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Was Elon Musk Trolled at Cyber Rodeo, or Was Peter Rawlinson Inevitable There?

Elon Musk has recently embarrassed himself by claiming that Peter Rawlinson never was Tesla’s chief engineer. There are plenty of documents to prove him wrong, which the Lucid CEO elegantly framed as “historical revisionism.” Now we’re undecided if Musk was trolled at the Cyber Rodeo or if it was just impossible to hide Rawlinson at the event.
Peter Rawlinson appearing at Cyber Rodeo was a trolling on Elon Musk or just something inevitable? 10 photos
Photo: via Jeff Curry
Peter Rawlinson appearing at Cyber Rodeo was a trolling on Elon Musk or just something inevitable?Peter Rawlinson explains several decisions that made the Lucid Air a very efficient machinePeter Rawlinson explains several decisions that made the Lucid Air a very efficient machinePeter Rawlinson explains several decisions that made the Lucid Air a very efficient machinePeter Rawlinson explains several decisions that made the Lucid Air a very efficient machinePeter Rawlinson explains several decisions that made the Lucid Air a very efficient machinePeter Rawlinson explains several decisions that made the Lucid Air a very efficient machinePeter Rawlinson explains several decisions that made the Lucid Air a very efficient machinePeter Rawlinson appearing at Cyber Rodeo was a trolling on Elon Musk or just something inevitable?
The Lucid CEO appeared briefly behind Elon Musk in some footage with the subtitle “where we started.” You can see it at 24:13 in the video below and also in a tweet shared by Jeff Curry, Lucid’s marketing vice president. Rawlinson is between two people that we could not recognize. One of them seems to be Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief designer since 2008, but we have no idea who the other guy is.

Although Rawlinson was on the big screen for just two seconds, it could have been enough to make Musk fume if he even noticed that behind his sunglasses in an indoor event at night. The question that entertains us, at this point, is whether the people who prepared the presentation did that on purpose or just because the Lucid CEO was inevitable if Tesla wanted to talk about the time “when it started.

If it was on purpose, we must wonder who prepared the presentation. There are only two possibilities: Tesla’s team or a supplier. Considering the company is a fan of verticalization, the first possibility seems to be the strongest one, which makes it easier for Musk just to fire the ones who put him in the shameful situation of presenting Rawlinson in a role he denied the Lucid CEO ever had.

It seems more likely that the people who prepared the presentation just did not have any idea who Rawlinson was or just chose the video excerpts that made more sense for that presentation regardless of the people that were in them.

If that was the case, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning – the true Tesla founders – could have shown up as well, but they didn’t. Ironically, Musk just bashed Eberhard on Twitter, saying he was “pure poison.” The tweet has been deleted, but screenshots will not let it die. Another irony is that Tesla and Musk showed Rawlinson helped build what Tesla is today. Make sure you watch the video while you can.





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Editor's note: We have included images of Peter Rawlinson in the gallery for illustration purposes.

About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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