Newly surfaced archival footage has cast a stark light on the extreme pressure Elon Musk and his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, faced in 2008, a period the billionaire entrepreneur has often described as a near-death experience. The video reveals a high-stakes, tense meeting where a visibly stressed Musk issued a blunt ultimatum to his Tesla executives to save the company at all costs.
The 'Get Divorced' Ultimatum: Inside Tesla's 2008 Crisis
The footage, now circulating on social media, captures a critical moment during the production crisis of the first Tesla Roadster. In the meeting, Tesla marketing executive Colette Niazmand informed Musk that customers were finding faults with the car and that the company had discovered it was built with substandard parts. This revelation visibly angered Musk.
His response was direct and reflected his own personal turmoil, as he was undergoing a divorce from his first wife, Justine Musk, at the time. "It's not okay to be a part of this company," Musk stated. "If somebody can't get happy, get divorced." He demanded accountability, insisting, "I want names named. So if someone's always on the hide seat and is always the root cause for problems, they will not be a part of this organisation for the long term."
According to a BBC report from 2018, Musk's personal finances were in such dire straits that he was borrowing money from friends just to pay his rent, underscoring how all-encompassing the crisis was.
'Holy Mackerel, Jesus': The 'Pedal to the Metal' Scramble
The crisis was not just about faulty parts but an existential threat to Tesla's very survival. The video shows Musk's "frightening" realisation upon seeing an "army" of rejected cars parked in a large godown. "Holy Mackerel, Jesus," he exclaimed. "Yeah, like, we have like an army of cars here. Like, Jesus. This is frightening."
With only four deliverable vehicles ready for the sales team, the situation was critical. An executive warned Musk about an internal memo that stated if the Roadster couldn't sustain the company by March 2009, Tesla would be finished. "That's it. And that scares me," the executive said.
Musk's reply framed the stark reality: "We need to get the company to cash flow positive in six to nine months. Well, we're screwed. It’s really pedal to the metal here. Each month it passes literally costs us tens of millions of dollars." The phrase "pedal to the metal" perfectly captured the desperate, all-hands-on-deck effort required to keep the electric car startup alive.
Surviving by the 'Skin of Their Teeth': Musk's 2018 Reflection
Elon Musk has openly discussed this perilous period at public events, including the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in 2018. He revealed that he gave both Tesla and SpaceX less than a 10% chance of survival in 2008. While Tesla was burning cash and grappling with defective cars, SpaceX had suffered three consecutive rocket launch failures.
Looking back, Musk summarized the era with a memorable phrase: "SpaceX is alive by the skin of its teeth, and so is Tesla—if things had just gone a little differently, both companies would be dead." This "skin of their teeth" survival highlights how close two of today's most influential tech companies came to total collapse.
The release of this old footage serves as a powerful reminder of the extreme volatility and high-stakes drama behind today's corporate success stories. It underscores the relentless pressure and difficult decisions Elon Musk faced while steering Tesla and SpaceX from the brink of bankruptcy to becoming industry leaders.
