Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz) / CC BY-SA
From the acquisition/bailout of Solar City to the branding of Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” technology, there’s been plenty of room for condemnation of the company and its CEO. That said, I actually found myself cheering on Elon this week, during Tesla’s controversial, headline-generating earnings call.
Tesla posted some surprisingly good-looking numbers for Q1 2020, in light of broad economic disruptions due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Some standout numbers included a gross margin of 20.6% and an automotive margin of 25.5%. Tesla also said it may still hit its 500,000 vehicle delivery target in 2020.
The surprise results were enough to send Tesla’s shares up as much as 8% after hours, but all these numbers were ultimately overshadowed by some off-script comments from Musk during the call.
From a public relations standpoint, this was a bold move from Elon, but it is a move that someone needed to make.
