Elon Musk answers Tesla pricing question with anti work-from-home rant

On Tesla’s Q3 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said people who work from home take advantage of the people who cannot work from home and are “detached from reality.” In the middle of talking about rising interest rates and their effect on the affordability of vehicles, Musk launched into a discussion about “Marie Antoinette” vibes of the person he describes asking why doesn’t everyone work from home.

“Like… what about all the people that have to come to the factory and and build the cars? What about all of the people that have to go to to the restaurant and make your food, and deliver your food? It’s like, what are you talking about…”

Musk carried on, saying “Why did I sleep in the factory so many times? Because it mattered,” referring to lowering the costs of a Tesla. He’d been asked how he thought about price elasticity in the current macroenvironment.

In a CNBC interview earlier this year, Musk called remote work “morally wrong” and argued it’s unfair to those who can’t have the option, like food delivery workers. “Get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshit,” Musk said at the time. Last year, Musk said work from home was “no longer acceptable” at Tesla and issued requirements for 40-hour work weeks in office.