Elon Musk Says There's A Reason Why Only 2 US Carmakers Have Avoided Bankruptcy Out Of Thousands

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said Thursday that his electric vehicle firm and Ford Motor Company F were the only American carmakers not to have gone bankrupt out of the thousands of startups operating in the industry.

What Happened: Musk reasoned on Twitter that while “prototypes are easy, production is hard [and] being cash flow positive is excruciating.”

The entrepreneur also reacted to Twitter users who posted on the rivalry between the two companies' trucks.

 

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 4, 2021

Why It Matters: In November 2018, Musk had said in an interview that the “history of car companies in America is terrible.”

He had said at the time, “the only ones that haven’t gone bankrupt are Tesla and Ford. That’s it. Everyone else has gone bankrupt.”

See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock

Musk credited excruciating effort by him and hundred-hour weeks by Tesla employees for the survival of Tesla.

Musk had said that while General Motors Company GM and Chrysler — now a marque under Stellantis NV STLA — had already gone bankrupt, Ford and Tesla barely made it through a recession.

Musk had not seemed upbeat at Ford’s prospects in 2018 and said, “there’s a good chance Ford doesn’t make it in the next recession.”

See Also: Tesla Cybertruck Loses Out To Ford F-150 In Cox Survey Of US Pickup Buyers

In November, Musk revealed that Tesla was only a month away from bankruptcy ahead of the Model 3 rollout.

He said that it was “extremely difficult” to raise money for an electric car startup when peers like GM and Chrysler were going bankrupt.

“I put in my last money, even though I thought we would still fail. But, it was either that or certain death for Tesla.”

On Wednesday, it was reported that Tesla is bleeding Battery EV market share to Ford Mustang Mach-E, as per Morgan Stanley.

Price Action: Tesla shares fell 3.43% in the after-hours session on Thursday to $600.10 after closing the regular session 4.86% lower at $621.44. On the same day, Ford shares closed nearly 2% lower at $11.93 and fell almost 2.2% in the after-hours session. 

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Photo courtesy: Forbes via Wikimedia