Elon Musk on David Letterman 04.29.2009

[Guy Incognito]

David Letterman, with a bad case of laryngitis, interviews Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

I'm divided by this interview.
On the one hand, Dave throws the 'longer tailpipe' argument at Elon, ostensibly for the purpose of Elon dispelling it as rubbish.

But Letterman bad mouths the Volt, perhaps because his guest is one of the Volt's chief competitors.
Or maybe becasue he has no idea what he's talking about.

We need to throw some comments at this vid on YouTube to dispel some of the myths that Dave threw out at the Volt.

Anyways, check it out:
Elon Musk on David Letterman 04.29.2009

_-=

[omnimoeish]

I got to say, that quip when he asked "When was the last time you saw a candle lit vigil for any product, let alone a General Motors product?"

[DaV8or]

I'm just going to re-post what I posted over on the blog.

Man Letterman is pompus asshole. He now loves the EV-1 and thinks GM should have kept building it at a great loss, well back in those days, did he lease one?? He pisses and moans about the lack of electric cars and thinks it should have been available years ago. He then goes on to say the Tesla Roadster is pretty cool and took one for a test drive, but did he buy one?? No, and he can actually afford one! Then he busts the balls of the big 3 American brands for not supplying him an electric car, even though one of them did and he failed to lease it. Of course, in the new zeitgeist of hating all things American, he failed to mention that no other car company in the world has offered an electric car either, including the world’s largest, but that doesn’t matter to him, the blame for the lack of a viable electric car is squarely the fault of the Detroit big 3 and them only. The elitist butt wipe let it slip that his newspaper is delivered miles away and that’s all the Volt is good for, getting his paper. Did he mention his $5,000 no risk refundable deposit that he has put down on the Model S? NO!

David Letterman is an ASS HOLE!

Sorry, had to vent.

[misslexi]

Wonder if that cologne smells like new Tesla?

[BDP]

I saw this last night and again today on youtube. The volt is going to have to accept there will be some stiff competition. Someone is always going to build a better mouse trap. I hope the American Dream is still intact!

Letterman once again proved himself to be an ass. Musk is a nerd with lots of dough that's pushing the envelope. If somehow last nights show helped America see the need for EV. Then I'm all for it.

Getting America off of oil needs to be the motivator though, not saving the world or being green. Screw the middle east!! IMHO

[DaV8or]

I got to say, that quip when he asked "When was the last time you saw a candle lit vigil for any product, let alone a General Motors product?"

Yeah, cheap shot, but I'd like to point out that there are more GM fans and people in love with GM products than any other brand in the world. GM has spawned more enthusiasts clubs and aftermarket jobs than any other manufacturer on the planet. How many Toyotas do you see at the Barrett Jackson auctions? How many are you likely to see in the future? Bottom line, GM has built some pretty crappy cars over the years, but they and other domestic makers, build cars you can connect to. Many other popular brands today make cars that you just change like underwear and never look back.

Case in point, when GM canceled the Camaro, the uproar and constant nagging from the Camaro community basically forced the return of the Camaro. Sure, GM wanted a rear drive muscle car to compete with the Mustang, but they could have called it anything and they could have styled it any way they wanted, but they knew they had a ready built hardcore, rabid group of enthusiasts for this car already built in and this time they knew they had to listen to them and not screw up like they did with the GTO. You just don't see that kind of passion much for Japanese brands.

You want to see a candle light vigil and thousands of sad people? Go ahead Obama, kill the Corvette.

[Guy Incognito]

David Letterman is an ASS HOLE!
Sorry, had to vent.

No offense taken, in fact you're right on.

Did you notice how Letterman cuts off Elon not once, but twice?
Elon tried to make two important comments about the S Model and Letterman does that stupid gag where he pretends to get electrocuted.

No effort on Letterman's part to even explain the fact that the Tesla is a pure BEV & the Volt a Serial Plug-In Hybrid.
And thus the all-electric ranges of the these vehicles will be quite different.

David Letterman=total stooge.

[Altazi]

DaV8or: "Man Letterman is pompus asshole."

Amen! +1 to DaV8or

BDP: "Letterman once again proved himself to be an ass."

+1 to BDP

BDP: "Screw the middle east!!"

Yeah, baby! +1 to BDP

[LampCord]

Letterman used to be funny years ago when he was the anti-establishment guy that poked fun at Hollywood pomposity and even got Cher to call him an asshole to his face.

Then one day, he became the establishment and his show went into the ****ter. It happened right around the time he moved from NBC to CBS and had his show moved earlier in the evening.

I haven't watched that clown in 10 years. Actually, that's an insult to clowns. They are funny.

[omnimoeish]

Yeah, I'm dying to know what Musk was about to say right before the electrocution "gag". Here's the thing, Letterman shows just how he was playing to Musk when he started outright saying that the Volt is crap and that 40 miles only gets you to the curb. He was just being funny. But anyone with half a brain knows that 40 miles would easily cover their commute or a good portion of it. Yes, it would've been nice if they'd mentioned the range extender, but the electrocution thing solidified the fact that Letterman was just being a goof ball. Sad that something as important as America's future is being made a laughing stock, but hey, I'm all for Tesla getting a plug (haha get it?). Any publicity is good publicity, and the Volt at least got some publicity on the show. People who haven't heard of the Volt will no doubt want to find out more about it.