Elon Musk on ’60 Minutes’: I Expected Tesla to Fail

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Modesty isn’t usually one of Tesla Motors (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s strong points, but his 60 Minutes spot last night showed a rare lack of confidence in one of his greatest achievements:

Tesla Motors itself.

“Well, I didn’t really think Tesla would be successful,” Elon Musk told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley. “I thought we would most likely fail. But I thought that we at least could address the false perception that people have that an electric car had to be ugly and slow and boring like a golf cart.”

TSLA shareholders are obviously happy to report that Musk is wrong on all ends. Tesla vehicles have gained an almost cult-like following thanks to their fusing of high-end technology and slick design. And the company itself?

tesla-motors-tsla-elon-musk

So far, so good for Tesla. Even with a disappointing past month or so of trading.

But why, then, would Musk start a company with little perceived chance of success?

“If something’s important enough you should try. Even if you — the probable outcome is failure,” he said.

You can check out Elon Musk’s 60 Minutes interview below, in which he discusses solar charging stations for Tesla vehicles, family life and even the zombiepocalypse.

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Kyle Woodley is the Deputy Managing Editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he was long TSLA. Follow him on Twitter at @KyleWoodley.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2014/03/tesla-elon-musk-tsla/.

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