This discussion is getting into the rather depressing topic of personal versus private property. Some may recall that one has written before about Elon Musk's maternal grandfather and his senior leadership role within Technocracy, Inc., a shadowy neo-socialist organization started in the 1920s when a group of economists and engineers, including Thorstein Veblen, wanted to replace the price-based systems of the economy with professional oversight. One of the aspects of this group was to increase the overall utilization of the car, and moving it into the overall category of transportation, by making cars a public, not private, good. Sadly, for many motoring enthusiasts that goal seems more and more a reality.
Cars have typically stood for something more than mere forms of transportation and as an extension of one's personality. Without dwelling too much on the industrial organizational aspects, moving a car away from being viewed as a commodity allows for premium pricing among as select group of manufacturers. Musk has followed the model of Henry Ford and the creation of the Model T as his template for Tesla; however, Musk has missed several important details. Even those that profess emotional detachment from the automobile are still expressing an emotional sentiment.
Ford missed this aspect of car ownership when he became too fixated driving down the per unit price of the Model T. That optimization plan, while mobilizing the American public, fell apart when General Motors, through Chevrolet, introduced newer and newer product in myriad colors, not just black. For those that have not followed the history of the Model T, Ford originally produced the car in a series of colors. However, paint technology at that time led to large quantities of freshly painted car bodies drying in fields for days and days.
Ford intrinsically understood that work-in-process ("WIP") inventory consumed working capital. In a desire to reduce the high levels of WIP, Ford tasked his engineers to develop a quick drying paint. Those engineers found that stove paint was quick drying and because of its unique chemical formulation could only be produced in black, so Ford made the decision that all Model Ts would be painted black.
Meanwhile, General Motors tapped into the expertise of its major shareholder, DuPont Chemical to develop quick-drying colorful lacquer paints that broke the competitive advantages of Ford. Ford responded by introducing colors back on the Model T. Unfortunately, the Model T was woefully out-of-date but ole Henry was still too wedded to that car to change. Finally, Ford's son, Edsel, convinced his father to develop a new car to replace the Model T. That car, the Model A, was the most highly anticipated car of all times with confirmed orders of over 750,000 by the time it entered production in the 1927.
