Model S "Demo" Drive

[Pruitt]

A few weeks ago I got an email from Tesla offering me six years of free supercharging if I signed away the free lifetime supercharging on my 2016 S or traded it in on a new S, taking delivery before 30 June.

I'm not really planning to replace my S, but the offer had my interest - to an extent. I'd been wanting to test drive one of the new S's to compare to what I have anyway, so I arranged a demo drive at the Loveland, CO showroom for 16 May.

When my wife and I arrived at the showroom we met a young lady who would be hosting us for the drive. My wife said she liked the X, and to my surprise we were able to drive it as well as one of the new S's. We drove the X first.

It was comfortable, and the visibility through those big windows was great. But even when I'm driving around town, I use TACC (cruise control) a lot. But in the X I couldn't activate just cruise; The button also tried to activate Autosteer at the same time. This didn't work at all on streets without lines.

When we got back to the showroom I asked how to activate TACC without Autosteer. The young lady didn't have any idea, so she called the showroom manager. I asked how to activate just TACC, and he said, "It uses vision for everything now." I repeated the question; he repeated his statement. After several tries, and explaining that I didn't care what the input channels were, he replied that you can't activate just TACC (I found out later - through this forum - that you can. He just didn't know what he was talking about). That alone would have been a deal breaker for me.

I also asked the manager about my Gen1 Wall Charger - I've seen reports on this site that sometimes the older ones won't talk to the newer cars. He said he never heard of that problem, and it should work just fine.

Then we went on to drive the S. First the young lady couldn't get the charger connector out of the car. After she struggled with it a couple times, I asked if she unlocked the car. OOPS! She did, then the cable came out fine.

We drove the S, which went fine.

No FSD in the demo cars, so we couldn't try that out, but the enhanced Autopilot correctly read the traffic signals and stop signs. One thing I thought was interesting - the cars recognized the garbage cans that were out for pickup that day! They saw a pedestrian crossing the road in front of us while we were at a stoplight, and the instrument cluster showed a pedestrian crossing in front of the car on the display. I thought that was kind of fun.

When we got back to the showroom I asked about the peak charge rate of the new X and S. No one seemed to understand what I was asking. The only answer I got was that Superchargers were 120, 150 and 250 kw. The peak rate on my old S is 124 kw, which it will hit under the right conditions for just a few minutes when the battery is at between 40 and 50%. Otherwise it's in the taper - either up or down. They just didn't understand the question and could find no one who could answer it. I know the new cars charge much faster; I wanted to know what the peak charge rate is. I still don't know.

My wife really liked the X, and to my surprise so did I. I asked our host if the offer applied to trading for an X as well as an S. She didn't know but would get back to me with an answer.

I also asked about the trade in process. She told me I could expect a trade in offer about what Kelley Blue Book reported as the trade in value. I said I wouldn't want to order until I knew the trade-in value, and she said I would get that later. I was told my deposit would be refunded if the offer was unacceptable, but I would lose a $250 order fee.

We left.

My observations:

• My host told us she had been there only about six weeks, but she was clueless about most aspects of the vehicles. Tesla needs to provide much better training and orientation for their showroom employees.
• Same comment for their showroom managers. He didn't seem to know much about the vehicles either, and came across as annoyed that he had to even interact with the customers! Not a great way to sell cars, Tesla!
• The lack of steering wheel stalks was a bit disconcerting, but not really a big deal - except for the turn signals. Every car I've ever owned has the turn signals on a stalk (in roughly the same location), and it's always in the same position regardless of how the wheel is turned. Now the signals are on the wheel, so they're not always in the same position around the stalk. This seems like a big ergonomic step back to me.
• The S had a yolk. I was glad, because I wanted to try one out. It took about five seconds to know I didn't want one.

Conclusion: The demo drive was, all in all, more ordeal than enjoyable! No one in the showroom had any business being there. They didn't know what they were talking about for the most part, and too often tried to BS their way through. No way in Hell was I ready to order a new Tesla when we left there. Funny thing - I've had my S in for servicing in Loveland a couple different times. Their service center is outstanding, and the folks have always been excellent. It stands in stark contrast to their joke of a showroom.

Our drive host did text me later and tell me the six year supercharging offer stood for either the S or the X.

After I got home I saw the email Tesla had sent the night before the drive, with a link to obtain a trade in estimate. I did, and they told me they'd give me about half what Kelley Blue Book said the trade-in value of the car is! This was annoying but not really surprising, since I've always heard that Tesla really screws you on a trade-in. Why do they treat returning customers so poorly? If I did buy a new Tesla, I'd certainly not trade in the old one for what they offered.

 

[NewbyMaybe]

One day maybe Tesla will pay staff enough to own a Tesla and get to know them. But today they don't want to pay for training, technology is advancing constantly, only motivated staff will be able to keep up.

 

[CapeOne]

After I got home I saw the email Tesla had sent the night before the drive, with a link to obtain a trade in estimate. I did, and they told me they'd give me about half what Kelley Blue Book said the trade-in value of the car is! This was annoying but not really surprising, since I've always heard that Tesla really screws you on a trade-in. Why do they treat returning customers so poorly? If I did buy a new Tesla, I'd certainly not trade in the old one for what they offered.

I'm not surprised it was a low offer but only about half Kelley Blue Book trade value? Wow. So, I assume somewhere in the teens?

 

[bishoppeak]

Peak charge rate is 250

 

[RajN]

So I decided to go with a new 2023 Model S LR. However, due to the low trade in estimate, I kept my 2018 Model S 75D. The drive, range and performance of the 2023 Model S LR is significantly better than my 2018. I gave up my unlimited free charging on the 2018, and got 6 years unlimited supercharging on the 2023 S. Will use my 2018 for local driving and charge at home.

 

[NewbyMaybe]

Cool, the best of both worlds.

 

[evfeh]

Some customers want the traditional dealer treatment: nice showrooms with salesmen that explain every feature, but I felt that the demographic that Tesla aims to, in my perception, is the one that has heavily researched the car and have their mind made up on buying one (and don't really push a lot to try to sell you the car for that reason), that's why they seem to be kind of annoyed to be explaining that to you. I felt the same in a few different showrooms that I went to.

 

[ucmndd]

Some customers want the traditional dealer treatment: nice showrooms with salesmen that explain every feature, but I felt that the demographic that Tesla aims to, in my perception, is the one that has heavily researched the car and have their mind made up on buying one (and don't really push a lot to try to sell you the car for that reason), that's why they seem to be kind of annoyed to be explaining that to you. I felt the same in a few different showrooms that I went to.

Definitely some truth to this.

Tesla showrooms are competing with fast food chains for employees. Almost *everyone* I've interacted with in the company for the past couple years has been there less than a year. Training and retaining a high quality workforce costs a lot of money and Tesla's business strategy is clearly to NOT invest in those people to keep costs down.

I'm an obsessive researcher and have known gobs more about every car I've ever bought than the sales person, so I expect this. It's definitely not unique to Tesla but you could maybe stage a successful argument that they're worse than most. That said, given the choice, I'm fine with them keeping costs down and passing on a cheaper car to me vs. providing me with an amazing and informative sales experience. Others clearly have different wants and desires.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

One day maybe Tesla will pay staff enough to own a Tesla and get to know them. But today they don't want to pay for training, technology is advancing constantly, only motivated staff will be able to keep up.

Have you looked at Tesla resale values lately?? I think their janitors can afford a Tesla these days.

 

[Pruitt]

I'm not surprised it was a low offer but only about half Kelley Blue Book trade value? Wow. So, I assume somewhere in the teens?

$13,200 - 14,200.

Some customers want the traditional dealer treatment: nice showrooms with salesmen that explain every feature, but I felt that the demographic that Tesla aims to, in my perception, is the one that has heavily researched the car and have their mind made up on buying one (and don't really push a lot to try to sell you the car for that reason), that's why they seem to be kind of annoyed to be explaining that to you. I felt the same in a few different showrooms that I went to.

Definitely some truth to this.

Tesla showrooms are competing with fast food chains for employees. Almost *everyone* I've interacted with in the company for the past couple years has been there less than a year. Training and retaining a high quality workforce costs a lot of money and Tesla's business strategy is clearly to NOT invest in those people to keep costs down.

I'm an obsessive researcher and have known gobs more about every car I've ever bought than the sales person, so I expect this. It's definitely not unique to Tesla but you could maybe stage a successful argument that they're worse than most. That said, given the choice, I'm fine with them keeping costs down and passing on a cheaper car to me vs. providing me with an amazing and informative sales experience. Others clearly have different wants and desires.

Maybe some people do want smarmy sales folks who will use pressure tactics to make them buy a car. That's not what I'm talking about here.

I know the cars. I've driven one for seven years and 100k miles. I've followed most of the developments in the line since then. But I don't know all the nuances. That means, not unreasonably, I don't know every little detail of the UI. From some of these comments, apparently I should have nearly memorized the owner's manuals before I arrived for the drive. Sorry, not me. I expect someone whose job it is to demo the cars to know about how them. Guess I'm just unreasonable.

I also expect courtesy and a willingness to answer questions without some sort of "why are you bothering me" attitude. If I'm about to plunk down over $100k that's not expecting too much.

Tesla is "...competing with fast food chains for employees"?! I have to laugh at the absurdity of that remark. A car is not in the same category as a box of Chicken McNuggets. If the two employers are trying to hire from the same pool then one of them is in big trouble.

 

[Evee]

A few weeks ago I got an email from Tesla offering me six years of free supercharging if I signed away the free lifetime supercharging on my 2016 S or traded it in on a new S, taking delivery before 30 June.

I'm not really planning to replace my S, but the offer had my interest - to an extent. I'd been wanting to test drive one of the new S's to compare to what I have anyway, so I arranged a demo drive at the Loveland, CO showroom for 16 May.

When my wife and I arrived at the showroom we met a young lady who would be hosting us for the drive. My wife said she liked the X, and to my surprise we were able to drive it as well as one of the new S's. We drove the X first.

It was comfortable, and the visibility through those big windows was great. But even when I'm driving around town, I use TACC (cruise control) a lot. But in the X I couldn't activate just cruise; The button also tried to activate Autosteer at the same time. This didn't work at all on streets without lines.

When we got back to the showroom I asked how to activate TACC without Autosteer. The young lady didn't have any idea, so she called the showroom manager. I asked how to activate just TACC, and he said, "It uses vision for everything now." I repeated the question; he repeated his statement. After several tries, and explaining that I didn't care what the input channels were, he replied that you can't activate just TACC (I found out later - through this forum - that you can. He just didn't know what he was talking about). That alone would have been a deal breaker for me.

I also asked the manager about my Gen1 Wall Charger - I've seen reports on this site that sometimes the older ones won't talk to the newer cars. He said he never heard of that problem, and it should work just fine.

Then we went on to drive the S. First the young lady couldn't get the charger connector out of the car. After she struggled with it a couple times, I asked if she unlocked the car. OOPS! She did, then the cable came out fine.

We drove the S, which went fine.

No FSD in the demo cars, so we couldn't try that out, but the enhanced Autopilot correctly read the traffic signals and stop signs. One thing I thought was interesting - the cars recognized the garbage cans that were out for pickup that day! They saw a pedestrian crossing the road in front of us while we were at a stoplight, and the instrument cluster showed a pedestrian crossing in front of the car on the display. I thought that was kind of fun.

When we got back to the showroom I asked about the peak charge rate of the new X and S. No one seemed to understand what I was asking. The only answer I got was that Superchargers were 120, 150 and 250 kw. The peak rate on my old S is 124 kw, which it will hit under the right conditions for just a few minutes when the battery is at between 40 and 50%. Otherwise it's in the taper - either up or down. They just didn't understand the question and could find no one who could answer it. I know the new cars charge much faster; I wanted to know what the peak charge rate is. I still don't know.

My wife really liked the X, and to my surprise so did I. I asked our host if the offer applied to trading for an X as well as an S. She didn't know but would get back to me with an answer.

I also asked about the trade in process. She told me I could expect a trade in offer about what Kelley Blue Book reported as the trade in value. I said I wouldn't want to order until I knew the trade-in value, and she said I would get that later. I was told my deposit would be refunded if the offer was unacceptable, but I would lose a $250 order fee.

We left.

My observations:

• My host told us she had been there only about six weeks, but she was clueless about most aspects of the vehicles. Tesla needs to provide much better training and orientation for their showroom employees.
• Same comment for their showroom managers. He didn't seem to know much about the vehicles either, and came across as annoyed that he had to even interact with the customers! Not a great way to sell cars, Tesla!
• The lack of steering wheel stalks was a bit disconcerting, but not really a big deal - except for the turn signals. Every car I've ever owned has the turn signals on a stalk (in roughly the same location), and it's always in the same position regardless of how the wheel is turned. Now the signals are on the wheel, so they're not always in the same position around the stalk. This seems like a big ergonomic step back to me.
• The S had a yolk. I was glad, because I wanted to try one out. It took about five seconds to know I didn't want one.

Conclusion: The demo drive was, all in all, more ordeal than enjoyable! No one in the showroom had any business being there. They didn't know what they were talking about for the most part, and too often tried to BS their way through. No way in Hell was I ready to order a new Tesla when we left there. Funny thing - I've had my S in for servicing in Loveland a couple different times. Their service center is outstanding, and the folks have always been excellent. It stands in stark contrast to their joke of a showroom.

Our drive host did text me later and tell me the six year supercharging offer stood for either the S or the X.

After I got home I saw the email Tesla had sent the night before the drive, with a link to obtain a trade in estimate. I did, and they told me they'd give me about half what Kelley Blue Book said the trade-in value of the car is! This was annoying but not really surprising, since I've always heard that Tesla really screws you on a trade-in. Why do they treat returning customers so poorly? If I did buy a new Tesla, I'd certainly not trade in the old one for what they offered.

These are literally just random people that need jobs. Thats why they NEVER care like I do and don’t know BASIC THINGS. Notice how you also got someone who just tried to BS you with oh it’s tesla vision now.

 

[ucmndd]

Tesla is "...competing with fast food chains for employees"?! I have to laugh at the absurdity of that remark.

I mean, you can laugh all you want, that doesn’t make it less true.

Full-time advisor/sales positions start at $18/hr. I imagine many earn more than that from a total compensation perspective, but these are remedial/entry-level jobs. The main difference is what you smell like at the end of the day - fry oil or Elon's musk.

 

[outdoors]

The misinformation at Tesla showrooms I walked into was quite astounding. Overhearing I shudder and walk out. Tesla's good name goes out window when customer comes back and says....He/she said. He/she doesn't work there any longer.

What is different was the people that worked at other types of car showrooms at other brands. They tend to still be there, and call me every couple years to see if I want to come back to the brand. Maybe those folks get paid better or they are the more in your face, which requires effort compared to the laid back we don't care model.

I have been the researcher type, but there are less of us now. More mainstream people that don't plan next car purchase three years out.

I couldn't imagine trading in a car to Tesla and getting the six years. Wait. I would love the six years of unlimited charging, but not the start over in for such a short warranty. In both cases current car S100D and if I bought a new S. Warranty would expire on battery at same time for both cars. How is that a deal?

 

[ChooseFreedom]

Thoughts:

1) I have a mid-20's child, as well as a teenager. Their generations haven't had to work enough (in general) yet to see what real effort gets you. Many have just been handed everything, including their first cell phone, which has been the biggest mistake our generation ever did, IMO. They don't know what hard work looks like. They don't belong in a showroom, of any kind.
2) IMO, very few "service" industries should be on an hourly basis.
Comparing any car showroom to a McDonald's is just ludicrous. It's much closer to a restaurant setup than fast food. Restaurant servers aren't hourly (mostly tips, only a small, below min wage hrly rate), most professions (lawyers, plumbers, hair dressers, electricians, etc) set their rates by what customers will pay them.

The reason most dealerships have more motivated, more knowledgeable, (and yes, more pushy) staff is because they work on commission. When you don't get paid unless someone buys something, you have to up the level of service. Otherwise no sales occur. It's a mentality of the level of people you're hiring.
Hourly/job people are simply there for a paycheck, and will do as little as possible to keep getting a check.
Commission/career-minded people just know they have to do more. (yes, exceptions to everything)

I don't know the Tesla employee pay structure, or if it's ever changed along the way. But if it's true that their showroom staff are hourly, plain and simple, Tesla showrooms would instantly improve by changing their pay to commission. It takes a certain kind of personality to survive/thrive in that environment. Sure, Tesla would have to pay them more per sale compared to hourly, but it also means the sales go up! And guess what, your turnover goes down too, because you're going to hire salespeople, not just people.
And I'm in the camp that hates shady car salesmen with a passion! I don't hesitate to walk out of a dealership at the first hint of crooked/back-handed behavior. But at least you know they're trying.
You can still keep the online sales model. But for customers who actually want some hands-on in-person time with a car before they buy, the staff should be held to a high standard.

There is no reason whatsoever that any large ticket item should ever be left to an hourly person to sell. The only larger ticket item for most of us is our house. And you have to go through a school and be licensed to sell those.
So yeah, I absolutely want a knowledgeable salesperson, or if they're newer, a very helpful and willing sales manager to work with me. It's really not too much to ask.

Tesla itself has to change their hiring philosophy to a stance that their showroom positions are not just jobs. They're an extension of what image the company wants to project. Tesla has the largest margins in the industry. Stop being greedy and pay for better employees.
They don't want to have dealerships, fine. Then they need to have better engagement with customers, similar to when you walk into Apple stores. That's a unique experience, probably a bit too retail for Tesla, but their staff is knowledgeable and willing.
Hiring is the key. Do you just want bodies, pay nothing, get nothing. Or do you want skill, pay more, get more.

 

[ucmndd]

Thoughts:

1) I have a mid-20's child, as well as a teenager. Their generations haven't had to work enough (in general) yet to see what real effort gets you. Many have just been handed everything, including their first cell phone, which has been the biggest mistake our generation ever did, IMO. They don't know what hard work looks like. They don't belong in a showroom, of any kind.
2) IMO, very few "service" industries should be on an hourly basis.
Comparing any car showroom to a McDonald's is just ludicrous. It's much closer to a restaurant setup than fast food. Restaurant servers aren't hourly (mostly tips, only a small, below min wage hrly rate), most professions (lawyers, plumbers, hair dressers, electricians, etc) set their rates by what customers will pay them.

The reason most dealerships have more motivated, more knowledgeable, (and yes, more pushy) staff is because they work on commission. When you don't get paid unless someone buys something, you have to up the level of service. Otherwise no sales occur. It's a mentality of the level of people you're hiring.
Hourly/job people are simply there for a paycheck, and will do as little as possible to keep getting a check.
Commission/career-minded people just know they have to do more. (yes, exceptions to everything)

I don't know the Tesla employee pay structure, or if it's ever changed along the way. But if it's true that their showroom staff are hourly, plain and simple, Tesla showrooms would instantly improve by changing their pay to commission. It takes a certain kind of personality to survive/thrive in that environment. Sure, Tesla would have to pay them more per sale compared to hourly, but it also means the sales go up! And guess what, your turnover goes down too, because you're going to hire salespeople, not just people.
And I'm in the camp that hates shady car salesmen with a passion! I don't hesitate to walk out of a dealership at the first hint of crooked/back-handed behavior. But at least you know they're trying.
You can still keep the online sales model. But for customers who actually want some hands-on in-person time with a car before they buy, the staff should be held to a high standard.

There is no reason whatsoever that any large ticket item should ever be left to an hourly person to sell. The only larger ticket item for most of us is our house. And you have to go through a school and be licensed to sell those.
So yeah, I absolutely want a knowledgeable salesperson, or if they're newer, a very helpful and willing sales manager to work with me. It's really not too much to ask.

Tesla itself has to change their hiring philosophy to a stance that their showroom positions are not just jobs. They're an extension of what image the company wants to project. Tesla has the largest margins in the industry. Stop being greedy and pay for better employees.
They don't want to have dealerships, fine. Then they need to have better engagement with customers, similar to when you walk into Apple stores. That's a unique experience, probably a bit too retail for Tesla, but their staff is knowledgeable and willing.
Hiring is the key. Do you just want bodies, pay nothing, get nothing. Or do you want skill, pay more, get more.

An interesting, if occasionally blame-placing generational finger-wagging, perspective.

A perspective that also strikes me as fundamentally incompatible with the worldview of Tesla's CEO who famously loathes marketing and sales and thinks the products should speak for themselves, for better or worse.

But yeah, there are lots of ways to incentivize good employee behavior, most of them come down to living wages and acceptable compensation and investment. Things Tesla also famously doesn't particularly care about. People are cogs. The product is the only thing that matters.

 

[cmarshack]

The TACC issue hits home for me. I thought my 2022 only had AP and no TACC until someone posted that you need to have the AP option NOT set to "One Click", which is what I had mine at. When you make this change it enables TACC on 1st click and AP on double click of the scroll wheel.

I felt like a fool, but now I am able to use both.

 

[CapeOne]

1) I have a mid-20's child, as well as a teenager. Their generations haven't had to work enough (in general) yet to see what real effort gets you. Many have just been handed everything, including their first cell phone, which has been the biggest mistake our generation ever did, IMO. They don't know what hard work looks like. They don't belong in a showroom, of any kind.

This largely seems to be what every older generation says about younger generations. What you posted here was being said 20 years ago, 40 years ago, 60 years ago, etc. about the youth of those times. Older generations were saying the same thing about your generation in its youth. Right or wrong, "darn kids today" sentiments go back ages!

 

[ucmndd]

This largely seems to be what every older generation says about younger generations. What you posted here was being said 20 years ago, 40 years ago, 60 years ago, etc. about the youth of those times. Older generations were saying the same thing about your generation in its youth. Right or wrong, "darn kids today" sentiments go back ages!

Boomers these days, am I right?

 

[ChooseFreedom]

This largely seems to be what every older generation says about younger generations. What you posted here was being said 20 years ago, 40 years ago, 60 years ago, etc. about the youth of those times. Older generations were saying the same thing about your generation in its youth. Right or wrong, "darn kids today" sentiments go back ages!

To an extent, yes you're right.
I'm a Gen X'er. We grew up with the advent of cable TV and Nintendo, so we had more than just 3 channels and other options.
But smart phones weren't a thing yet. And at the rate tech is advancing, the knowledge gap between gens gets wider and wider with each gen. The Baby Boomer gen runs from '46-'64, 18 yrs. Now, can you call the kids born in 2001 the same gen as 2018? What about 2019 to 2036? As the tech advances, the gens are getting shorter, because even same gens start to not relate.
Think about it. We have an 80 yr old president. (not getting political) He grew up in the post WW2 decade. He was a senior citizen by time smart phones came around. No other gen has seen so much change, until the next one, and most of them haven't adapted very well.
And with each gen, the lifespan increases and but so does the tech gap.

So to get back to Tesla, Elon wants sales. That's what he shows the investors. He doesn't advertise, so he's set up Tesla to basically grow via word of mouth. And that worked great early on, but it gets you only so far. Tesla has grown, and certain infrastructures don't work at scale. A company reaches a certain size, and small processes start to break down. Larger processes need to be adopted. Hence why every other large auto manufacturer uses dealerships.
Not saying Tesla should do those. But there are aspects of them that they will need to do.
Expanding their service center network in quantity and quality. Which means more locations, which they're doing, slowly. But also the quality of service, like having enough people to answer a phone! Having those people properly trained and knowledgeable.
Showrooms should be commission-based. Which means there would need to be incentives for buyers who go there vs online purchases.
These aren't difficult things. Elon just can't be so stubborn, and be open to adapting as the company grows.
He's terrific at building companies. But I think, until Tesla, once they reached a certain size, he sold them to bigger companies.
Tesla has reached that point, and he's not selling, but he's also not putting the key infrastructure in place that will allow Tesla to continue. He bought Twitter, which was already big, had the infrastructure already in place, and he's trying to run it like a small biz.
Hopefully he'll learn from his mistakes at some point.

 

[ChooseFreedom]

An interesting, if occasionally blame-placing generational finger-wagging, perspective.

A perspective that also strikes me as fundamentally incompatible with the worldview of Tesla's CEO who famously loathes marketing and sales and thinks the products should speak for themselves, for better or worse.

But yeah, there are lots of ways to incentivize good employee behavior, most of them come down to living wages and acceptable compensation and investment. Things Tesla also famously doesn't particularly care about. People are cogs. The product is the only thing that matters.

I'm Gen X, and was young and stupid too. I wasn't blaming, simply saying they aren't ready, and we as parents weren't prepared, or just couldn't foresee, the impact of smart phones and social media, because we didn't grow up with it. So it's just as much our fault as theirs.

You're right, this perspective does clash with Elon's biz philosophies. I think that's because he can build businesses very well, but hasn't run them long-term until Tesla. He builds, and then sells them to bigger companies. So his experience was from small organizations that he could stay in control of all aspects. Tesla was like that for the early yrs. It's too big for that now. It needs the large scale infrastructure that other global companies have.
He's learning that the hard way with Twitter. He buys an established large company with the right infrastructure already in place, and then being the control freak he is, shreds it. Maybe he can be humbled and learn from the mistakes, and see what needs to happen within Tesla, but I doubt.