Elon Musk: "Slight Chance" Of Deal With Chrysler

Tesla Motors Inc TSLA recently had talks with Fiat Chrysler’s CEO, Sergio Marchionne, and other representatives of the company.

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk was on CNBC recently to shed light on the nature of the talks two company had and if there is apossiblity of a merger.

An Informal Meeting

Musk was asked if Chrysler has had talks with Tesla regarding a merger. He replied, “I can say no, no they haven’t asked us if they want to merge with Tesla. We had a great meeting with John Elkann sorts of head the family that owns Fiat Chrysler, great guy and Sergio (Marchionne). It was really enjoyable meeting.”

He continued, “But it was mostly we talked about potential cooperation in the future, but nothing to do with the merger or anything like that and very informal, there was no, I don’t want to characterize it as anything more than we had a pleasant meeting and there is a slight chance of something like [having…] future.”

Don’t Follow What Competitors Do

On whether he agrees with Sergio Marchionne comments that the auto industry will see a mega merger by 2018, Musk said, “I think Sergio may know more than I do. I don’t really follow what our competitors are doing very closely in terms of who’s merging with who.”

“Our goal is really just to build compelling electric cars and make progress as fast as possible towards the goal of Tesla that’s been there from the beginning which is to make a really compelling affordable electric car. That really has been our goal from the start and I wish we [had gotten there] sooner but we are doing the best we can,” Musk concluded.