‘Our way of life’: Anand Mahindra responds to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on car production

‘Our way of life’: Anand Mahindra responds to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on car production

Indian industrialist Anand Mahindra accepts Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s proposition that motor vehicle production is a tough nut to crack and that generating positive cash flow is even harder. “And we’ve been doing that for decades now. Still sweating & slaving away at it. It’s our way of life…" Mahindra adds.

While replying to a story related to the British tech company Dyson’s failed attempt at building an electric car, Elon Musk on Tuesday said that the large legacy automakers sell their cars at low to zero true margins.

“Most of their profit is selling replacement parts to their fleet, of which 70% to 80% are past warranty," Musk said. Musk gives an example of razors and blades to put his argument forward.

“New car companies lack this advantage. Also lack sales & service infrastructure," Musk adds.

Last week, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) reported a 17 per cent increase in domestic passenger vehicle sales at 15,973 units in August as compared to the same month last year.

The company had sold 13,651 units in August 2020, M&M said in a statement.

Twitter users praised Mahindra’s resilience in the face of the adversity. “Only visionaries have the guts of doing so and that too with so much passion that can be seen in the impact it created amongst the society," said a Twitter user.

One Twitter user also praised Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial tenacity, “Citing the zero or low margins of legacy car makers, big car companies make their profits not from the sales of their cars but from the sales of replacement parts like “razors and blades…Well Said."

“Whole contentment comes from number of jobs you great guys are creating for number of people. Manufacturing with innovation is hard and hats off to you guys," tweeted Sheela.

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Car Production Is Hard, Said Elon Musk. Anand Mahindra Replied…

Anand Mahindra responded to a tweet from Elon Musk.

Anand Mahindra may think Elon Musk’s Tesla can’t match up to our desi cars, but there is at least one aspect of carmaking that the two business tycoons agree upon - that it is hard. On Tuesday, the chairman of Mahindra Group responded to a tweet from Elon Musk on car production, agreeing with him that production is hard and production with a positive cash flow is even harder. Still, Mr Mahindra added, it had become a way of life for them after decades of “sweating and slaving”.

It all began when Elon Musk, CEO of the world’s foremost electric car manufacturing company, shared an excerpt from James Dyson’s new book about his company Dyson’s failed attempt at making an electric car.

“Production is hard. Production with positive cash flow is extremely hard,” wrote Elon Musk while sharing the excerpt.

Anand Mahindra agreed with the Tesla chief but added that carmakers were pushing ahead despite numerous challenges. “You said it, @elonmusk,” he wrote. “And we’ve been doing that for decades now. Still sweating and slaving away at it. It’s our way of life…”

You said it, @elonmusk And we’ve been doing that for decades now. Still sweating & slaving away at it. It’s our way of life… https://t.co/EGpcyKrRhF — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) September 7, 2021

The tweet has racked up over 3,800 ‘likes’ and a ton of comments.

While Elon Musk has yet to respond to Mr Mahindra, he did highlight how new car companies lack the advantage of selling replacement parts with a high profit margin. Newer manufacturers also lack service and sales infrastructure.

“Large incumbent carmakers sell their cars at low to zero true margin. Most of their profit is selling replacement parts to their fleet, of which 70% to 80% are past warranty,” wrote Elon Musk in a follow-up tweet to his own. “New car companies lack this advantage. Also lack sales and service infrastructure,” he added.

Last week, Mahindra & Mahindra reported a 17 per cent increase in domestic passenger vehicle sales in August, as compared to the same month last year.

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Anand Mahindra responds to Elon Musk’s comment on Twitter, ‘car production is hard’

War of words on Twitter is very common these days. People fight over issues, incidents, or even personalities, seldom agreeing to other’s point of view. But in a rare event, business tycoons of two-car manufacturing giants seemed to agree on the same thing, that car production is hard.

CEO of the world’s foremost electric car manufacturing company Elon Musk took to Twitter to share an excerpt from James Dyson’s new book, Dyson’s failed attempt at making an electric car. “Production is hard. Production with positive cash flow is extremely hard,” wrote Elon Musk while sharing the excerpt.

Chairman of Mahindra Group Anand Mahindra was quick to respond. Replying to Elon Musk’s tweet Anand Mahindra wrote that it had become a way of life for them after decades of ‘sweating and slaving’ but agreed that car production is hard and production with a positive cash flow is even harder.

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Anand Mahindra added that carmakers were pushing ahead despite numerous challenges. “You said it, @elonmusk,” he wrote. “And we’ve been doing that for decades now. Still sweating and slaving away at it. It’s our way of life…”

You said it, @elonmusk And we’ve been doing that for decades now. Still sweating & slaving away at it. It’s our way of life… https://t.co/EGpcyKrRhF — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) September 7, 2021

People have reacted to Mahindra’s tweet with likes and comments. However, Elon Musk is yet to respond to Anand Mahindra’s tweet.

Meanwhile, Mahindra Group seems to be doing good business this year despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic compared to last year. Only last week, Mahindra and Mahindra reported a 17% increase in domestic passenger vehicle sales in August.