Tesla CEO Elon Musk has had a lot going on recently. On Saturday, Musk tweeted that Tesla was going to sue California’s Alameda county, which had extended its stay at home order until the end of May, effectively preventing Tesla from restarting manufacturing at its Fremont plant. Musk followed that tweet up with another, more taunting message, saying “Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately.”
The tweet was apparently convincing enough for one County Judge in Texas to write a letter to Musk, essentially inviting him to bring Tesla’s manufacturing to Texas as soon as possible. The letter, which can be found in full here, says “Hidalgo County, Texas is available to immediately accommodate you and Tesla Motors.”
As if this weren’t enough bizarre municipal action for one weekend, later the same day, Tesla actually went ahead and filed that lawsuit against Alameda county, alleging the county had violated equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The extended stay at home order went further than refreshed guidelines that were issued by California Governor Gavin Newsom last Thursday that said manufacturers in the state could restart production provided they follow the guidelines of a new safety checklist.
Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2020
Tesla issued a statement saying it would resume production, albeit while implementing social distancing measures. On Monday, Gov. Newsom weighed in on the automaker’s situation, saying he respects Alameda County’s decision to keep the stay-at-home orders in effect, but hopes Tesla will be allowed to reopen by next week. Tesla, it seems, isn’t waiting, with Elon Musk announcing Monday afternoon that the automaker has restarted production “against Alameda County rules” and declaring “If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.” A local news station reported the parking lot at the Fremont factory was full, presumably with workers’ vehicles. Consider us on the lookout for repercussions with the authorities.
Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2020
So will Tesla move out of California? We can’t know for sure, but if Musk is just going to violate local stay-at-home orders, perhaps the point is moot. The CEO has been exhibiting odd online behavior of late. Just over a week ago, he tweeted “Tesla stock price is too high imo,” using shorthand for “in my opinion.” The odd musing—many scratched their heads over why a CEO would want his company’s share prices to drop—plunged Tesla’s stock price. According to Market Watch, the tweet wiped almost $15 billion dollars from Tesla’s market valuation. This isn’t new territory for Musk, who already has gotten into trouble with the SEC once before for tampering with the price of Tesla stock—in fact, it was partly that history that elevated his off-the-cuff, Tesla’s-too-pricey quip to the fore of the news cycle.
Tesla stocks have already recovered from the price dip in the tweet’s aftermath, but that wasn’t the only thing going on in Musk’s world of late. In between rage-tweeting about the societal response to the health crisis and its effect on businesses—which, we should point out, Musk thinks is blown out of proportion and is harming companies and the economy—Elon and his partner, the Canadian musician Grimes, gave birth to child. The newborn caught headlines for its unique name, “X Æ A-12.” Until you figure out how to consistently pronounce that correctly, maybe just go with “Baby Grimelon.”
Right now, the company has bigger circuits to fry, anyway, than baby names, Twitter rants, and tussles with the law. Delivering on the promised Roadster—production of which was recently delayed—and the wild Cybertruck are probably at the top of that list. Musk’s complaining about stay-at-home orders and the economic slump, meanwhile, likely won’t be coming to an end until those stay-at-home orders do, even if he went ahead and fired up the Tesla factory in violation of them.
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