Tesla chief Elon Musk, who has never used traditional advertising to sell cars, reportedly said the automaker would try it and see whether it produced results.

According to Reuters, Musk said it was “ironic” that, as CEO of Tesla, he now owns Twitter. The social media platform is highly dependent on ads and will soon be led by advertising veteran Linda Yaccarino, who he hired last week.

Discover B2B Marketing That Performs

Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.

Find out more

“So I guess I should say advertising is awesome, and everyone should do it,” Musk reportedly said at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas. “We’ll try out a little advertising and see how it goes.”

Reuters noted Musk had for years resisted the idea of advertising, tweeting in 2019 that he “hates advertising” and “We use that money to make the product great”.

But this week he said many people did not know about the affordability of Tesla cars and their “amazing” features and functionality.

Just Auto Excellence Awards - Nominations Closed

Nominations are now closed for the Just Auto Technology Excellence Awards. A big thanks to all the organisations that entered – your response has been outstanding, showcasing exceptional innovation, leadership, and impact.

Excellence in Action
Monumo’s Anser® platform has won the Innovation and Environmental awards by reinventing electric motor design with ultra fast, system level optimisation and lower environmental impact. Learn how Anser® is powering the next wave of sustainable automotive engineering.

Discover the Impact