- In a wide-ranging interview with Handelsblatt, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk trash talks Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), among other things.
- Asked whether he takes Apple's automotive ambitions seriously: "Did you ever take a look at the Apple Watch? (laughs) No, seriously: It’s good that Apple is moving and investing in this direction. But cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches."
- On Apple hiring Tesla's "most important engineers": "Important engineers? They have hired people we’ve fired. We always jokingly call Apple the “Tesla Graveyard.” If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I’m not kidding."
- On profitability: "I hope to be profitable next year. I agree, we cannot be making losses forever. This year we’ll be investing a lot into the manufacturing ramp-up of the Model X, and in the long term, the Model 3 as well. So our goal from next year onwards is to be cash-flow positive. But we wouldn’t slow down our growth for the sake of profitability."
- On how to grow European sales: "I’ve only been saying it for nine years: step one: expensive car, low volume. Step two: medium price, medium volume. Step three: low price, high volume."