You're Tesla's fourth CEO. Why has it been so difficult to find the right person to run Tesla, and why do you think you're the right person for the job?
[Tesla founder] Martin Eberhard was definitely not the right person. That became clear when after the Series D investors did additional dilligence we discovered that Martin was wrong about important elements of the business. He had misled us about the cost of the car and the time frame of when it could go into production. That's why it required Michael Marks [former CEO of Flextronics International Inc. and an early investor in Tesla] to step in on an emergency basis as interim CEO. Then we launched a search for a CEO, and I thought Ze'ev Drori was the right person at that time to run the company.
Ze'ev's background is in startups, and Tesla was a huge mess at the end of last year. Ze'ev and I worked together to fix that mess. He's a great guy, and he was a huge help. But in the final analysis we weren't able to raise a big equity round, and it was clear I'd have to invest much more money in the company. I thought it made sense for me to have both hands on the wheel, given that I've got so much on the table here with Tesla. I talked to Ze'ev, and he said he'd feel the same way in my position. There's no negativity, and Ze'ev continues to be on the board as vice chairman. If the economy were in better shape, or if I had less personally at stake, there's no reason why he couldn't have done the job going forward, but I've got so much at stake and the economy is in such a tough position I just had to drive the ship myself.
