Panasonic CEO Says Tesla's Elon Musk a 'Genius' Who Can Be 'Overly Optimistic'

The remarks on Musk come as Panasonic and Tesla are in talks to expand their joint battery plant in Nevada.

By Reuters | Updated: 8 July 2020 11:08 IST

Panasonic CEO Says Tesla's Elon Musk a 'Genius' Who Can Be 'Overly Optimistic'

Remarks on Musk come as Panasonic and Tesla are in talks to expand their joint battery plant in Nevada

Highlights

Panasonic is moving to expand a battery partnership with Tesla
Panasonic's partnership with Tesla dates back more than a decade
The Panasonic CEO called Musk 'a genius who can be overly optimistic'

Tesla's Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is "a genius who defies common sense and can be overly optimistic," Panasonic's CEO said on Tuesday, as the Japanese firm cautiously moves to expand a battery partnership with the US carmaker.

"I believe only geniuses can hold onto big visions, and a genius I know is Elon Musk," Kazuhiro Tsuga said at an event for young entrepreneurs.

The remarks on Musk come as Panasonic and Tesla are in talks to expand their joint battery plant in Nevada after production troubles and delays at Tesla strained their partnership over the past few years.

With excessive optimism, a genius like Musk can ignore what is inconvenient and run straight ahead towards his vision, Tsuga said at the event. "Compared to that vision, most things don't really matter."

"I can never imitate him," he said, adding it is probably safe for everyone not to do so.

Panasonic's partnership with Tesla dates back more than a decade, but it was Tsuga who made a $1.6 billion (roughly Rs. 11,991 crores) bet on the Nevada battery factory.

© Thomson Reuters 2020

Why do Indians love Xiaomi TVs so much? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.