Chapter 779 The Lonely Terminator

Interestingly, it seems that Tesla became an instant hit after launching the Model S, and the Model S became Tesla’s best-selling model...

But the fact is that when Tesla first launched the Model S, the car still had some problems and sales were not good, forcing Musk to replace Tesla’s nearly 500 technical staff. Become a salesman and let them try their best to sell Model S...

Even at that time, Musk took the initiative to approach Google, hoping to sell Tesla to them.

What's surprising is that the employees of Tesla are still very capable. They actually sold more than 10,000 Model S, which brought Tesla back to life in one fell swoop.

And the Model S began to be gradually accepted by consumers, eventually creating an exaggerated scene where Tesla's market value exceeded the sum of other traditional car manufacturers...

Now in front of Barron, Musk appeared very confident both inside and outside his words.

But Barron knows that he himself may not be so sure about the success of Tesla's new model.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to have the idea of ​​selling Tesla to Google in the future...

If Barron didn't know much about the automotive industry in his previous life, then he would have some ideas - should he wait until after the Model S is launched and Musk intends to sell Tesla? What about buying this company?

But what makes Barron a little unsure is whether Tesla without Musk can still launch as many popular models as it did in its previous life?

He finally decided to put this idea aside for the time being and observe Tesla's future situation before making a decision.

British Automotive Group has taken the initiative to cooperate with Tesla to conduct research on electric vehicles. What do other car companies think?

The truth is, there is no opinion at all, and it is even a bit of fun.

After all, at this time, electric vehicles have not shown much development potential - yes, many people think that electric vehicles will be a trend in the future, but what needs to be known is that often, a new technology can be developed. , may not be a company that "pioneers" this technology.

In other words, many car companies have also developed electric vehicles, but they have not invested much energy in it. What's more, the development direction of electric vehicles, such as the batteries they use, and the technical route may not be certain. For example, Japanese car companies are more optimistic about hydrogen energy batteries...

The idea of ​​these car companies is that new energy vehicles, including electric vehicles, may indeed succeed in the future, but certainly not now - they believe that many technologies are not mature. Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, electric vehicles Cars still have a long way to go, so seizing the current advantages in the field of fuel vehicles is the top priority. It is certainly impossible for these vested interests to actively carry out revolution.

Just like Tesla, even though it has launched the Roadster model, no one would have thought that it would be a big success with the next Model S car.

Otherwise, if we can really see this, Tesla will not always be in financial crisis. Those investors or car company groups have already rushed to inject capital into it.

Therefore, the British Automobile Group's investment in Tesla is nothing more than a blind bet on their part.

In Musk’s view, British Auto Group’s cooperation with them does seem to be interested in electric vehicles. However, judging from the brands owned by British Auto Group and their actions in the field of electric vehicles, this car company’s The goals are different from Tesla's. Tesla's Model S is still targeting models from brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

As can be seen from the Romanian Rimac Automobili company previously acquired by British Automotive Group, the Concept One electric supercar that was just unveiled at the Shanghai World Expo, and the company's cooperation with Aston Martin, British Automotive Group is committed to electric vehicles. In the automotive field, it is targeting the high-end luxury market such as supercars, and there will be no competition with Tesla.

What's more, even if the British Automobile Group is interested in mid-range electric cars, Musk will not care too much - on the one hand, at this time, he certainly cannot know for sure that Tesla will almost It monopolizes the market in this field and can threaten traditional fuel vehicles; on the other hand, Tesla has also been squeezed out by traditional fuel vehicle companies in many cases because of its development of electric vehicles. If there can be such a company, it can also enter In the field of electric vehicles, at least the two parties can be regarded as allies...

So no matter what, at least at this time, the cooperation between Tesla and the British Automobile Group is still very harmonious, and both parties are also doing their best to invest in the cooperative development of electric vehicle technology.

After visiting Tesla's headquarters, Barron returned to Los Angeles and stayed here for only one day. He talked with Annika Dawson, CEO of Blue Valley Capital, about investing in Hollywood, and then left here.

The main reason is that he is not going to meet with California Governor Schwarzenegger. After all, Mr. "Terminator" is destined to step down as governor at the beginning of next year, which is irreversible.

It can be said that when he took office in 2003, he was so much anticipated, and now he is so miserable.

When Schwarzenegger first came to power, he launched a series of reform policies. He promised voters that he would "audit everything and end crazy fiscal spending."

In 2004, Schwarzenegger was at the peak of his political career, with a public support rate of 65%, and then he easily won re-election in 2006.

However, during Schwarzenegger's second term as governor, the financial crisis in the United States swept the world. Under the impact of the financial tsunami, California's finances were on the verge of bankruptcy...

In fact, the California government had already fallen into a cash shortage as early as February 2009. At that time, the state government had to face a deficit of up to 42 billion US dollars!

Rating agency Standard \u0026 Poor's had previously downgraded California's state bond rating.

In this situation, Schwarzenegger had to announce that most officials would have their salaries cut by 18%. The state government would have to pay its employees and contract workers in the form of "wage IOUs". Employees and contract workers could cash their wages with IOUs when the state government has money in the future - even many civil servants have begun to take unpaid leave. In addition, the state government will also cut the budgets for education and social welfare.

Since the financial crisis, California has been hit hard by the collapse of real estate, a sharp drop in tax revenue, and a surge in unemployment. The state government's finances have been in urgent need of money. In mid-May last year, the California government announced the auction of seven properties to raise money, including large stadiums and convention centers.

In order to make up for the huge budget deficit, the California government proposed six bills and held referendums. These bills include tax increases, increased debt, and spending cuts. The only bill passed by angry voters is that the state government is not allowed to give government workers a salary increase when the fiscal deficit is in the state government.

In the end, because most of the bills proposed by Schwarzenegger did not receive voter support, the state government had to slash education, health and social welfare spending, including cutting 5,000 civil servants, releasing prisoners early, closing some fire departments, canceling health insurance subsidies for poor children, reducing subsidies for community colleges, abused women and children, etc., which had the greatest impact on vulnerable groups.

Therefore, in this California gubernatorial election, Schwarzenegger lost to Jerry Brown of the Donkey Party...

During Schwarzenegger's tenure, California became the first state in the United States to implement mandatory controls on greenhouse gas emissions from factories, power plants and smelters - this is the only political legacy Schwarzenegger left to California.

In addition, when Schwarzenegger left office, California's fiscal deficit was as high as 25.4 billion US dollars, far exceeding the 10.2 billion US dollars when he first took office.

According to some American media, during Schwarzenegger's tenure, California went from a wealthy state that could be called the "eighth largest economy in the world" to a place where "no one wants to work."

Well, it's very sad.