Elon Musk refused to sell to a Model X client after criticizing himself

Time management is a complicated thing. Especially if you are a famous person and you have a lot of things to do. Here, Vladimir Putin was once late for a meeting with the Pope for a whole hour . Or another example: in September 2015, Elon Musk was late for the Model X Launch Event by almost two hours , forcing several thousand invited guests (mostly Model X customers) to wait.

One of these guests, the well-known venture capital investor Stuart Alsop , later wrote an angry post on this subject in his blog . Alsop was dissatisfied with the event in general - and a boring presentation on the topic of security, and the lack of ready cars, but first of all - the late Mask (and the absence of any apologies to this effect).
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Two days ago, the story received an unexpected continuation: Mask called Alsop ... but not to apologize. Instead, Musk expressed his dissatisfaction with his post, his attitude to Tesla as a company to Stewart, and finally concluded that he had canceled the Alsop's order for a red Model X , because he would not want such a person to own a Tesla car.

For the automotive market, this precedent is unique (as, indeed, almost everything else that Musk does). Tesla Motors in North America avoids car dealer services , preferring direct sales and service. The only way to purchase a Model S or Model X is to buy them at the Tesla showroom or order on the company's website via the Internet. Many Tesla customers believe that it is much more convenient than acting through dealers, however, this approach seems to Alsop to be sideways, because Tesla can really control who can get their car and who can't.


Tesla Showroom at a mall in Washington, DC

From the point of view of the market, Tesla can also afford it. More than 30 thousand orders have already been received on the Model X, and only 23 thousand cars will be produced in 2016 . Perhaps Musk decided that it would be better not to waste time and effort on the client, who began to criticize him and his company before he received his car.

The only thing that is surprising is the time interval of more than 4 months between the publication of the post Alsop and the reaction of Mask. However, it is quite possible that Elon is really so busy with work that he saw an entry in Alsop's blog just now. Or the hassle of the last few months has affected - since the end of December, TSLA shares have been falling continuously and reached a minimum for 9 months amid a decrease in the forecast for 2016 supplies. Maybe Alsop just fell under the hot hand, who knows.

PS In the comments on the blog post of Alsop, those who sympathize with Stewart are wondering if Alsop can, say, buy a used Model S "from the hands" or will Musk go so far as to deactivate it remotely? In principle, the Model S is updated via the Internet and constantly communicates with Tesla Motors services, so this option cannot be discounted.

PPS As it turns out, this is not the first such case . Someone montauto ordered his Model S P85D in a certain configuration, but he was delivered the car not with the seats he ordered. Montauto turned to lawyers, after which Tesla Motors canceled his order for the Model X: "... we decided it's best to part ways."

PPPS Reaction Mask:
PPPPS An alternative point of view on what happened and my reaction .