---
title: "Elon Musk’s Dad Says He Turned Down a Free Tesla"
description: "Elon Musk tried to give his father, Errol Musk, a free Tesla vehicle in January 2020, but Errol Musk turned him down."
date: "2023-10-03"
modified: "2023-10-03"
authors:
  - name: "Sharon Adarlo"
    job_title: "Correspondent"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/sadarlo"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-dad-free-tesla"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Tesla"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "errol musk"
  - "tesla"
  - "the digest"
---

# Elon Musk’s Dad Says He Turned Down a Free Tesla

![Elon Musk tried to give his father, Errol Musk, a free Tesla vehicle in January 2020, but Errol Musk turned him down.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/elon-musk-dad-free-tesla.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Gianluigi Guercia via Getty / Futurism\</em\>*

## Calling Freud

Tech billionaire Elon Musk clearly has daddy issues. As laid out in the new biography by Walter Isaacson, the younger Musk [detests his dad Errol](<https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/09/12/elon-musk-walter-isaacson-biography/70836742007/>) — but, in key ways, seems to be becoming more and more like him.

Now the plot thickens. In the midst of it all, [according to](<https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-errol-musk-turned-down-free-tesla-cost-shipping-2023-9>)*[ Insider](<https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-errol-musk-turned-down-free-tesla-cost-shipping-2023-9>)*, Elon tried to give Errol a free Tesla back in 2020. But Old Man Musk turned him down in favor of his trusty, gas-powered Rolls-Royce*.* Ouch.

Sure, it feels personal. But maybe it was just old-fashioned frugality, since Errol told *Insider* it was going to cost over $180,000 total to acquire the car and ship it to South Africa*.*

Even though Elon had offered to pay for everything, *Insider* reported that Errol turned him down due to the eye-watering total and the fact that South Africa has poor charging infrastructure. Teslas are not currently sold in South Africa, which is estimated to have just [1,500 electric vehicles and about 300 charging stations](<https://www.news24.com/news24/tech-and-trends/news/build-it-and-they-will-come-says-the-head-of-the-largest-ev-charging-station-network-in-sa-20230527>) total as of earlier this year.

"There's no service facility here. There's no Tesla representation yet," Errol told *Insider*. "No charging stations. I said, 'Please, we don't want to do this.'"

No word on how Elon reacted.

## Car Wars

While Errol isn't behind the wheel of a Tesla in South Africa, he has driven the car in America and says he would own one if he lived in the country, according to *Insider*.

Instead of his son's brand name car, *Insider* reported that Errol makes do with a sports car and a Rolls-Royce, which presumably has enough room for [his step-daughter-slash**-**baby mama and their two children](<https://people.com/elon-musks-dad-told-him-fathers-day-2022-fathered-second-child-with-former-stepdaughter-book-7967981>), which adds to the septuagenarian's seven total offspring. For the record, Elon [has 11 ](<https://pagesix.com/article/elon-musk-children/>)[known kids](<https://pagesix.com/article/elon-musk-children/>), beating his old man by four. Take that, Dad!

In the new biography, [*Insider* reported](<https://www.businessinsider.com/new-book-about-elon-musk-walter-isaacson-biography-takeaways-2023-9#elon-musks-relationship-with-his-father-massively-affected-his-personality-and-outlook-on-the-world-2>), Elon Musk's mother Maye Musk expressed concern that Musk "might become his father."

Between the snazzy cars, the ever growing brood, the mercurial personality and a growing penchant for deranged conspiracy theories, it's starting to look like the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

**More on Errol Musk:** [*Elon Musk’s Dad Says Someone at His Emerald Mine Got Eaten by a Crocodile*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-dad-emerald-mine-crocodile>)