Elon Musk has zero skills when it comes to talking to the media.  He put his foot in his mouth again when talking to

Jann in Boulder with new 2003 4wd TV production truck

Jann in Boulder with new 2003 4wd TV production truck

Betty Lu on Bloomberg news today. He said you can lease a new Tesla for $500 dollars a month for a three year lease. That is completely false as it turns out. Tesla does not have a payment plan for $500 dollars a month. The closest plan Bloomberg could find was closer to $1000 a month.

According to Bloomberg , “Musk dodged questions, refused to answer questions, was not straight in his answers” and he basically lied through his teeth about Teslas new lease program. At best Musk was devious in his explanations. Musk also announced that the Tesla electric car was the best manufactured car in the world. Well, that is according to him. Most reviewers would rank the car in the middle.  Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, Lexus are considered to be the best manufactured cars in the world. Even ford has come a long way. But Tesla ?? Well, Tesla is the darling of the Boulder and Palo Alto social media crowd, but nobody can afford one. You have to be a rich millionaire ap developer with a back up car.

Musk has had his run ins with the media too. Like every time  he opens his mouth.  He sued a British auto review TV show because they criticized Tesla.  He went ballistic over a New York times reporter who accused Musk of lying about the Tesla performance.

He showed up on Bloomberg looking disheveled, acting unprepared and smug. Not confidence inspiring for CEO of the best auto manufacturer in the world. Hah. In fact Musk acts like the arrogant fat cats at GM who appeared before congress just before they collapsed.

Tesla couldn’t have a worse person to be the face of their boutique car company. I would recommend that they hire somebody like hip pr girl Erika Napoletano, but she is a foul mouthed wench who would probably sink the company.
There in lies the problem for Elon Musk and Tesla. He, like Erika come from the hip web developer world where marketing to mass appeal are of little interest. They live in their own narrow corridor and when they stick their heads in to the larger media culture they end up with people like me taking a swing at them. ( yep I live and work in popular culture if you think of being on tv 3 hours a day pop )

Is Tesla a worthwhile car? I have no idea. They didn’t have a display at the Denver Auto show which tells me they are not a player to the American car buying public. I sat in one a few years ago at their show room in Boulder, but I could hardly fit into it. It was built like a space capsule. Has the car improved since then. I dunno. I have never driven one. But since Elon Musk has huge Boulder connections, he’s in my beat to write about. Plus I am the car reviewer of record from these parts.

Anyway, Elon fire yourself as spokes person and put somebody up front who people will like and can relate to like Dennis Haysbert ( the all state actor)

OK That’ll be $10,000 for saving you from yourself.

Jann Scott
from a city with more therapists than electric cars
Boulder Colorado