Bad Vibes: Ford Takes on Tesla After 'Morgue' Comment

Who doesn’t love a battle between automakers? Personally, I find the upper-crust sniping between Rolls-Royce and Lagonda both charming and hilarious, but the fun ramps up when the fight involves builders of more accessible products.

In a Wall Street Journal article published late Wednesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk copped to sleeping under his desk near his Fremont assembly plant’s body shop, part of an all-out effort to reach a lofty (and delayed) June 30th production target. Some of the plant’s assembly work has moved into a large outdoor tent. Old-fashioned manpower has been called in to help crank out vehicles. This, from an automaker that not long ago expressed worry that wind resistance might slow down the pace of its futuristic automated assembly line.

Musk admitted he’s made some mistakes. There’s a tent, after all. But that didn’t stop him from telling the reporter, “I think there’s a good vibe—I think the energy is good; go to Ford, it looks like a morgue.”

Ford was quick to respond.

From Ford Motor Company’s vice-president of communications came this gem:

No doubt the vibe is funky in that “makeshift tent,” but it’s not bad either across the street at the plant where a high quality, high-tech F-150 rolls off the line every 53 seconds like clockwork. Come check it out @elonmusk https://t.co/1KoEZIyf0D

— Mark Truby (@mtruby) June 28, 2018

Not to be outdone by Truby’s jab, Ford’s North American product communications manager, Mike Levine, took note of how Tesla seems to prefer Ford vehicles for its service arm.

Tesla will send a *Ford* service truck to your office. FTFY. https://t.co/meVqjzbTfl

— Mike Levine (@mrlevine) June 28, 2018

Found Tesla’s pickup truck. https://t.co/AeTkUeFpaw

— Mike Levine (@mrlevine) June 28, 2018

All eyes are on Tesla as the automaker strives to meet its self-imposed production target of 5,000 Model 3 sedans per week by the end of the month. Only when this occurs, Musk claims, will the company be able to throw new variants into the production mix. Among them, dual-motor and performance sedans, as well as the long-awaited $35,000 base model.

Reaching this target on time, and getting pricier versions of the Model 3 into production ASAP, is key to Musk’s plan to reverse Tesla’s negative cash flow by the end of the year. The automaker’s share value might depend on it.

[Image: Ford Motor Company]