Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has suggested that Ford may not make it through the next recession.
During an all-encompassing interview with Recode last week, the chief executive said that Tesla and Ford barely made it through the last recession and that Ford may not be so fortunate the next time around.
“Ford and Tesla made it barely through the last recession. There’s a good chance Ford doesn’t make it in the next recession,” Musk said.
Musk made the comments while revealing how difficult it is to create a successful car company. According to him, it is “absurd that Tesla is alive.”
“Making a car company successful is monumentally difficult. There have been many attempts to create a car company and they have all failed, even the ones that have had a strong base of customers, thousands of dealers, thousands of service centers, they’ve already spent the capital for the factories, like GM and Chrysler, still went bankrupt in the last recession,” he said.
Musk has been quite open in the past about how a $50 million investment from German giant Daimler kept the company afloat during the financial crises a decade ago. Daimler ultimately sold its investment in Tesla four years ago, banking an impressive $780 million.
While speaking with Recode last week, Musk had a lot more to say. For starters, he revealed his excitement for the upcoming Tesla pickup truck, stating that he isn’t really bothered with how well it sells. Additionally, he went on to claim that reports of FBI investigations into Tesla’s Model 3 production numbers are “utterly false” and said that the next-generation Tesla Roadster will be the quickest production car on earth.