With loans to the Big 3 all but signed for, Tesla Motors feels they deserve a piece of the government handout pie. Tesla’s Vice President of Business Development, Diarmuid O’Connell, blogged about how it was a bad idea for the Big Three to get money that had been set aside in the December 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), specifically Section 136. Section 136 set up the Advanced Technology Vehicles Loan Program (ATVMLP), and Tesla opposed taking money that was supposed to make cars cleaner and instead use it to just keep the Big Three operating.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the Detroit Free Press that if the electric car maker doesn’t get a $350 million loan from the government, then the Model S will be delayed and San Jose plant won’t open. Musk said that with $350 million, Tesla could sell 20,000 electric sedans a year by 2011. “We can’t move forward with that without a major amount of capital,” said Musk. “If we don’t get any government funding, then what we need to do is we need to wait until the capital markets recover, which could be a year or two years from now.”
I sure hope the government does the right thing by helping a company with a proven track record of providing energy efficient vehicles. Sadly, the way things are moving right now, this will probably not happen soon enough.
Sources: Detroit Free Press, Autobloggreen
It’d be better if the government just didn’t give fantasy money to anyone at all. The Big 3 need to fail, they’ve proven they can’t survive in today’s market under their current structures, so it’s time for them to just give up or start over (bankruptcy). Tesla doesn’t need money from government either. Let their potential customers who can pony up $60,000+ and $109.000 for Tesla’s cars foot the bill to keep Tesla running.
People need to realize that the government doesn’t HAVE any money. It creates it, to the detriment of our current money’s value. That’s called inflation. Your tax dollars don’t pay for anything, not even basic government services. Your tax dollars service (barely) the current national debt payments to World Banks and other countries.
Our current economic problems are thanks to government and can’t be fixed by that same government. They have to be fixed by being allowed to even themselves out. Failure of some businesses (and yes, loss of some jobs) is part of that. Welcome to the real world. The social safety net is a fantasy.
Look at the bailouts for the banks. Where’s that money? Did your mortgage get paid off or reduced? Mine didn’t either. What do you think Detroit’s Big 3 (or Tesla for that matter) will do with their bailout money? Fritter it away, I’m sure, by doing business as usual, which means failing as usual. Why aren’t Honda and Toyota in financial trouble? Probably because they aren’t stupid.