Elon Musk teases Porsche with a simple but incendiary tweet

• Elon Musk often uses Twitter to express his opinion … and criticize rival brands

• This time he did it with Porsche getting into a real problem

• It doesn't matter, everything is advertising for the Tesla Model S

Although he is no longer the CEO of TeslaElon Musk He has not ceased to be his best brand ambassador and publicist, what better example than what the businessman of South African origin has been doing this week.

True to its custom, although sometimes it costs money and citations with the authorities, the founder of PayPal and SpaceX also decided to use Twitter as his best weapon to promote the Model S.

Last Thursday, Musk wrote on the social network of microblogging a message with which he mocks Porsche by accusing the German luxury sports car manufacturer of not knowing what the word Turbo means in cars, nor of electric vehicles.

Attack the competition

The words of the founder of Tesla refer to one of the recent releases of the Stuttgart-based automaker, the Taycan It is the first fully electric model of the creator of the mythical 911; This car comes in two versions, the Taycan Turbo and the Turbo S, for many specialists, it is destined to compete directly with Tesla S.

Musk's message was: Um @Porsche, this word Turbo does not mean what you think it does (this word Turbo does not mean what you think it means).

Um @Porsche, this word Turbo does not mean what you think it does

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2019

And, as we know, the entrepreneur has a powerful engagement in social networks, a scenario where he usually unleashes true controversies among his followers and detractors.

But Taycan does seem like a good car. Nürburgring track time is great.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 7, 2019

Such was the case with this tweet that caused more than 155 thousand Likes, 6.2 thousand retweets and almost 3 thousand comments, many referring to the superiority of Tesla S over the Porsche Taycan, and others demonstrating that Musk has also fallen in what he criticizes (as in the autopilot that is not one hundred percent), perhaps that is why the second tweet published a couple of days later in which he recognizes that the Taycan is 'a good car'.

The intention of the tweet was to disqualify the competition and at the same time draw attention to Tesla, which seeks in many ways to project the message and image that the S's is a true sport.

Everything is publicity

If we were strict, we could say that Musk is right, since Turbo refers to a turbocharger, an accessory that helps compress the air that enters the intake of an engine, making it more powerful. However, the German brand itself has defended and explained previously why they allowed themselves to put this surname to Taycan.

The president of Porsche North America, Klaus Zellmertoldhe explained to Fox news, that "the company decided to maintain the nomenclature because it has gone beyond its traditional definition in the brand (and others, such as Gillette)".

While the comparison with the rake mark may be a shot to the foot, it is essentially right; Turbo is currently a label that is not only used to refer to a mechanical improvement that makes a car more powerful, but to highlight the ‘power’, ‘quality’ or ‘efficiency’ of a product.

Just as Musk advertises with the Tweet disqualifying Porsche, the German firm does so by using the Turbo tag on its electric model, because although it does not use a turbocharger, it seeks to project the message that it retains the brand's DNA as a powerful vehicle and fast.

Musk is not willing to lose

It is not new that the founder of Tesla gets into trouble on Twitter with other brands or personalities, such as when he minimized the investment of Daimler (owner of Mercedes-Benz) in the United States to manufacture electric cars or when he criticized Mark Zuckerberg, accusing him of have a "limited knowledge" regarding the development of artificial intelligence.

In this case, he is willing to endure criticism and controversy (he almost always does it, so he gets into trouble), because the arrival of the Porsche Taycan attracted a lot of attention, not only because it was electric, but because of its design, power, speed and autonomy. This without neglecting the weight of a brand like the German one; This would be a real problem for the Model S that Tesla will seek to sell – and still has the problem of assembly and delivery.

Model S on Nürburgring next week

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2019

That is why Musk is determined to prove that his Model S three is a true sports car, and has decided to take it to the epic Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit, a track chosen by the major automotive brands to test their flagship models, in fact, there the Porsche Taycan imposed the Record for an electric car.