Interview with Cristiano Carlutti, VP of Tesla’s European Sales and Operations
By guest writer Emily Goligoski
One of the companies that HIT attendees have expressed the most anticipation about seeing at the conference, Tesla Motors, will be represented by European Sales and Operations VP Cristiano Carlutti. Prior to joining the company in its EU headquarters in Windsor, UK, in January, he led divisions at Fiat and served as press chief for the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. Despite having lived and worked in Germany, Russia, Ireland, and the US, Carlutti said that in Barcelona he sees an innovative marketplace and one with non-trivial incentives for drivers of new cars that are gentler on the planet.
Q: What are you most looking forward to seeing on the innovation front during HIT?
A: I don’t have much time to attend conferences, but a symposium focused on radical disruption and innovation is obviously quite interesting for someone at Tesla, a company whose entire business model is focused on the paradigm shift in personal transportation. I am primarily interested in talking to people at the conference who understand this intuitively and understand what it implies for the company culture, the product, the industry, the world. Tesla is aggressively recruiting in California and around the world, and we are always interested in meeting people who want to work extremely hard and be part of a disruptive force.
What misconceptions do you think businesspeople (particularly from the US) have about Europe’s role in new vehicle development?
I’ve worked at a variety of companies based in several countries, and it’s probably true there is a bit of a “hometown homerism” at work nearly everywhere. Most people work hard and believe that their approach makes most sense. However, the auto industry is one of the world’s most global sectors, so in my humble opinion fewer people seem to buy into the regional misperceptions and stereotypes.
In the case of Tesla, we are taking a “best practices” approach and learning from the best in the field, regardless of country of origin. In May 2009, Tesla forged a strategic partnership with Daimler that focuses in part on engineering; obviously the maker of Mercedes is a formidable company from that respect. And about one year later, just last month, Tesla forged a strategic partnership with Toyota focusing in part on manufacturing and production; the “Toyota Production System” is widely acknowledged to be the world leader for quality and efficiency. We’ll take the best of the auto industry and modify and iterate according to our continuous improvement philosophy.
Which of Tesla’s recent and future projects are you most anticipating?
I am focused in part on growing Tesla’s sales and service network — not only to increase the current sales momentum today but to ensure that the company has the retail footprint to sell more affordable cars to mainstream, mass-market consumers. The Model S sedan, which we intend to begin producing in 2012, is expected to be about half the price of the current Roadster, a premium sports car aimed at affluent early adopters and thought leaders.
Working at Tesla at this time in history is an incredibly exciting prospect: As you can imagine, there aren’t many places where you can essentially create a new retail paradigm from scratch! And just yesterday I was able to see the fruits of our efforts with the grand opening of our newest store, which is in Zurich on Pelikan Strasse in the heart of the city’s most glamorous neighborhood of boutiques, restaurants and foot traffic. It’s rewarding and also just plain fun!
What incentives do you see as most promising for encouraging entrepreneurs to develop car technologies? And what role do you believe government subsidies play in this development in Europe?
Numerous countries have incentives on electric cars, and the reason is simple: Given concerns with climate change and the prospect of big price spikes at the pump, governments want to encourage people to “go green” and reduce dependence on oil. Would consumers make green choices without such incentives? I would like to think so — but it’s impossible to say whether consumer behavior would change quickly enough, given the big challenges our planet faces.
There are numerous incentives throughout Europe that aim at encouraging consumers to make the right choices. As just one example–because the conference is in Barcelona–in Spain the Roadster qualifies for a national rebate of at least €6,000 and provincial rebates of €3,000 or more. Spanish owners get 75 percent off the yearly car tax. Roadsters get free metered parking and free use of the high-occupancy vehicle and bus lanes – a priceless advantage in the dense traffic of Madrid and Barcelona. There are numerous other incentives in other countries — some more, some less.
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