The Blunt Calculus About Elon Musk’s SNL Appearance That Everyone Seems to be Missing
The Tesla CEO made it even harder for rivals to sell their electric cars
With his aw-shucks, confessional, good-sport, loves-his-mom, boyishly eager-to-please star turn on Saturday Night Live, Tesla’s Elon Musk did what the CEOs of Volkswagen, Ford, GM and everyone else in the electric vehicle race know they cannot: yuk it up as an equal alongside pop culture celebrities, and then hog the conversation on TV, Twitter, and in the tech press for two days afterward.
And with that, Musk accomplished what he must have intended all along as guest host of the iconic comedy show last weekend: Widening the already forbidding moat separating Tesla from the rest of the fast-growing EV pack.
For the last several months, most of the world’s large automakers have taken their turn with high-profile declarations about their coming EV wares: GM, back in January, with CEO Mary Barra’s announcement that by 2035, the company intended to be selling only electrics; Ford CEO Jim Farley, the very next week, announcing he had doubled spending on EVs and would not be left behind in the race for the future; and in March, VW CEO Herbert Diess’ statement that he would build six gigafactories in Europe and be the world’s largest EV…
