Tesla missed out on being on Google ranks by a whisker, according to an excerpt from the upcoming book "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future." The book written by Ashlee Vance that highlights the innovative spirit of Tesla founder Elon Musk elaborates on how Musk had negotiated the sale of his company that was on the verge of bankruptcy back in 2013.
The entire deal had worked out to $11 billion which includes $6 billion for the company and another $5 billion as capital towards factory expansions. That was on March 2013 while the company was struggling to turn pre-orders of the Model S in actual sales.
Musk also wanted his friend Larry Page of Google to guarantee it won't break up or sell off Tesla until the latter had its Model 3 ready for sale, USA Today reported. Model 3 is also an electric car but is designed to have a mass appeal.
The turnaround happened a few months down the line, in May 2013 to be precise when the company managed to sell enough of the Model S to report quarterly profit, a first ever for the company since its inception in 2003.
This marked the beginning of a new era with the Model S going on to win most of the automotive awards in the US and elsewhere in 2014. Company shares rose five fold to more than $200 and sales spiked instantly.
However, the going had far from being smooth as it might seem to be. Early buyers of the cars reported several glitches and weren't too happy with the company sales and service efforts. For Tesla, it was a downward spiral they were headed to, marked by lack of resources, falling shares, and missing sales targets, mentions Bloomberg.
From faulty door handles to car's "anaesthetic" sun visors, the Model S was already into a lot of notoriety. Sales dried up soon after and the company was clearly into desperate mode. Several senior executive were fired while ex Daimler executive Jerome Guillen was roped in to work out the issues plaguing Model S. Musk also offered a public guarantee of an after sale price equivalent to a comparable car if existing owners found fault with their cars.
The rest is history, as they say with the Model S continuing to win accolades in markets worldwide. The company also two other models, the Model X and Model 3 lined up for release.