Former Stellantis CEO says Elon Musk could ditch his car company to focus on robots and spaceships – Jalopnik

Carlos Tavares has been out of the role as CEO of Stellantis for about a year now, and in the meantime he has been busy writing a book with an entertaining title in French. A pilot in the storm (“A Pilot in the Storm,” although perhaps you could translate “storm” as “storm” and better capture Tavares’ tenure). He has commented on the current state of the auto industry and in a recent report he offered some thoughts on Elon Musk and his fate.

Of Living Mint (referring to Fortune and the French newspaper Les Echos):

“We cannot rule out that at some point he will decide to leave the automotive industry and refocus on humanoid robots, SpaceX or artificial intelligence,” Tavares said. “Elon Musk will have left the auto industry,” he added.

This is an astute assessment. While Tesla has entered a bumpy period, without much enthusiasm for new or even promised products (Hello? New Roadster?), Musk seems quite enthusiastic about Optimus robots and xAI, and there is no doubt that SpaceX and especially Starlink offer potential significantly higher future profit margins than what Tesla delivered.

Like many others in the industry, Tavares singles out BYD for its rapid progress and the potentially existential dilemma the Chinese company poses to Tesla. “I’m not sure Tesla will still be around in 10 years,” he reportedly said. “They are an innovative group, but they will be defeated by BYD’s efficiency.” That sounds like an extreme prediction, but unless Tesla can transform itself into a market-leading provider of autonomy and robotaxis, the company could only become a moderately profitable mass-market EV manufacturer. And struggles to maintain its position against a host of rivals.

To prove Tavares and other naysayers wrong, Musk may have to accept that he’s still running an automaker and make a few concessions. For example, by introducing several appealing vehicles in different segments. A real pickup, replacing the exotic and failed Cybertruck. A real three-row SUV. A refresh of the Model S, so Tesla continues to sell a high-quality EV sedan that appeals to luxury buyers.

Earlier this year, Tavares gave an interview in which he seemed to be enjoying a happy post-Stellantis life in Portugal. More recently, though, he seems to have settled some scores and is looking to cement his reputation as the auto industry’s last empire builder (Tavares learned from Carlos Ghosn, the disgraced architect of the Renault-Nissan alliance and the empire builder who showed Tavares how to build the building). Putting Musk in his place is a logical part of that process.

Of course Musk did that kind of built his own empire. It’s true that Tesla doesn’t sell cars at the same level as Stellantis, but the company still has a market cap of $1.5 trillion. Maybe the robots and robotaxis will make it much more worth it. And we haven’t even talked about SpaceX and its future value, or whatever xAI claims if the AI ​​boom doesn’t go bankrupt. On the other hand, no car company is certain forever. Tavares is not wrong that Tesla could one day disappear.