--- title: "Elon Musk Praises Tesla Nemesis, Ford, In Rare Reversal" description: "In a rare instance of reflection, Tesla CEO Elon Musk praised fellow American carmarker Ford to not \"have gone bankrupt out of thousands of car startups.\"" date: "2021-03-05" modified: "2021-03-05" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-tesla-nemesis-ford" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Tesla" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "ford" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Praises Tesla Nemesis, Ford, In Rare Reversal ![In a rare instance of reflection, Tesla CEO Elon Musk praised fellow American carmarker Ford to not "have gone bankrupt out of thousands of car startups."]() *\Image: Ford/Victor Tangermann\* ## Cars Are Hard In a rare instance of giving his competitors credit, Tesla CEO Elon Musk praised fellow American carmarker Ford for not having "gone bankrupt out of thousands of car startups," in a [Thursday tweet](). "Prototypes are easy, production is hard and being cash flow positive is excruciating," Musk added, . Musk was replying to a thread about a book about "Engines That Move Markets," a book about the history of the automobile industry by Alasdair Nairn, [posted to Twitter]() by investor Sam Korus. The figures show how US market share of automobile technologies in 1900 wasn't actually skewed towards gasoline yet. In fact, electric and steam engine technologies had a significant head start — a resonant point for both Tesla and Ford, each of which is currently trying to break into the electric market more than a century later. ## Sleepless in California Musk knows well that it's a high-risk business. The entrepreneur has often lamented the trouble Tesla has encountered scaling up production and meeting demand. In 2018, the billionaire spent [sleepless nights]() at the company's factory in hopes of making changes necessary to keep Tesla afloat. ## Tesla Vs. Ford Tesla and Ford have taken potshots at each other, particularly when it comes to the sensitive topic of both companies' truck offerings. Tesla's upcoming Cybertruck made an appearance in 2019, for instance, in a [cheeky video]() showing the truck pulling a Ford F-150 gasoline-powered pickup up a hill during a tug of war. Ford VP Sunny Madra [called it an unfair fight](), challenging Musk to a head-to-head test. Such a contest will only become more relevant as Ford is [set to release its first all-electric F-150]() some time in 2022. And Ford VP Darren Palmer also seemingly [threw some serious shade]() at Tesla last year — but without naming the electric car company outright — for shoddy quality control. All told, it's a breath of fresh air to see Musk acknowledge that the automotive industry is immensely challenging. Besides, both Ford and Tesla — and their customers — are likely to benefit from a healthy dose of competition in the market. **More on Ford and Tesla:** *[Watch an Electric F-150 Truck Absolutely Shred on a Snowy Track]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()