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a warm reception for Elon Musk today.

Video. At minute 5:30, you can see the Board, with the Daimler representative closest to the camera, and with me the farthest away in Pink. And then Elon takes the stage at 7:20.

“There were many people who thought that Tesla would fail. Many of them unwisely chose to short our stock. I presume those people are not here today. [laughter]” (8:30)

The most passionate response was at minute 49:10, to the question about the National Automobile Dealers Association:

“Our philosophy on service is not to make a profit on service. I think that it’s terrible to make a profit on service. [applause] And unfortunately, the way the auto dealer association is set up is that they make most of their profit on service. So this obviously would not be a good outcome [for them]. Now the challenge we face, of course is that the auto dealers are very strong and influential at the state level among the legislatures.” (50:45)

“But if you look at the opinion polls in any state…in any context, as to whether people want direct sales, the answer is overwhelmingly yes. So in North Carolina or Texas or obviously in California or nationwide, the percentage of people in favor of allowing Tesla to do direct sales varies from a low of 86% to 99. And in the case of the 86%, there was a concerted attempt by the auto dealers to get everyone they could to possibly vote against it, and it still was 86% in favor. So clearly if democracy was working properly and the legislatures were implementing the will of the people, something else would be happening. And there would not be legislation trying to artificially restrict direct sales. And right now, the auto dealers association is crowing about the fact that they were able to defeat us in Texas and they are making so much progress in North Carolina and stopping us in Virginia. I think it’s outrageous that they would crow about a perversion of democracy. That’s just wrong. I think they are making a big mistake. I think what’s actually going to happen is that customers will lead a revolt on this front.” (51:54 – 54:17)

With echoes of Larry Lessig in my mind.

10 responses to “Tesla Motors Annual Shareholder Meeting”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Fired up by Q&A
    IMG_0036

    Reply
  2. Koich Avatar
    Koich

    Glad it’s a shareholders meeting with ‘smiles’

    Reply
  3. sbove Avatar
    sbove

    With all the Tesla S models roaming around Marin county, I’ve noted a few things about the current design: 1) the chrome accents are weakest part of exterior design – cheap looking and excessive. 2) The absence of a center console needs to be re-invisioned as practical storage space – it regularly becomes a messy pile of personal items sliding around with G forces. 3) The big touch panel screen looks monolithic and gets covered in nasty looking finger prints & dust: divide into 2 orientable panels (one biased to driver, one to passenger) and add low gloss anti-grime surface? 4) the body is very large with huge interior volume that could easily be turned into a family wagon just by raising the rear roof area – a la the new Prius wagon. That would be a killer addition to the line for family owners with dogs, gear, etc. and not hard to develop!

    Reply
  4. seatonsnet Avatar
    seatonsnet

    My intuition tells me that people who like sporty cars like them to go VROOMVROOM when they put the pedal to the metal and that people who like to send the message that they are ecological and climate friendly and politically correct don’t like flashing chrome. I got thinking like this watching a club of about 20 people riding Harley Davidson hogs, which those who know about such things tell me is a lousy machine with 1950s technology and they were going VROOMVROOMPOCKETYPOCKETY, which seemed to be the whole point…. This is the "romance of the road", power-sex-whatever and I wonder if the Tesla satisfies that need.

    Reply
  5. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/48331433@N05] — Solution: downloadable engine ring tones (which I started pitching 9 years ago; the drive-by-wire interface means you have digital access to a lot of engine and control parameters to overlay through the 5.1 surround sound with subwoofer kicker).

    But… as an EV driver for 4 years now, I don’t miss the noise. The presumption that it’s a positive seems a bit silly, IMHO. Nobody wants noise in a product that lacked it before (e.g., imagine requests to make mountain bikes noisy; make airplane cabins roar like a muscular F/A-18 jet engine; make my shoes squeak… obviously absurd, yes?). The affected affection for engine noise may just be the cognitive dissonance that results from having had to accommodate an obvious design flaw in an expensive purchase decision.

    The WSJ reviewer had a fun perspective:

    "People who like fast cars are sensualists. And screaming up through the gears of an Italian sports car—getting that flit and loft in the belly, tasting the saliva of speed—is a pleasurable and addictive sensation. They don’t call it dopamine for nothing. Unfortunately, in a car like a Lambo, other people can hear you being stupid for miles around. At full tilt, those cars are like civil-defense sirens, if civil-defense sirens alerted you to the presence of awful men in gold watches and track suits. It’s embarrassing."

    Reply
  6. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenbove] thanks for the feedback.

    1) there does not appear to be too much chrome to my eye, but I will take closer looks with that in mind. (photo examples)

    2) Totally agree. The wide open space in the center accommodates some female drivers who want to drop a purse at their side. I would want subdivided spaces. Good news here; they are working on a configurable solution for that space. Meanwhile, my partner Barry is 3D-printing one that is so cool… and adds an angled dock for his iPad… and could meet your request in point 3).

    4) Yes, and for now, that very much describes the Model X.

    Reply
  7. arti_fex Avatar
    arti_fex

    The format I want is like the Mercedes A hatchback; stylish, performant, can carry a decent volume of stuff, short enough to park easily.

    Reply
  8. seatonsnet Avatar
    seatonsnet

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson] A famous Hollywood producer said that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. The auto industry marketing has spent generations on this… the product can be too good.

    Reply
  9. sbove Avatar
    sbove

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson] Regarding the chrome issue: I looked at several more Tesla S models in various colors. In silver, the chrome disappears and is fine. In most other colors, the door handles should be the body color, the chrome trim around the side windows could be reduced in width by 1/2, and the chrome across top of the hatch back could be deleted all together. These elements make the S look more "Honda" than "Lexus" or "BMW". This is obviously ultra-nit-picking compared to acing the drive train, handling and overall body. 😉

    Reply
  10. Ramones Karaoke Avatar
    Ramones Karaoke

    Love his cars and his spaceships. But dude needs to watch his eating and buy a pilates ball! Unflattering profile … but I do love his cars and his spaceships. The world is a better place for him being on it.

    Reply

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