CAREY: Is Elon Musk the Henry Ford of our time?

Is Elon Musk the Henry Ford of our time? It’s probably too early to be absolutely certain, but the similarities between the Tesla founder and the man who made Detroit the centre of the automotive universe for decades are piling up.

The great achievement of Henry Ford was the invention of the car industry. Before he came along, cars were only for the rich. They were hand-made and hugely expensive.

Ford’s famous 1913 moving Model T assembly line wasn’t a totally original idea. It was based on techniques developed by other industries, including the overhead conveyors used in mechanised Chicago meat industry slaughterhouses. Frederick Winslow Taylor, a Ford contemporary who codified the principles of scientific management for industrial efficiency, was another influence.

Before Ford came along, cars were only for the rich. They were hand-made and hugely expensive.

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But it’s Ford who gets the credit, deservedly in my view, for making the car something that ordinary people could afford. At least in wealthier countries, he made personal mobility available to the masses. In a very literal sense the man’s life and work changed the world.

Now Musk is looking very much like the man who triggered the re-invention of the automotive industry. Since becoming CEO of Tesla in 2008, he’s made the electric car both accessible and desirable.

Other car makers have watched Tesla’s success and attempted to imitate it, which is a very sincere form of flattery. And they’re mostly still playing catch-up.

Since becoming CEO of Tesla in 2008, Musk has made the electric car both accessible and desirable.

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The EV isn’t Musk’s idea. They had existed for many decades before he was born in 1971. But Tesla came up with a program to gradually make electric cars relatively affordable and, at least when it comes to their powertrains, highly efficient and technically advanced.

The Model 3 is the first EV to break through the million annual sales barrier. Tesla’s share of the global EV market is huge, though it should be said it doesn’t match the dominance of Ford’s Model T a century ago. And the company’s stock is worth a rather large fortune.

Musk is interested in pushing the boundaries of technology in other areas, notably space travel and energy storage. Again there are parallels with Ford, who took his company into fields as diverse as aircraft manufacturing and the development of plant-based plastics.

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But Ford’s personal views were, as historians record, pretty stinky. He was a Jew-loathing anti-Semite who was admired by Adolf Hitler and a lifelong believer in conspiracy theories.

Despite this, Ford – the company rather than the man – contributed to the eventual defeat of Nazism in 1945, just two years before Henry’s departure from this life. Ford’s massive Willow Run factory turned out over 4600 four-engined B-24 bombers during World War II. At its peak, the factory could build an entire aircraft in 59 minutes.

Musk isn’t in the same class as Ford when it comes to prejudice. Nowhere near. But he is a man who frequently expresses beliefs that don’t seem to stand up well to reasonable scrutiny.

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Putting a million colonists on Mars, for example. His thoughts on Covid-19 vaccination, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency have been controversial, to put it politely.

My point in drawing attention to these parallels? I think it’s time to stop regarding buying a Tesla as some kind of endorsement of Musk’s views, or as a statement of contrarianism, or virtue signalling, or anything else.

Let’s instead leave it to the products to do the talking. That’s what we do with anything wearing the blue oval badge that bears the name of Ford. It’s time to draw a line between man and machine; to let nuance replace noise.