Elon Musk visited the Aston Martin factory in 2008.
Elon Musk’s Tesla is considered one of the most valuable car companies in the world today, but there was once a time when the billionaire entrepreneur was treated as an “amateur car maker” by the CEO of one of the world’s leading luxury car manufacturers. More than a decade after the CEO of Aston Martin acted “quite grumpy” while Elon Musk toured the factory, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX responded to the incident in a surprising tweet.
The incident was first described in Ashlee Vance’s 2015 book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, but drew attention after a viral tweet Wednesday night.
“Hey @elonmusk, how did your visit to @astonmartin in 2008 change what you did with @tesla?” asked a Twitter account called ‘Tesla Owners Silicon Valley’.
The tweet described the visit, writing, “When Musk visited Aston Martin to see a factory tour, the CEO treated @elonmusk ‘like an amateur car builder'”.
Elon Musk, 49, confirmed the incident, admitting that the Aston Martin CEO was not entirely wrong. “He was indeed quite grumpy, but we didn’t really know what we were doing, so he was right,” Musk wrote.
He was indeed quite cranky, but we didn’t really know what we were doing so he was right
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2020
His answer has been ‘liked’ more than 2,700 times on the microblogging platform.
According to Yahoo News, Ashlee Vance revealed in his book that Elon Musk fell into a slump after his divorce in 2008. Hoping to cheer him up, his friend Bill Lee asked him to join him on a visit to London, where Mr. Musk met. was visiting. Aston Martin to visit his factory. The CEO treated Elon Musk “like an amateur car builder,” wrote Mr. Vance.
In July of this year, Tesla Inc became the world’s most highly regarded automaker, overtaking Toyota Motors Corp. Founded in 2003, Tesla is known for manufacturing electric cars.
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