Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has heaped praise on China’s ‘smart, hardworking’ people when it comes to manufacturing electric vehicles and says ‘entitled’ and ‘complacent’ Americans are now taking things for granted.
In an interview with the Automotive News podcast, the 49-year-old billionaire specifically criticized New York and California, which are two states that have given his businesses tax breaks and other government help.
When asked his thoughts on China being a global electric vehicle strategy leader, Musk said: ‘China rocks in my opinion.’
‘The energy in China is great. People there, there’s like a lot of smart, hard working people. And they’re really, they’re not entitled, they’re not complacent.
‘Whereas I see in the United States increasingly much more complacency and entitlement especially in places like the Bay Area, and LA and New York.’
Musk said the United States was now taking things for granted after ‘winning for too long’.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has heaped praise on China’s ‘smart, hardworking’ people when it comes to manufacturing electric vehicles and says ‘entitled’ and ‘complacent’ Americans are now taking things for granted
He compared California and New York to professional sporting teams about to lose their winning status.
‘When you’ve been winning for too long you sort of take things for granted. The United States, and especially like California and New York, you’ve been winning for too long,’ he said.
‘When you’ve been winning too long you take things for granted. So, just like some pro sports team they win a championship you know a bunch of times in a row, they get complacent and they start losing.’
It comes after the Chinese government helped Tesla secure $1.6 billion in loans for its Shanghai factory.
Just last week, Tesla launched a hiring spree in Shanghai with plans to bring on designers at its China studio and about 1,000 factory workers, job posts show.
The posts on the Tesla human resources department’s official WeChat account mark the first time the California-based automaker has looked to hire designers in China. Tesla said in January it planned to open a design and research centre in China to make ‘Chinese-style’ cars. The posts did not reveal how many designers Tesla planned to hire.
Musk went on to claim in the podcast interview that Tesla had been given the least government support of any American automaker.
The Chinese government helped Tesla secure $1.6 billion in loans for its Shanghai factory (above). Just last week, Tesla launched a hiring spree in Shanghai with plans to bring on designers at its China studio and about 1,000 factory workers, job posts show
Musk’s business empire, which includes Tesla and SpaceX, has benefited from US government assistance.
Tesla was given a $465 million loan by the Department of Energy back in 2009 to set up its Freemont, California plant to start producing the Model S vehicle.
Musk boasted that Tesla had repaid the loan by 2013 – nine years ahead of what had been scheduled.
The $465 million loan was considerably smaller than the tens of billions in bailout loans given to General Motors and Chrysler amid the 2008 financial crisis.
Despite this, a Los Angeles Times analysis found Tesla has received more than $4.9 billion in government support.
In California, Tesla has received more than $220 million in sales and tax exclusions, as well as various grants.
Meanwhile, New York spent $959 million on a factory in Buffalo, which is now run by Tesla. The company has yet to meet its employment obligations in New York – about 1,000 jobs – and had filed a one-year extension to meet it.
Musk’s other venture – SpaceX – completed a milestone space mission on Sunday after two NASA astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, returned to Earth safely following an unprecedented test flight
It was the first splashdown by US astronauts in 45 years, with the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit
It comes as Tesla last month beat analysts’ estimates for second-quarter revenue, helped by better-than-expected vehicle deliveries despite disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Tesla overcame a seven-week pandemic-related shutdown at its California assembly plant to post a surprising $104 million net profit for the second quarter.
It was the electric car and solar panel maker’s fourth-straight profitable quarter, qualifying it to be included in the S&P 500 index of corporate titans. That decision will be made later.
Local government restrictions forced Tesla to close its only U.S. assembly factory in Fremont, California, from March 23 to May 11. Even with no production, the company paid roughly 10,000 workers for part of the shutdown and Tesla continued health care and other benefits.
Meanwhile, Musk’s other venture – SpaceX – completed a milestone space mission on Sunday after two NASA astronauts returned to Earth safely following an unprecedented test flight.
It was the first splashdown by US astronauts in 45 years, with the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit.
The return clears the way for another SpaceX crew launch as early as next month and possible tourist flights next year.
Test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken arrived back on Earth in their SpaceX Dragon capsule named Endeavour, less than a day after departing the International Space Station and two months after blasting off from Florida.
Musk had rushed to Houston from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, to welcome them.
‘I’m not very religious, but I prayed for this one,’ Musk said.