Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk says the company is open to a merger with another carmaker. Speaking during an awards ceremony in German on Tuesday, Musk was asked if Tesla may try to leverage its significant valuation to merge with a legacy automaker. [Watch the interview above] “We are definitely not going to launch a hostile... READ FULL ARTICLE
I would hope any such merger wouldn't involve taking on the obligations of supporting a dealer's network. One of the things I like the most about Tesla is not having to play dealership games.
Anything that might dilute his control or influence would be a mistake. I feel like the legacy automakers are too top heavy and which kills innovation. Elon can do some head scratching things but at the end of the day I feel like his ability to cut through the BS pushes Tesla and the tech forward.
Can't think of a single option where the culture clash wouldn't be horrific. If DB and Chrysler couldn't make it work...Can anyone imagine the Germans playing second fiddle? Oddly, GM strikes me as an interesting notion; they seem to have seen the light, but have an awful lot of catching-up to do; their big presence in China sure wouldn't hurt, but someone else pointed out the labor problems in the US.
Perhaps you have missed the countless crappy experiences when buying a used Tesla from Tesla? Tesla is the worst and a dealer network would make dealing with them better... for service & used sales anyway.
If Tesla had the same dedication to user and ownership experience as Apple, there would be no need for a dealer network. Right now, it's obvious Tesla has no desire to provide the customer service needed at the price points of these cars, so the consumers really need some middleman who's existence is based on keeping customers happy. A dealer-less network only works when the products are built with dedication to suprerior quality, which the Teslas are exactly the opposite of.
Speculation about Daimler (Benz)... Tesla Is Open To A Merger — And Daimler Would Be The Right Fit: Reuters
Merging with a legacy company would be a big mistake and destroy company culture. It would also slow Tesla down as it would be more bureaucracy that it would have to deal with and it would also suck up attention. They aren't prizes to be bought but poison chalices. If something like this was to be entertained, perhaps sharing some of the tech for an ownership stake would be a better idea.
Musk offered Tesla for about $60 billion to Apple during dark days of Model 3 Apple Self-Driving Car Plans Called 'Strange, If True' by Elon Musk - TeslaNorth.com