Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Melon: Hello, I am Melon Tusk, the CEO of Tesla. There are many businesses that I own, but Tesla is my favorite. Many people call me the vision behind Tesla. I don't fully agree with them.

Customer 1 :
Of course Sir, people are right. As the founder, it is your vision that has made Tesla what it is. Tesla is not even a decade old and it's already gigantic. You're just too modest. That's what makes you great.

Customer 2 :
Let me correct you there, bro. Melon Tusk didn't conceptualize Tesla. I've heard that Nikola Tesla, the great scientist was the founder.

Customer 1 :
Oh, wasn't it founded by Melon Tusk?

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: In 2003, Tesla Motors was founded by Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpenning. A year later Melon Tusk invested heavily into the company and join Tesla's board of directors as chairman.

Customer 1 :
Oh, but I'm sure he invested not as an ordinary investor but he knew he'd it in him to make Tesla something special.

Customer 2 :
Oh, so even I was mistaken. But didn't Nikola Tesla make the manufacture the technology that you use?

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Melon: Nikola was a brilliant scientist who created the engine design that we've adapted in 1888. We're named after him. Apart from that, there is no connection.

Customer 1 :
Wow, let me congratulate you first. Morgan Stanley calls Tesla the world's most important car company and a 2014 American nationwide survey found that your Model S was the most loved vehicle in America. Other seasoned manufacturers are taking up your path. Even BMW and Mercedes-Benz are now getting involved in the fully electric movement and even Apple is said to have an electric car in the works. You're a trendsetter.

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: Well, Martin and Mark simply wanted to revive the trend. Many of the first cars in the late eighteen hundreds were actually electric vehicles. Then started electric carriages.

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Elon: You must be wondering as to why did petrol cars become more popular. It is due to an extremely strong oil lobby. Which is powerful even today.

Customer 2 :
I'm sure your conviction shall change the situation. Isn't your long-term goal was to create affordable mass-market electric vehicles for everyone? I heard that you oversaw the detailed product design of the company's first car the Tesla Roadster.

Customer 1 :
I remember that design. It was so good that he received the Global Green 2006 product design award for his work on the Roadster. The Roadster was the first production electric vehicle with a range over 200 miles on a single charge. That's as much as 320 km.

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Melon: Yes, In 2007 Tesla went from strength to strength and received investment from prominent entrepreneurs including Scary Page and Sergey Brin from Google.

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: But not all went well. In 2008 the fallout from the world's first-ever global financial crisis forced Tesla to cut their workforce by ten percent. Sadly this cut down included key personnel from the core team who had been involved from the very inception.

Customer 2 :
Melon Sir, wasn't it the 2008 that you took charge as a CEO?

Customer 1 :
Yes. Not only that, he contributed 70 million dollars of his own money to the company. He really believed in his vision for the electric car.

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Elon: So did the US government. Tesla received a loan from the US government, for the Model S sedan.

Customer 2 :
I remember those loans. While I was analyzing Ford, I saw about these loans there too. Ford and a few other companies too had taken them.

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: I must say, while analyzing Tesla you wouldn't see such loans outstanding. By 2013, Tesla had fully repaid the government while Ford and Nissan who had received a similar loan hadn't.

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Elon: Why wouldn't Tesla repay? Afterall the company had become profitable by August of 2009. Thanks to Model S.

Customer 1 :
A little later, in 2010 Tesla went public. It was the first American car maker to go public since the Ford motor company in 1956. As shareholders, how proud were you?

Customer 2 :
Not just the IPO, but they must be proud of much more. To prove themselves, they just had to be better than a traditional car in every single way so no logical haters could even exist.

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: Oh yes, Tesla’s success is just that more amazing because of the public's resistance to electric cars. Previously electric cars were seen as quirky strange devices and almost never taken seriously. Elon put in a lot of effort to make it better.

Customer 1 :
How exactly is Tesla better? Elon Sir, why don't you help us out?

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Elon: Well it's not a hybrid. This means that the only liquid that is topping up is the wiper fluid, there's no noise or vibration, it's much cleaner, it's extremely fast, it handles much better than your average car and most sports cars.

Customer 2 :
And finally, it's also much safer than the standard car. You may wonder how?

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: Tesla cars are incredibly safe. Tesla's Model S received a five-star rating in every possible category, something which has only been achieved by 1% of cars and the Model S has set a new record for the lowest likelihood of passage injury.

Customer 2 :
Yes, I now remember. I had read somewhere that during the testing of the Model S, it was so strong that it broke the test rig.

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Melon: Oh yes, we all had a good laugh about it while bonding over drinks that night. That's because there's no engine at the front of the car, the whole front behaves like a massive crumble zone absorbing a lot more impact in the crash.

Customer 1 :
So don't the batteries in an accident just blow off and catch fire?

Customer 2 :
Nope, this isn't true. The average petrol car is actually five times more likely to blow up in a serious accident and that's mainly because it's a petrol bomb on wheels.

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: And our pricing strategies are very pragmatic. Our new models are at $35,000 with free Tesla supercharger stations across the country. It's not just free now it's free forever.

Customer 1 :
I've observed that the number of the supercharging stations is increasing dramatically. By buying a Tesla you essentially have free long distance travel throughout the country forever.

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Elon: Yes, we will reach 98% of the American population within a few months.

Customer 2 :
But there has to be a revenue model! How would this project be economically self-sustaining?

Customer 1 :
I think the reason behind this is that Tesla could create a new better cleaner infrastructure and then when electric cars become more widespread, Tesla could begin to generate some income by letting other companies use the system while keeping a free for the end users. This is pure genius.

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: Look at you both, feeling happy for Tesla. I respect the sentiment, but did you know that Elon almost sold Tesla to us?

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Melon: Scary, those were tough times. 2013 it was - Tesla was almost bankrupt, SpaceX wasn't working out and many people just weren't buying electric cars because of this I was actually about to sell the company to Google for 11 billion dollars.

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: But things worked out well. No regrets, even though the deal didn't go through.

Customer 2 :
And now the company is becoming even more interesting. Tesla wants to power your home, Melon Tusk launched Tesla energy. It's something beyond business. It's the future. Sir, you're a visionary. I mean no disrespect, Scary.

Customer 1 :
The Model 3 realizes your original dream, doesn't it? For the common man costing just 35k dollars before incentives. The latest models include cameras and a set of sensors that give a 360-degree buffer around the car. The car can detect road signs, line markings, obstacles and other vehicles.

Customer 2 :
Might be the greatest but Tesla isn’t the largest auto manufacture around I guess. They just haven't been around for long enough.

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: Well, Tesla is probably a little bit bigger than you think. Currently they're really worth more than fiat, Mitsubishi Motors, Mazda, Renault or Suzuki with a market cap of 31 billion dollars. It's almost half as big as Ford Motor Company.

Customer 1 :
Those are numbers on just papers. Tesla has sold so far about 70,000 cars. General motors sells that many in three days. Still as much as 50% of General Motors. It just goes to show that Tesla is vastly more valued by investors than traditional companies. And remember, this is all excluding Tesla energy.

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Melon: There has been a little backlash, too. Our direct sales models cuts out dealerships. We don't have stores, we sell cars from malls. In fact, many dealership associations have actually tried to file lawsuits against direct sale of Tesla cars. Incredibly Tesla sales are banned in the state of Texas.

Customer 1 :
Is it a coincidence that Texas is also the home of big oil companies? (& Tesla are electric cars) Hahaha

Customer 2 :
The fact that you're a brand new smaller company, and still manage to cause so much change and instigate a fundamental disruption to the automotive industry is a testament to the innovation of the company.

Scary Page (Founder, Google) :
Google: So in the wider and deeper sense of things, Melon Tusk has a vision, a vision for everyone to own a great electric car.

Customer 1 :
That's really great. Please come to Asian Markets soon. We need your products, too.

Melon Tusk (CEO, Tesla) :
Melon: Well, I want to connect not just Asia, but the entire world through the Internet. While both Facebook and Google are trying to solve this problem, I have requested the US government to let me launch 440,000 satellites to connect the entire world. But let's talk about what I want to do some other time.

Customer 2 :
Sure, it was great learning about so many new things, especially the vision. It is truly inspirational.