Elon Musk, PayPal-made millionaire and CEO of electric-car maker Tesla, says he's in it to win it. And even if he's a "little optimistic about schedules, I always deliver."
Musk says troubled Tesla is producing 10 cars per week right now, and it will soon ramp up to 30 cars per week, "so you're going to see the cars on the road."
And while he was at it, mild-mannered Musk also took a swipe at electric car maker Zap.
"Zap doesn't have a trackrecord of delivering on what they say they're going to do," said Musk, while speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. "We did face a problem in that many electric car companies had been scams and vaporware."
Asked if the company would make a profit after it ramps up production to 1,500 cars per year, Musk answered confidently, "Yeah, yeah, absolutely."It was only a couple weeks ago, though, that Musk cut jobs and raised an additional $40 million in funding from its existing investors. Musk says he could have raised money from outside sources, but it would have been at disadvantageous terms.
"I think we could have raised the money at very difficult terms, essentially giving up the company," he said.
So why didn't Musk, reportedly worth several hundred million, "look in the mirror" for funding?
"I've done that," he said.
Musk also pretty much ruled out the possibility that the company would be bought by General Motors.
"I wish they could afford us," he said.
Photo: Flickr/KQEDquest
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