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That's very cute of you to blame "a low-level analyst." The Tesla deal was executive hubris -- an activist CEO (INTERIM CEO at that) of a ruined global company

That's very cute of you to blame "a low-level analyst." The Tesla deal was executive hubris -- an activist CEO (INTERIM CEO at that) of a ruined global company in bankruptcy trying to make a name for himself by swinging for the fences. Employees could have produced piles of documentation and analytics predicting massive losses, low demand, high repair costs, whatever, none of that would have changed his mind. Because of that, it's more than likely there was no analysis whatsoever. This was not an analytically-driven decision, it was an impulse buy. Electric vehicles are now mainstream, and we've only just begun to see rising global demand and interest," Hertz interim CEO Mark Fields said in a statement. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/25/1048953565/hertz-will-buy-100-000-teslas-electric-vehicles https://www.npr.org/2021/10/25/1048953565/hertz-will-buy-100...

Kon-Peki 3y ago
> The Tesla deal was executive hubris -- an activist CEO (INTERIM CEO at that) of a ruined global company in bankruptcy trying to make a name for himself by swinging for the fences. I was with you all the way until you revealed that it was Mark Fields. The guy that saved Mazda, turned around Aston Martin, Land Rover, and then Ford; responsible for making sure the Mustang Mach-E was produced, and then retired after decades in the auto industry. They dragged him out of a very rich retirement, and he certainly made the mistake that Teslas are cheap/easy to operate at scale. But trying to make a name for himself - definitely not.
- listenallyall 3y ago
  Saved Ford? During Fields’ tenure as Ford CEO from 2014-17, Ford’s stock declined by about 40 percent During his tenure at Ford, he refused to relocate his family from South Florida to the region. Instead, he initially used Ford’s corporate jet to be with them every weekend. The disclosure sparked a furor, given that Ford was ailing at the time Fields was forced out in 2017 in the wake of Ford’s more than five percent decline in car sales. https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/29110/starkman_former_ford_ceo_mark_fields_disses_detroit_yet_again_with_hertz_s_big_bet_on_tesla https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/29110/starkman_form... Sounds like a guy whose reputation had been tarnished, now taking advantage of a new, unexpected opportunity as CEO to re-establish it by making big, headline moves in a short time with someone else's money. But whatever your opinion of him, an experienced, longtime executive tasked with making big turnaround moves strengthens the hypothesis that the Tesla decision was a CEO mandate without any analysis or discussion or opposition voices tolerated.

Kon-Peki 3y ago

> The Tesla deal was executive hubris -- an activist CEO (INTERIM CEO at that) of a ruined global company in bankruptcy trying to make a name for himself by swinging for the fences. I was with you all the way until you revealed that it was Mark Fields. The guy that saved Mazda, turned around Aston Martin, Land Rover, and then Ford; responsible for making sure the Mustang Mach-E was produced, and then retired after decades in the auto industry. They dragged him out of a very rich retirement, and he certainly made the mistake that Teslas are cheap/easy to operate at scale. But trying to make a name for himself - definitely not.

listenallyall 3y ago
Saved Ford? During Fields’ tenure as Ford CEO from 2014-17, Ford’s stock declined by about 40 percent During his tenure at Ford, he refused to relocate his family from South Florida to the region. Instead, he initially used Ford’s corporate jet to be with them every weekend. The disclosure sparked a furor, given that Ford was ailing at the time Fields was forced out in 2017 in the wake of Ford’s more than five percent decline in car sales. https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/29110/starkman_former_ford_ceo_mark_fields_disses_detroit_yet_again_with_hertz_s_big_bet_on_tesla https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/29110/starkman_form... Sounds like a guy whose reputation had been tarnished, now taking advantage of a new, unexpected opportunity as CEO to re-establish it by making big, headline moves in a short time with someone else's money. But whatever your opinion of him, an experienced, longtime executive tasked with making big turnaround moves strengthens the hypothesis that the Tesla decision was a CEO mandate without any analysis or discussion or opposition voices tolerated.