Elon Musk, instead of spending Christmas Eve with his family, announced a significant change on social media platform X. The world’s richest man revealed that Tesla’s mission statement has been changed from “Sustainable Abundance” to “Magnificent Abundance.” Musk justified this change by stating that the new phrase is “more cheerful.” This move signals a significant shift in the company’s vision, not just in terms of words but also in terms of meaning.
Tesla’s new slogan surprised many.
According to analysts, Musk is referring to Tesla’s fourth “Master Plan” document, published earlier this year. The document frequently used the phrase “sustainable abundance,” but didn’t clearly define what it meant. It stated that the company aimed to combine its manufacturing capabilities with autonomous technologies to offer new products and services that would increase global prosperity, but left the details of how this would be achieved unclear.
At the time, Musk was criticized for the document’s vagueness and lack of concrete plans on how the company would achieve its goals. Even YouTuber Dave Lee, a longtime Tesla investor, pointed out that the real plan should have more detail, to which Musk responded, “You’re right, I’ll add more details.” However, whether replacing the word “sustainable” with the even more vague word “magnificent” fulfills the promise of detail that investors expected is a major point of contention.
Beyond changing an undefined term, Musk’s abandonment of “sustainable” shows how far he has strayed from his former sensitive stance on climate change. In 2017, after resigning from his position as a presidential advisor following Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Musk described climate change as one of the greatest threats facing humanity. In 2018, he insisted that Tesla’s core purpose was to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy.
Today, Musk seems to have softened his concerns about climate change while highlighting artificial intelligence as the key to the future. Last year, Musk claimed there was “no need to rush” to solve climate change and that humans wouldn’t experience serious problems until carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached 1000 ppm. However, scientific data shows that even current levels are causing extreme weather events, and the levels Musk mentioned correspond to periods millions of years ago when sea levels were 60 meters higher than they are today.
What do you think of this sudden change in Tesla’s vision? Do you think the choice of the word “Magnificent” instead of “Sustainable” indicates a shift in the company’s approach to the environment?
