下滑，令人吃惊的是，美国市场需求呈现出了疲态。
本周发布的一篇研究称，部分问题源自于其线上人设。《巴伦周刊》发现，在销量数据公布后，马斯克撰写特斯拉的推文数量还不及迪士尼（Disney）。
亨宁·舒尔茨抱怨说：“重要的一点在于，我们得让这个薪酬计划运转起来，只有这样才能让马斯克专注于特斯拉。”不过如今，他的投资“明显”缩水。
在本周第一季度灾难性的销量发布之后举行的太空论坛上，这位IT专业人士对其他特斯拉投资者说：“我依然对马斯克充满信心。不过，他得专注于特斯拉，而不是抱怨或批评边境问题。”
《财富》杂志联系了多位特斯拉的老员工，询问他们是否担心公司的走向。
反馈渠道出问题了
很多特斯拉老员工并不信任主流媒体，认为报道始终都有失公允，而且将原因归咎于汽车竞品对手利用其广告经费购买负面报道。
那些提供反馈的人士似乎已经对此不抱幻想。
尽管有人批评马斯克在政治上的分歧，但其意见主要集中在马斯克并没有尽到其作为特斯拉首席执行官的职责，而且他们感觉几乎没有人愿意站出来大声疾呼这件事情。
曾几何时，推特（Twitter，现为X平台）可以作为一个有效的反馈机制，用于迅速向马斯克反馈外界的各种看法。然而，有人认为这位特斯拉首席执行官被自己在平台上的热度冲昏了头脑。
电动汽车驾驶网站Electrek主编弗雷德·兰伯特表示：“反馈通道彻底瘫痪了。如今，马斯克沉浸于其超级粉丝的赞颂之中，同时把所有正当的批评声音当作攻击。”弗雷德此前曾谈论过过度崇拜马斯克这一错误行为。
在与《财富》杂志交谈时，兰伯特称，他刚进入这一行业的时候，自己曾自愿担任社交新闻网站 Reddit 特斯拉子版块的版主。
在近十年的时间中，他一直在负责公司的新闻报道工作。这个刊物是当时首批科技类在线刊物之一，由9to5Mac创始人赛斯·温特劳布创办。
最近，兰伯特开始远离马斯克，因为遭到公开的邮件显示，马斯克一直赞成OpenAI成为一家盈利公司，而且是一家受他控制，并非微软控制的公司。
兰伯特在当时写道：“他始终都持有这种想法。这并非是那位从前被我视作英雄的人。”
在与《财富》杂志交谈时，兰伯特认为这位首席执行官犯了一个战略错误，即将精力放在昂贵的不锈钢赛博卡车上，却牺牲了在2020年9月电池日上曾调侃过的价值2.5万美元的入门车型。兰伯特认为该车型能够进一步推动业务增长。（马斯克如今似乎将大部分精力放在了无人驾驶出租车Robotaxi上，而此前路透社在周五报道称，他已经暂停了入门车型的开发工作。）
4月5日，马斯克在X平台上发文称，特斯拉机器人出租车Robotaxi将于8月8日面世。
从兰伯特的案例可以看出，业界对于马斯克看法的分歧正在扩大。
尽管大多数人并不在乎马斯克如何分配自己的时间，因为他们首先支持的是这个人，然后才是这家公司，但呼声日渐高涨的少数人希望马斯克能够完全投入到特斯拉最初的使命当中，也就是实现交通的脱碳。他们担心这项计划已被遗忘，因为这位首席执行官在X上发表自己看法之余，将重心转移到了机器人和人工智能领域。
马斯克忘记背弃的诺言，转投机器人和人工智能
在YouTube账号“特斯拉经济学家”账户里，新西兰用户李（Lee）发布了900多条针对特斯拉的视频。
他告诉《财富》杂志，经历了无休止等待Semi卡车、电动敞篷跑车Roadster和入门款，马斯克背弃一个又一个承诺后，他对马斯克的批评越发尖锐。
当中最令人失望的，或许是特斯拉大力宣扬的新一代4680电池进展极为缓慢，创新的干式电极涂层也未能达到规模，原本该技术可以颠覆资本支出和制造成本。
“从那以后，公司一直在走下坡路，”他说。
然而，马斯克主进度计划的第二部分尚未完成，又下断言称特斯拉的未来在于机器人技术。
与此同时，核心汽车业务进展不顺，去年靠一系列降价才实现180万辆的销量目标。
“我相信他早预料到了，所以才会提前抛售股票，”李说。
他还批评马斯克明知道自己发推文就能操纵价格，还在粉丝中推广“狗狗币”等模因加密货币。
马斯克推广“柴犬”主题加密货币也是类似情况，他怀疑马斯克诸多失信之举都是为实现巨额薪酬计划（现已作废）而拉高股价。
现在，希望主要寄托于高级驾驶辅助系统“完全自动驾驶”（FSD）软件收入突然激增。
“公司的命运似乎取决于FSD，”这位专门制作特斯拉相关内容的博主表示，“至于实现的可能性和具体价值，就见仁见智了。”
本月，FSD去除了“测试版”字样，替换成“有监督”，很多人认为此举意味着软件测试和验证已经结束，如此一来就可以确认9.26亿美元递延收入中很大一部分，从而挽救充满挑战的一季度利润。
特斯拉稳重的财务总监离职让人感觉沉重
长期以来，资产管理公司Gerber Kawasaki联合创始人罗斯·格伯一直大力支持特斯拉。
然而，跟很多公司的初心粉丝一样，他对借债收购推特表示批评，认为该笔收购占用了马斯克大量时间。
两年前，格伯曾自荐担任特斯拉董事会候选人。
一季度销售不佳，说明马斯克转移了注意力，更关注为收购推特背上的130亿美元债务，之后格伯呼吁大规模改组董事会并任命新独立董事。
4月2日，格伯在社交平台表示，“一年多来，我一直在警告潜在的可能性。现在已经出现。是时候让股东评判应负的责任了。按照法律规定，特斯拉董事会应立即改为独立董事。”
他直言不讳的回报是马斯克死忠粉的连番辱骂。
本周，马斯克也骂资产管理人格伯“太白痴，傻到不知道自己是白痴”。
马斯克向来喜怒无常和反复无常，要靠服用精神药物氯胺酮控制，然而只要性格沉稳的财务总监扎克·柯克霍恩在他身边，问题就不大。
去年5月，《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）甚至称扎克为“维持特斯拉经营的高管”，暗示柯克霍恩在接替马斯克的候选人中优势明显。
三个月后，他突然离开了公司，而且没宣布任何理由。现在如果马斯克出状况，董事会里没有合适的接任者。
“扎克是非常优秀的高管，也是很有希望的领导者。马斯克却放弃了他，”格伯告诉《财富》杂志，“所以除了马斯克，没人能经营特斯拉——没人够优秀。”
呼吁日益分裂的粉丝团结一致
《财富》杂志采访了三位特斯拉资深人士，他们都因曾警告特斯拉有可能在竞争激烈的电动车领域落后中国比亚迪等公司受到冷落。
现在，小米新车也构成了新的威胁，这家颇受欢迎的手机制造商推出了运动型电动车，外观跟保时捷Taycan电车几乎一模一样，价格比特斯拉Model 3还低数千美元。
目前，各派粉丝很难统一起来确定公司未来发展方向：应该坚持从毁灭地球的化石燃料魔爪中拯救世界，还是为男性、女性和孩子们造机器人？
奥马尔·卡齐是Third Row Tesla播客创始人之一，也是能接触到马斯克本人的非官方品牌大使，本周他号召社区所有粉丝团结起来支持特斯拉首席执行官。
“埃隆·马斯克是特斯拉最重要的资产，”他在论坛上告诉舒尔茨和其他人。“股东情绪很大，提出应该把马斯克赶走，应该炒掉他，我们有可能保不住马斯克。”
很多人早就听腻了六年前Model 3量产期间马斯克睡在工厂里的老故事，如果听说马斯克像过去一样管理公司，而不是浪费宝贵的时间在X上讨论引发分歧的政治问题，人们会更满意。
“这是判断某人是特斯拉粉还是马斯克粉的试金石，他们认不认为特斯拉值得首席执行官全职投入？”兰伯特说。“但如果马斯克没法摆脱有问题的反馈循环，我觉得以后他正面影响超过负面影响的机会不大。”（财富中文网）
译者：梁宇
审校：夏林
A growing number of frustrated Tesla investors are souring on the idea of another record payday for Elon Musk if he continues to operate as a “part-time” CEO.
Shareholders are expected to vote on a new compensation deal at this year’s annual meeting after a Delaware court voided a 2018 approval worth $56 billion, the biggest ever on record and more than the company has earned in its history since Tesla first reported a net profit in 2020.
The eye-popping number, in part, resulted from concerns that without giving Musk a big payday Tesla would have to actively compete with SpaceX and a bevy of his other companies for his limited time.
Lately, however, their CEO appears more interested in advocating against illegal immigration and diversity hiring than in fixing Tesla’s core business.
In the first three months of the year, quarterly car sales fell for the first time since the pandemic, with the big surprise coming from weak demand in the U.S. market.
A study out this week claims his online persona is partly to blame, while Barron’s found he tweeted more about Disney than Tesla since the numbers came out.
“It’s very important to get that comp plan up and running because that is what keeps him focused,” complained Henning Schulze, now “significantly” underwater on his investment after three years.
“Still believing in Elon, don’t get me wrong,” the IT professional told other Tesla investors in a Spaces forum held immediately after this week’s disastrous Q1 volumes, but “he needs to focus and not be complaining or ranting about borders.”
Fortune contacted several Tesla veterans about whether they were also worried about the company’s trajectory.
Broken feedback loop
Many Tesla veterans distrust mainstream media, believing coverage has been consistently unfair, and suspect much is due to rival automakers buying negative headlines with their advertising dollars.
Those who do respond tend to already be disillusioned.
And while some have been critical of his brand of divisive politics, their complaints focused on Musk’s lackluster enthusiasm as Tesla CEO, which they feel too few are willing to call out.
Twitter once served as a useful mechanism to provide quick feedback to Musk from the community, but now some believe the Tesla CEO has let his popularity on the platform go to his head.
“The feedback loop is completely broken and now Elon is basking in the praise of his super fans while branding all legitimate criticism as attacks,” says Fred Lambert, who has previously spoken about mistakenly putting Musk on a pedestal.
Speaking to Fortune, the editor-in-chief for EV motoring website Electrek says his involvement in the community goes back to the days when he volunteered as a Tesla subreddit moderator.
For nearly a decade he has run coverage for one of the very first online publications devoted to the technology, founded by 9to5Mac creator Seth Weintraub.
Recently, Lambert distanced himself from Musk after emails surfaced showing the tycoon had always favored OpenAI becoming a for-profit company—just one under his control and not Microsoft’s.
“He was always in it for himself,” Lambert wrote at the time, adding “This is not the man I used to consider my hero.”
Speaking to Fortune, Lambert believes the CEO made a strategic mistake by focusing on the expensive stainless steel Cybertruck at the expense of a $25,000 entry model teased at its September 2020 Battery Day, which he believes would have driven further growth. (Musk appears to now be prioritizing a robotaxi following a Reuters report on Friday that he’s put development of the entry model on ice)
Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8
Lambert is indicative of a growing schism in the community.
While most don’t care how Musk splits his time since they support the man first—and the company second—an increasingly vocal minority want to see Musk commit himself fully to Tesla’s original mission to decarbonize transport, fearing that this plan has been forgotten as the CEO pivots to robotics and AI—when he isn’t posting his thoughts on X.
Musk moves on to robots and AI, forgetting his broken promises
YouTuber Lee of New Zealand has published over 900 videos devoted to the company under the Tesla Economist account.
He tells Fortune he became increasingly critical after Musk broke one promise after the other, whether it is the never-ending wait for the Semi, the Roadster or the entry model.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment, however, has been the painfully slow progress made with Tesla’s vaunted next-generation 4680 cells and its related failure to reach scale with its innovative dry battery electrode coating, a game changer in terms of capital expenditure and manufacturing cost.
“The company itself has been going downhill ever since,” he says.
Musk still hasn’t delivered on the second part of his Master Plan, and yet he is already predicting Tesla’s future lies in robotics.
Meanwhile, the core car business has faltered and needed a series of price cuts just to hit its volume target of 1.8 million vehicles last year.
“I believe he saw this coming and dumped his stock early as a result” Lee says.
He also criticizes him for popularizing meme cryptocurrency like Dogecoin among his followers, knowing he can manipulate the price with a single tweet.
Much like his promotion of the Shiba Inu-themed digital token, he suspects a lot of Musk’s broken promises were little more than an attempt to pump the stock to meet the milestone targets of his mammoth (and now void) pay package.
Now hope mainly rests on a sudden surge in software revenue from its advanced driver-assist system called supervised Full Self-Driving.
“It would appear the fate of the company is down to FSD,” said the Tesla content creator, “and it’s up to you how likely you think that will occur and how much it would be worth”
This month’s move to drop the “beta” qualifier in front of FSD in favor of “supervised” is seen by many as an attempt to claim testing and validation of the software is over so that it can recognize a chunk of the $926 million in deferred revenue to rescue what will surely be an otherwise challenging Q1 for profits.
The loss of Tesla’s unflappable finance chief weighs heavy
Ross Gerber, a co-founder of asset manager Gerber Kawasaki, has long been a vociferous supporter of Tesla.
Yet like many fans of the company’s original mission, he is critical of the debt-funded Twitter acquisition that has sucked up so much of Musk’s time.
Gerber put himself forward two years ago as a candidate for Tesla’s board of directors.
After poor Q1 sales—suggesting Musk’s took his eye off the ball to focus on servicing the $13 billion in debt he shouldered to buy Twitter—Gerber called for a wholesale boardroom reshuffle with new independent directors.
For over a year I’ve been warning about this potential reality. Now it’s here. It’s time for shareholders to assess the blame where due. The tesla BOD should be replaced immediately with independent directors as required by law. $tsla
His reward for stepping out of line is a stream of abuse from Elon superfans.
Musk himself called the money manager this week “such an idiot that he can’t even tell he’s an idiot”.
The tycoon’s moodiness and volatility, for which he is on a ketamine prescription, were less of an issue so long as Tesla’s unflappable finance chief, Zach Kirkhorn, was at his side.
Last May, The Wall Street Journal even dubbed him “the executive who keeps Tesla rolling”, suggesting Kirkhorn led the field of potential candidates to replace Musk.
Three months later he was suddenly out at the company—no reasons given. Now the board has no clear successor should something happen to Musk.
“Zach was a great executive and potential leader. Elon eliminated him,” Gerber tells Fortune, “so there is no one to run Tesla other than Elon—no one good enough.”
Call for unity in the increasingly divided fan base
All three Tesla veterans Fortune spoke to have lost a good chunk of their standing in the Tesla community for warning the EV maker risks falling behind a competitive field led by China’s BYD.
A new threat in the form of Xiaomi has now also emerged, with the popular handset maker undercutting the Model 3 by thousands of dollars with a sporty electric car that looks suspiciously like the Porsche Taycan EV.
For now, the various factions are struggling to unite around a common direction for the company: should it stick to freeing the world from the clutches of the fossil fuel industry that’s destroying the planet—or build a robot for every man, woman and child?
Omar Qazi, one of the original figures behind the Third Row Tesla podcast and an unofficial brand ambassador with access to Musk himself, urged everyone in the community this week to unite behind their CEO.
“Elon Musk is the most important asset Tesla has,” he told Schulze and others in the forum. “And we’re in danger of losing him, in part because a lot of the sentiment of shareholders who say we should just kick the guy out, we should just fire him.”
Many are tired of hearing old war stories of how Musk would sleep in the factory during the Model 3 ramp six years ago, and would be more content if they knew he showed up every day to run the company like he used to rather than spend his limited time engaging in divisive political issues on X.
“That’s my litmus test to determine whether someone is a fan of Tesla or Elon—do they believe deserves a full-time CEO?” Lambert says. “But if he cannot snap out of this broken feedback loop, I just cannot see him having a more positive than negative impact going forward.”
