Bob Lutz, the former
General Motors and
Chrysler exec, is a fan of the
Model S, but isn’t so sure about
Tesla.
In an interview with CBS’ MoneyWatch, Lutz takes a critical view of Tesla’s business model. He expects the Model 3 to be delayed and end up costing more than the initial $35,000 estimate.
Lutz claims that all automakers lose money on
electric cars. They’re “a deliberate loss to get them on the market, and Tesla doesn’t have that luxury. Tesla has to live off the electrics.”
Lutz is also skeptical of Tesla’s overall financial picture. “It’s a cult stock, and I’ve been saying for months that the business model doesn’t work. They’re losing a ton of money. They’re running out of cash. Their sales are sideways to down.”
He says
Elon Musk is a wonderful visionary, but that his claims do not always turn out to be accurate, and that the
Model X’s doors will never work because of the lack of proper roof structure. With nearly 50 years in the car business, Lutz does have weight behind his words. He doesn’t shun electric cars or
hybrids per se, and says the
Chevy Volt was the last groundbreaking car in his career. He retired in 2010.
Bob Lutz also believes that self-driving cars are inevitable, but that they will take the fun out of driving – a view shared by many automotive enthusiasts. When Lutz was still at
GM, early versions of
autonomous vehicles were tested, and at that point the self-driving cars were still so rudimentary that Lutz deemed them “scary”. He would definitely want to see them solve urban congestion and driving safety issues, when the technology is developed far enough to be credible.
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