Michael Corleone said it best, "It's not personal, it's business." There's been a lot of turmoil in the Silicon Valley hills lately as the Tesla Motors saga continues. Departed founder Martin Eberhard reports on his blog at TeslaFounders.com that the reorganization has been a "bloodbath" and questions the wisdom of the corporate machinations. Tesla's Daryl Siry contends that the company needed to tighten up its organization and refocus on the goal of actually delivering cars versus burning investment dollars. It's a lot like what went on in the nascent personal computer industry 30 years ago: a passionate team of visionaries assembles around a common ideal, and eventually it becomes a business, at which point pain ensues prior to success, or failure occurs. Tesla intends to remain independent, and now wants to move forward with solving delivery holdups. [Source: AutoblogGreen]
GM on Corvette ZR1 cancellation rumor: "Not true."
Follow the Audi Mileage Marathon starting Monday morning
Paris 2008: MINI Crossover Concept
Paris 2008: Aston Martin One-77 (partially) revealed
Paris 2008: The GT by Citroen. No, the whole thing this time
In the Autoblog Garage: 2008 Chevy Corvette Z06
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy
Paris 2008: Le Day 1 Wrapup
Knight Rider: The Liveblog -- Season 1, Episode 2
By the Numbers - September 2008: Nobody Wins Edition
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
victor @ Jan 13th 2008 12:44PM
Well said Dan, but I couldn't help but be reminded of Tucker... I'm not saying this is some master plot to sink the Tesla, but it is a little disconcerting to see the visionaries leave so soon-- and so disruptively.
Who knows? Maybe in 10 years he'll come back to save the company like Jobs did with Apple 2.0
Dan Roth @ Jan 13th 2008 2:00PM
Tucker had some other issues, but the main downfall of that company was Preston Tucker biting off more than he could chew. He was basically re-engineering *all* of the systems that go into an automobile all at once.
John @ Jan 13th 2008 12:44PM
First rule of launching a successful product in Silicon Valley is to fire the inventor. Usually they have some vision that is not compatible with business realities.
Mason Hill @ Jan 13th 2008 4:42PM
Manufacturing means actually delivering your product. Great idea that needed a dose of reality, now on to actually keeping it all going.