Anand Mahindra responded to a tweet from Elon Musk.
Anand Mahindra may think Elon Musk's Tesla can't match up to our desi cars, but there is at least one aspect of carmaking that the two business tycoons agree upon - that it is hard. On Tuesday, the chairman of Mahindra Group responded to a tweet from Elon Musk on car production, agreeing with him that production is hard and production with a positive cash flow is even harder. Still, Mr Mahindra added, it had become a way of life for them after decades of "sweating and slaving".
It all began when Elon Musk, CEO of the world's foremost electric car manufacturing company, shared an excerpt from James Dyson's new book about his company Dyson's failed attempt at making an electric car.
"Production is hard. Production with positive cash flow is extremely hard," wrote Elon Musk while sharing the excerpt.
Anand Mahindra agreed with the Tesla chief but added that carmakers were pushing ahead despite numerous challenges. "You said it, @elonmusk," he wrote. "And we've been doing that for decades now. Still sweating and slaving away at it. It's our way of life..."
The tweet has racked up over 3,800 'likes' and a ton of comments.
While Elon Musk has yet to respond to Mr Mahindra, he did highlight how new car companies lack the advantage of selling replacement parts with a high profit margin. Newer manufacturers also lack service and sales infrastructure.
"Large incumbent carmakers sell their cars at low to zero true margin. Most of their profit is selling replacement parts to their fleet, of which 70% to 80% are past warranty," wrote Elon Musk in a follow-up tweet to his own. "New car companies lack this advantage. Also lack sales and service infrastructure," he added.
Last week, Mahindra & Mahindra reported a 17 per cent increase in domestic passenger vehicle sales in August, as compared to the same month last year.
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