As General Motors Co. Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson sees it, Tesla Motors Inc. has the potential to be a disruptive force to the automotive industry and he doesn’t want to be caught off guard.
The former telecommunication executive has assigned a small team to study billionaire industrialist Elon Musk’s upstart electric-car maker and how it might threaten the 104-year-old automaker’s business, Steve Girsky, GM vice chairman, said last week during an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York.
“He thinks Tesla could be a big disrupter if we’re not careful,” Girsky said. “History is littered with big companies that ignored innovation that was coming their way because you didn’t know where you could be disrupted.”
EYE ON A CRAZY PLANET
The major automakers were instrumental in shutting down small, innovative upstarts like Tucker and Bricklin: Both had safer vehicles than the big 4. Now GM doesn't have the influence they use to.
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, Rich, GM has teams whose task is to monitor - inter alia - Toyota, Mercedes, Honda and Hyundai.
ReplyDelete