Veteran auto executive Bob Lutz (who previously served as an executive at four of the world's top auto giants, General Motors, BMW, Ford and Chrysler), recently revealed in a statement to the Financial Times that German luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz and BMW are afraid of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Lutz's statement was included in an article awarded elon Musk the Financial Times Person of the Year Award.
For his achievements in tesla's auto industry, Musk was named The Financial Times' Person of the Year. In an interview with the publication, Musk noted that Tesla faced a lot of skepticism at the beginning of its existence, with critics calling the company a fraud and its leaders being fools. But when Tesla gained a foothold and began to take a sizable market share from the hands of world-renowned car companies, the automakers changed their attitudes.
Bob Lutz, former foregoing for Ford's executive vice president and board member, Chrysler president and vice chairman and board member, and vice chairman of General Motors, also confirmed Musk's remarks. As one of the voices against Tesla in the past, he even once claimed that Tesla has no advantage over its competitors in terms of technology, software and batteries (Lutz now says Musk's impact on the auto industry is "incredible" and "simply unbelievable").
Lutz also added a rather interesting detail, saying: "That's why Mercedes-Benz and BMW are so afraid of him"
Previously, GM engineers believed that the type of lithium-ion battery used in consumer devices such as laptops could not drive full-size cars. However, when the original Tesla Sports car was released, things changed. Lutz pointed out that a decade ago, Tesla's original Roadster contributed to the birth of the Chevrolet Volt hybrid to some extent. Unfortunately for GM, however, the company did not follow through on this shift. GM is still far behind Tesla in the electric vehicle market, and despite u.S. President Joe Biden's announcement that GM CEO Mary Barra is leading the transition to electric vehicles and electrification of the automotive industry, the truth remains that such a transition would still be difficult to achieve without the hard work of Tesla and its workers.