Much of the automotive world doesn’t seem to have a lot of love for Elon Musk these days. Even companies that Tesla has worked with, like Toyota and Mercedes, have derided Musk’s plan to take over the world with electric cars. But to one former GM CEO, Musk is making all of the right moves and is challenging the auto industry in new and exciting ways.
That man is none other than Dan Akerson, who headed General Motors in the years immediately after “new GM” emerged from bankruptcy. He recently handed the keys to the kingdom to Marry Barra and seems to have mostly shied away from the limelight, but in a recent interview with Forbes the self-described “enthusiastic fan” of Tesla was not shy of expressing his adoration for Musk.
“No other car manufacturer has achieved a global brand so quickly, it’s a huge accomplishment for this hard-charging executive,” said Akerson. “Teslas are beautifully designed with great pick up and first class engineering.”
“Musk has challenged the industry and it has to respond. He’s running between the legs of elephants and has a temporal advantage. Competitors are behind technologically, but have advantages in scale and scope. By 2018, you’ll see game-changing competitive responses globally.”
Does that mean Tesla’s reign on top may be short lasting once other automakers catch up? Perhaps, though it’s just as likely an outside entity like Google or Apple picks the electric automaker up in a bid to enter a new market. One thing can’t be denied though; Musk is making both enemies and allies in the automotive world, and Akerson seems to think he’s got at least three more years to be “ahead of the curve” when it comes to competitors.
Here’s hoping that Musk makes the most of the next three years, solidifying Tesla’s place in the automotive pantheon.
source: https://cleantechnica.com/2014/12/24/former-gm-ceo-talks-tesla-musk/
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