Steve Wozniak was one of the early Tesla adopters and currently owns two Model S sedans. However, his relationship with the Silicon Valley-based carmaker isn’t as healthy as it once was these days.
Business Insider reported on Wozniak’s Tesla “rant” last month where he said, “I don’t believe anything Elon Musk or Tesla says, but I still love the car.” The Apple co-founder added numerous broken promises of self-driving technology and new features has left him feeling less trustworthy of the company in recent years.
He specifically talked about Tesla’s promise to run a self-driving Model S across the United States, which was slated to occur by the end of 2017. Now, Musk thinks it will happen early this year.
“What he says, can you really believe in him? Is he just a good salesman, like [Steve] Jobs, and may not be there [in the end]?”
Wozniak added the Teslas don’t do much of the daily driving these days after he purchased a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV. He said the Bolt EV is used more often, except for long trips. Then, the Model S is up to bat, thanks to the nationwide network of Tesla Supercharger charging stations.
Comments
He could not be more right, Tesla is only praised because it is the “rebellious” car company. They think they can take down Detroit with new technology and appealing to the millennial generation, most of whom have little to no money to buy a car. Elon musk, while a cool guy, is all talk no walk.
He’s definitely more talk and a marketeer than substance. But he does have the ‘walk’, he’s accomplished something that hundreds of others have tried and failed. All while running other major companies.
Tesla most often cites MB/BMW/Audi but they haven’t claimed to take them down…Woz is upset he drank the self driving Kool Aid and even still stated he LOVES his Model S…
While Tesla can suffer from fit/finish and reliability issues, their vehicles are highly regarded, this is why Tesla is praised…
Teslaactually sell many cars and have been propped up to the tune of $600 million plus of the American taxpayer money…and STILL have never made a profit!
The Tesla fanboy propaganda machine is on here hard. Triggered much?
Lol…How much did the American taxpayers kick in for GM?
Tesla is a failed company and Elon Musk is a Deep State criminal.
Tesla is a tech company and they struggle to grasp MFG.
Tesla would be better suited to design and sell systems for EV models and sell them to the automakers out there that can not afford to do it themselves.
It is kind of like Intel. Intel makes more money selling parts to computer MFG than the computer companies make.
But Musk likes to bask in the limelight and display his ego. He is no more different than PT Barnum was in his day.
I am waiting for his new flame thrower being the cause of a Frat House fire at a drunken party. You know that someone will be doing a hey watch this. Then the lawyers will come after Musk because they did not warn frat members not to use the gun in the presents of 180 proof grain alcohol.
But seriously the future is only going to get tougher. The coming Porsche will rob many sales. While it may not be faster or longer traveled it is a Porsche and that is all it needs to be to attract the bored S model owners that no longer get attention at the club.
Are you saying that they should do like Apple and outsource everything to China. And like Apple ( the largest company in the world) make absolutely nothing and directly employ very few people. That’s the silicon valley way. (And pay no taxes in the process-that’s the American way)
From a Business stand point if they want to market their own products they should turn production over to someone who knows what they are doing and focus on developing the technology.
Where they do it that is up to them be it Cape Town, Kentucky, Oklahoma or China.
The fact is they have no experience in MFG and they are struggling just trying to bring product to market 3-4 years late. In the end this will kill them.
So do you try to keep doing it the way you are failing or do you do it and sustain the company.
With tax breaks they could find someone here that could MFG the product for them. We have many plants and over capacity if they want to build it here.
Or they could do the smart thing and design systems and sell them to other MFG’s that can not fund development of their own EV programs. Only a couple can do it on their own.
That is if you have technology worth selling. The truth is Tesla is more marketing than advanced tech. Most of what they have others have or are already working on better.
The problem with turning production over to another experienced company is that it will be made like other cars, with annual model years and little to no opportunity to change the car in between.
Musk is turning the standard MY model upside down. I don’t think he could find a partner who would do it the way he wants at a price he needs to hit.
You mean they will be built as promised on time and at the price they were stated to be?
The 3 is years late. They are far from catching up to pre sales and are still gaving issues they are trying to cover up.
Musk could be tossed from his own company if this business plan for production continues. He will be asked to step aside to bring in someone who could fix this. Jobs faced the same thing. But in his case he relented and when he returned he confirmed more in the running of the company to produce his vision.
You may have missed the news story that the TEsla board are to vote on a new 10 year compensation plan for Musk. I don’t think he is going to be asked to step aside, quite the opposite.
If they are here in ten years.
They may have the 3 up to full production by then.
I can’t help but think to myself, that you’re so stuck on the point that Tesla has missed delivery dates quite often, that the Tesla Model 3, will be a huge success. Hell, it already is. Many thousands of people have already taken delivery, and have had nothing short of stellar reviews. I’ve never seen this many people to HYPED and excited to see a car before. I certainly don’t see this kind of excitement for any GM vehicle. I don’t care about your response of people having a biased favoritism of Tesla over GM or any other traditional automaker. There’s a HUGE drive for vision, and success at Tesla, and people see that. People like seeing that. I don’t want to throw my money at a company that is lobbying the government to be less stringent on Emission Standards (that uphold and keep my health in good condition), sit back and laugh as they ignore the future, or fail to invest in a better, healthy, and ultimately, technology that will make transportation much safer. Let’s not forget the time GM had to be bailed out, by not ceasing production of cars during an economic stagnant period, or how Chevy is facing a problem with differentiating itself from many other automakers, by not producing any vehicles that has exclusive features that appeal to the majority. They don’t even have an AWD sedan… Even Ford has an AWD sedan, (Taurus). And yes, buyers do want AWD as an option in a four door sedan. It’s been answered already. Also, let’s not forget, that most enthusiasts that follow this blog, will probably be paying out of the a** for service costs for the rest of their life, because they fail to move to BEV’s, which have less failure-prone parts than a traditional ICE.
The chevy Bolt EV is a success, outselling the Volt. The Model 3 is not a “success”!
You might have missed the facts that Tesla has only survived because it stole hundreds of millions from the American taxpayer. They have never made a profit and probably never will. Musk will be gone by the end of 2018 and they will soon have to sell cars without government tax breaks. Oh, but they have a plan, you say? Sound like the snakeoil salesman that runs the company.
Why dont you be transparent, JP, and disclose your Tesla stock holdings? And also mention you are on the propaganda team from Tesla. You have never posted here before.
The funny part is that Tesla will be building a plant in China while FoxxConn will be building a plant near Milwaukee…In Tesla’s case they state that it’s made in China for China but if they’re forced to unionized I could see them shift production to overseas…In FoxxConn’s case they received an estimated $4.5B in subsidizes to built a HIGHLY AUTOMATED display plant…
Apple isn’t the largest company in the world. One of the most profitable and one of the most valuable, but not the largest. Revenue and market cap are two different metrics, but neither is solely the best means to determine what is ‘largest’.
The last total I saw was Apple employs 50,000 IN the U.S. Now that the tax regulations have changed, we will see some of the money made in foreign countries come back to the U.S.
“Now that the tax regulations have changed, we will see some of the money made in foreign countries come back to the U.S.”
Don’t count on it. You can still make an iPhone in China for a fraction of the American minimum wage.
Coding, engineering, testing, marketing, advertising, executive, and other white collar positions are the most likely to benefit from changes in tax regulation, and that tax money was money collected on positions that were always in the US.
It’s classic betrayal…Very few actually believed Musk when he stated if you pay for the full self driving capability that it could be activated with a software update…Woz bit and is upset…
It’s just PR. The plant in the US will be insignificant and will be assembling Chinese components with the use of robots.
FOXCONN directly employs 1.3 million employees in China to make Apple products.
Foxconn is not the sole contractor for Apple products.
Very interesting overview of potential flaws with the Model 3.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/QCIo8e12sBM
Steve Wozniak was the genius programmer of yesteryear’s Apple MAC OS while Steve Jobs was the guru and face of the company like Elon Musk is with Tesla; it couldn’t hurt for General Motors to hire Wozniak as he’s not unlike Bob Lutz and must have some ideas of how to take vehicles autonomous and the potential pitfalls to avoid.
Not exactly the most awesome brand advocate to resonate with the market.
As for Elon – he has his talents. Battery technology, power grid substations, solar …
He has so much $ (2bil , vs Woz’s 100m) – but seems to be infected by the Howard Hughes bug – lots of money, lots of ideas – he might want to get one vehicle right, instead of chasing the Spruce Goose.
Woz, I had to explain to my kids. If anything, I wish -as a Bolt fan – he was concentrating on the need for EV infrastructure.
Oh well –
Sandy Munro who has done a tear down of the Tesla’s Model 3 has said the Model 3’s build quality reminds him of American cars built 20 years ago and on yesterday’s Autoline.TV he commented on one side of the driver side of the trunk Munro could barely get his finger nail in yet on the passenger side he could slip his thumb as this type of poor build quality could NEVER exist with anyone except Tesla as magazines and newspapers would rip a car’s poor build quality.
Guy runs a company that does benchmarking/ tear downs for OEMs. Some of his work highlighted on autoline daily. http://www.autoline.tv/daily/?m=201801&cat=789 Featured in Jan Feb archives
Steve Jobs was the face of Apple. Wozniak was the brain.
I reallly dont find sitting drivig for a long time in any car to be really comfortable. Im skinny, and for a long trip I would bring small throw pills and sun visor extensions. If I get to stretch me legs afters 2 hours of driving, would be a good thing. The Bolt EV is it and it amazes me everyday.