Tesla Inc. TSLA has quietly removed CEO Elon Musk‘s “Secret Master Plan” from its website.
What Happened: In 2006, Musk outlined Tesla's environmental goals and EV production strategy in a blog post. As of April 2024, Tesla referred to the plan as Musk's creation and the cornerstone of its mission. However, the document and all blog posts before 2019 have now vanished from the site, Fortune reported on Thursday.
The “Secret Master Plan” detailed steps to produce affordable EVs and transition to clean energy. Musk emphasized the importance of moving from a hydrocarbon economy to a solar-electric one. He later authored “The Master Plan, Part Deux” in 2016, which projected mass production of Tesla's Model 3.
Additionally, Tesla has removed other significant blog posts, including a 2016 post about full self-driving hardware. This comes amid a class-action lawsuit alleging Tesla misled customers about its self-driving features. The California Department of Motor Vehicles also claims Tesla overstated these capabilities, according to the report.
The removal of these documents coincides with Musk's recent political shifts, including support for Former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and a softened stance on climate issues. Despite Trump's criticism of EVs, Musk has endorsed him and expressed interest in a Cabinet role if Trump is reelected.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment.
Why It Matters: The removal of Musk’s “Secret Master Plan” comes at a time when his stance on climate change has been under scrutiny. In July, Bill Gates expressed a desire for Musk to address climate change more seriously, but Musk dismissed the urgency, calling climate change alarm exaggerated.
In August, Musk downplayed the health risks associated with plastics, contradicting former Tesla executive Andrej Karpathy who had raised concerns based on a book about microplastics.
Furthermore, Musk’s endorsement of Trump, who has been critical of EVs, has raised eyebrows. Trump recently shifted his stance, calling electric cars “fantastic” after Musk’s endorsement.
Musk has also emphasized that the transition to EVs should be driven by superior products rather than climate concerns. He believes that making better cars will naturally lead people to switch to EVs.
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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote
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