Tesla’s last quarterly report revealed that deliveries had declined for the second year running and, for the first time, annual revenues had fallen. “It is starting to look as if Tesla is finished,” concluded a piece in The Spectator.

To what extent Musk will succeed can’t be known, but his track record demands thoughtful uncertainty at the least

If you felt you’d read about Tesla’s death before, you would have been right. Success in one arena guarantees nothing in another – brilliant men, such as Tesla’s boss Elon Musk, can be bafflingly stupid. Writing them off too soon, though, can become a bad habit.

Having run up massive debts in America through backing bad ideas, Mark Twain was in London raising money when he received a message from New York asking if rumours about his health were true. He replied that “the report of my death was an exaggeration,” although history has improved the quote.

Musk’s failure has been forecast so often it’s become its own genre. I had heard of the company earlier, but my earliest memory of reading about Tesla was a 2018 piece in the Economist. That talked of bankruptcy and bluster, said the company’s history was one of repeated failures, and painted a picture of imminent demise. Negative stories sell, but Musk attracts noticeably more than most.

Coverage of his takeover of Twitter was not warm. A BBC journalist challenged him........

© The Spectator