11:25 am, March 14, 2025
Elon Musk has caused ‘self-inflicted damage’ on Tesla as he prioritises his ‘dream to go to Mars’.
That is the view of former Nissan and Aston Martin boss, Dr Andy Palmer, who yesterday spoke on stage at Car Dealer Live 2025.
Dubbed ‘the Godfather of EV’ Palmer was the man responsible for launching the Nissan Leaf way back in 2010 and he has continued to champion electric cars ever since.
During a fascinating chat with Car Dealer’s James Baggott, talk soon turned to Musk and the impact his political activities have had on the Tesla brand over the past year.
Palmer, who knows Musk personally, described the businessman as an ‘interesting character’ and ‘amazing engineer’.
And despite admitting it was hard to see how Tesla is benefiting from its boss’s increased profile, he warned people against underestimating the world’s richest man.
‘I know Elon but I won’t do a salute!’ Palmer joked.
‘He is an interesting character and the first thing I would say is don’t underestimate him. It looks like he’s made a huge mistake – and maybe he has – but he’s obviously tied his future to bigger things.
‘Maybe he’s prioritising his dream to go to Mars above everything else or maybe he wants to be president of the world.
‘He is a major thinking force and an amazing engineer, if you think about what he’s done.
‘He thinks in the long-term so I suspect he will look at the self-inflicted damage which he has done on the brand in the longer term, probably with a longer view but it is difficult to see what the advantages are for him right now.’
A recent study by Electrifying.com found that Musk’s controversial antics have been putting Brits off buying Teslas but Palmer believes that more is at play.
He pointed to the fact the brand has ‘slowed down on its progress’ when it comes to launching new models and called for the outfit to ‘develop a wider range of electric vehicles’.
‘I also think to some extent Tesla has slowed down on its progress,’ he added. ‘When it started it was relentless with car after car being launched. Now it tends to be more in the heavy facelift arena.
‘I think Cybertruck is interesting but I’d like to see him developing a wider range of electric vehicles but eventually it’s probably Elon Musk who will take us to Mars.
‘He always jokes that his dream is to die on Mars but preferably not on impact.’
Elsewhere in the session, Palmer also discussed Nissan’s ‘mad’ threat to pull out of the UK, as well as it’s collapsed merger with Honda.
You can read all the headlines from Car Dealer Live 2025 here.
