Ashlee Vance’s upcoming book Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future seems like it could be a fascinating read.
In an excerpt published by Bloomberg Business, we learn that in early 2013, when things were going decidedly not well for Elon Musk’s startup automaker, he arrived at a deal with Larry Page to sell the company to Google for billions, with assurances that the tech giant would leave Musk in place for eight years or until Tesla released a mainstream-oriented third-gen electric car.
After the Tesla Model S first went on sale in June of 2012, early shortcomings had led to poor word of mouth. The car lacked some of the features of competing luxury cars, and some parts, like the chintzy sun visors and wonky door handles, had early adopters grumbling.
Sales targets were in danger of being missed, so Musk shook up the entire organization, and basically tasked everyone with helping close sales on preorders. As all this was happening, he reportedly approached Page and Google and made the deal that would have rescued the company if it couldn’t turn its fortunes around in the short term.
Except Tesla did turn it around. Sales were made, cars were moved, and the fairy-tale saga of profits and cooking stock prices took hold. Musk never had to sell to Google, and here we are.
If the book is filled with stories like this, it’s going to be a page-turner. Read the full excerpt right here.
This story originally appeared on roadandtrack.com.
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