Category Tesla

Dec 27 2022

Trump & 2024


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Dec 27, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Someone I know said he had spoken to you and you said Trump would not be the nominee in 2024. Is that true? Can you elaborate?

Thanks

FG

ANSWER: I do not believe that Trump will be the Republican nominee. That will probably be Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. I have said that some old friends in DC contacted me and they asked me if I would talk to Trump against his running in 2024 and if I would advise DeSantis. My response was no. I said if I got back into the political game, I would tell DeSantis not to run for they would eat him for lunch in DC.

I know they have done an extraordinary character assassination of Trump. The onslaught of legal cases against him and the nonsense of the January 6th investigation was all predesigned to prevent him from running ever again. Why?  Because he is an outsider and he now understands that he was played. The SWAMP is on both sides, so you will find many Republicans like things as corrupt as they are.

There is no getting out of this crisis. ALL those in Washington are no different than a horse in the central park walking the streets with blinders on so they only see what is in front of their face.

As I have said, NOBODY has tried to defeat my model more than me. I have learned that there is NO politician who gives a damn about the long-term. They are ONLY interested in the next story or election. I was cheered on Capitol Hill when I visited in 2011 as this is the guy with the model they have been trying to suppress. Yet, nobody will take any action for the long-term.

They will try to push war during the summer of 2024 to influence the election. If Trump runs, I think it will be as an independent. He is hated by career politicians on both sides.

Dec 11 2022

Elon Musk Brings China Chief Tom Zhu to Texas


Published originally on the CTH on December 10, 2022 | Sundance 

Xiaotong (Tom) Zhu joined Tesla in 2014. Before that Zhu was Vice President for Kaibo Engineering Group, a China-based project management firm that focuses on overseas projects (One Belt – One Road) invested by the Chinese government.

One would think a project manager tied to the key initiatives of Chairman Xi, would have deep CCP ties.  There is also speculation that Mr. Musk may be assigning Mr. Zhu to be the lead of Tesla internationally.

(Via Bloomberg) Elon Musk has tapped a longtime Tesla Inc. executive in China who oversaw construction of the Shanghai gigfactory to help run the electric carmaker’s newest plant in Austin, Texas, people familiar with the matter said.

Tom Zhu, who joined Tesla in 2014 to help build its Supercharger network and most recently has been heading the carmaker’s Asia Pacific operations, is in Austin this week and has brought some of his engineering team from China with him to assist in overseeing the ramp up of Giga Texas — a US hub for the Model Y and future production of the Cybertruck — the people said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.

It’s not clear how long Zhu will be in Austin for, or whether he will retain his Asia responsibilities, the people said.

Representatives at Tesla in the US and China didn’t respond to requests for comment. Zhu wasn’t immediately able to be contacted. Musk also didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

The shift of Zhu to Austin comes as Tesla has been trying to increase output at its new Texas factory. The US electric vehicle pioneer originally planned to make Model Y SUVs using its new, larger 4680 lithium-ion cells at the plant, which Musk referred to as a “money furnace” earlier this year. But instead, Tesla has pivoted to using older 2170 cells considering the new batteries weren’t ready for volume production. (read more)

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