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going bankrupt, people’s net worth having taken a giant
kick in the balls, and the fact that the car isn’t coming out
for two and a half years.”^59
Everything looked good, but Tesla would still need
more time to prove they could make cars for a profit. “I’ve
been going past the red line on the gauge for a while now,”
Elon said. “It’s honestly not been fun, but I have to continue
for a bit longer, because for Tesla in particular, we’re at the
stage where the company’s survival is in question.”
Those who criticized Tesla had a point. The last suc-
cessful car company in America was founded in the begin-
ning of the 20th century. Both John DeLorean and Preston
Tucker brought cars to the market, but they were unable
to scale up their production and reach profitability.210,316
The manufacturing of the DeLorean by DeLorean Motor
Company began in 1981, but ended in 1982 after 9 000 cars
were sold. Tucker Car Corporation manufactured only 58
cars between 1947 and 1948.
To secure the future by increasing the revenues, Tesla
wanted to sell their technology to other car companies.
Their first target was Daimler – a German company founded
by Gottlieb Daimler. Only a few months after Carl Benz,
who demonstrated a combustion engine for vehicles in
1885, Gottlieb came up with a similar combustion engine.
Carl, however, was the one who patented the engine in
1886.^383