---
title: "Elon Musk: Tesla Production “Makes World War II Look Trivial”"
description: "On a recent call with Tesla investors, CEO Elon Musk compared the automaker’s production and supply chain challenges to World War II."
date: "2021-04-27"
modified: "2021-04-27"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-tesla-world-war"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Tesla"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "tesla"
  - "the digest"
  - "wwii"
---

# Elon Musk: Tesla Production “Makes World War II Look Trivial”

![On a recent call with Tesla investors, CEO Elon Musk compared the automaker’s production and supply chain challenges to World War II.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/elon-musk-tesla-world-war.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://unsplash.com/@milancsizmadia" target="\_blank"\>Milan Csizmadia via Unsplash / Futurism\</a\>\</em\>*

## Are You Sure

Tesla CEO Elon Musk chose a bold comparison when he discussed the electric automaker's quarterly results this week, saying that the challenges Tesla faced were tougher than a world war.

Managing supply chain and production issues was a "logistical problem that makes World War II look trivial," Musk told investors during a Monday conference call, [according to *Insider*](<https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-production-logistics-problems-world-war-ii-trivial-2021-4>).

"I'm not kidding. The scale is insane," Musk added. "We're talking millions of cars, massive global supply chain, 50 countries, dozens of regulatory regimes."

## World War Tesla

Tesla sold about 500,000 cars in 2020 and is on track to deliver 750,000 this year, according to *Insider*. To be fair, that is an impressive feat that involves managing and tracking a [whole lot of moving parts](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/virus-outbreak-delaying-tesla-model-3-shipments>).

Sometimes, those moving parts break down, causing last-minute emergencies. Musk shared stories on the call about having to delay deliveries of the Model S because they ran out of trunk carpeting and the time he and others at Tesla bought up every USB cord they could find at retail stores across San Francisco.

"For a few days there, nobody could buy a USB cable in the Bay Area because we went and bought them all to put them in the car, literally," Musk said, according to *Insider*. "There's hundreds of stories like that."

**READ MORE:** [Elon Musk says Tesla's logistics problems made 'World War II look trivial'](<https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-production-logistics-problems-world-war-ii-trivial-2021-4>) \[*Insider*\]

**More on Tesla:** *[Tesla Helps Cops Catch Man Who Committed Racial Hate Crime](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-cops-catch-man-committed-racial-hate-crime>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)