TO THE EDITOR:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s pessimistic view of a recession coming to the automotive industry can’t be taken seriously (“Elon Musk’s warning about recession seen as ‘canary in the coal mine,’ ” autonews.com, June 4).
In my humble opinion, Musk simply has a focus problem. Like a kid in a candy store, he jumps from one company division to the next. Today, it’s Tesla electric vehicles. Tomorrow, it’s SpaceX and launching a bunch of satellites. Then there’s the hot and cold issue of buying Twitter. To me, it’s a “focus du jour” problem.
Granted, there are chip shortages slowing down the shipment of new automobiles getting to dealer showrooms. But demand for new cars and trucks is skyrocketing.
An email from Musk reportedly told executives Tesla would need to cut about 10 percent of salaried jobs worldwide. Musk later discounted any big staff changes.
But why would Tesla even consider this? It’s better to keep employees and cross-train them, for a few good reasons: They’re already on payroll; you don’t have to relocate them; and they get to keep their parking spots.
Best of all, you don’t have to pay extended benefits or severance packages, all of which costs a lot more than it would to hire and train new workers.
BART WILSON, Founder and chief marketing officer, MotorStreet Monument, Colo. MotorStreet designs and builds custom car photo studios for the auto industry.