Photo: JD Lasica/Socialmedia.biz, edited by autoevolution
This week has seen Tesla and Chrysler start a media war that’s getting more and more violent and now we have a new blast coming from Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk.
But before we get into the details, we’ll remind those who turned on their TVs later, that the first move came from Tesla. The EV producer announced that it has repayed the entire loan granted by the Department of Energy (DOE) nine years ahead of schedule.
Chrysler responded by releasing a statement in which it pointed out that it was the first US carmaker to return the US government funds in 2011.
Musk now replied to the aforementioned statement, using his tweeter account to tell Chrysler that it is no longer an American automaker, being owned by Italy’s Fiat Group and adding that it still has to return some money to the US Governement.
This are Musk’s tweets: ““As many have already noted, Chrysler is a division of Fiat, an Italian company. We specifically said first ‘U.S.’ company.”
“More importantly, Chrysler failed to pay back $1.3B. Apart (from) those 2 points, you were totally 1st,”
The latter tweet is referring to the $1.3 billion (EUR1 billion) that the US Treasury gave the old Chrysler in order to allow it to morph into a new company. The funds were granted back in 2009 and were not officially classified as a loan, being offered rather as an aid.
As you can imagine, some people must be sweating really hard in a Chrysler office right now and we’re waiting to see the company’s reaction, if any.
Chrysler responded by releasing a statement in which it pointed out that it was the first US carmaker to return the US government funds in 2011.
Musk now replied to the aforementioned statement, using his tweeter account to tell Chrysler that it is no longer an American automaker, being owned by Italy’s Fiat Group and adding that it still has to return some money to the US Governement.
This are Musk’s tweets: ““As many have already noted, Chrysler is a division of Fiat, an Italian company. We specifically said first ‘U.S.’ company.”
“More importantly, Chrysler failed to pay back $1.3B. Apart (from) those 2 points, you were totally 1st,”
The latter tweet is referring to the $1.3 billion (EUR1 billion) that the US Treasury gave the old Chrysler in order to allow it to morph into a new company. The funds were granted back in 2009 and were not officially classified as a loan, being offered rather as an aid.
As you can imagine, some people must be sweating really hard in a Chrysler office right now and we’re waiting to see the company’s reaction, if any.
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