Ever since he established Tesla in 2003, and through its first Roadster car in 2008 to the present-day models, Elon Musk never felt the need to advertise his products.
All that seems to be changing for the man who once famously tweeted that he “hates advertising”.
On Tuesday, the Tesla Chief Executive told the company’s shareholders at its annual meeting in Austin, Texas, that the company would try and advertise its vehicles.
“This has some merit. We will try out a little advertising and see how it goes,” Musk said.
The change of heart could be related to the fact that he now owns Twitter, which has seen a large-scale flight of advertisers, many of the car companies wary of the fact that their data could be used by Tesla.
Musk alluded to that, saying it was “ironic” that as CEO of Tesla, he now also owns Twitter, which is highly advertisement dependent. Ever since Musk took over, he has been trying to diversify the revenue streams, including charging users for the blue tick.
“So, I guess I should say advertising is awesome, and everyone should do it,” Musk told shareholders.
“I think I hear your sort of larger point, which is that there are amazing features and functionality about Teslas that people just don’t know about, and although there’s obviously a lot of people that follow the Tesla account and my account…it is preaching to the choir, and the choir is already convinced.”
Musk announced that he is stepping down from his position with the social media platform, which will soon be led by advertising veteran Linda Yaccarino, who he hired last week.
Musk not stepping down as Tesla chief
However, Musk dismissed any rumours that he is also contemplating stepping down as Tesla CEO.
“Say it ain’t so,” one shareholder asked Musk about the possibility of him stepping down.
“It ain’t so,” Musk replied without missing a beat.
During the meeting, shareholders rejected a proposal to publish a report that sought to establish succession plans for Musk.
Challenging times ahead
Musk also warned that the next 12 months could be challenging, largely because rising interest rates have increased the cost of buying a car.
“Tesla is not immune to the global economic environment. I expect things to be just at a macro economic level difficult for at least the next 12 months,” he said, predicting that the company will get through the period and do well, even when a lot of companies will go bankrupt.
New models and Cybertruck
On the much-awaited Cybertruck, Musk said Tesla would start delivering the pickup this year, and would likely produce a quarter-million of them a year, depending on the demand.
Musk also hinted at two new mass-market models – one of which is already under development – but did not elaborate on it.
“I just want to emphasise that we are actually building a new product. We are actually designing a new product. We’re not sitting on our hands here,” Musk said as a rendered image of a car silhouette appeared on the screen behind him.
“Both the design of the products and the manufacturing techniques are head and shoulders above anything else that is present in the industry.”
On the new Roadster sports car, he said Tesla hopes to start production next year.
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