He has also repeatedly called out EVS as being unreliable and "not going very far." Before he became buddies with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, he ridiculed him and his businesses. Related: Costco has a massive labor problem nobody is talking about When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects,

The company has devoted resources to autonomous driving rather than developing new models to attract car buyers.

Tesla is headed for another year of shrinking sales after it posted a second straight drop in quarterly deliveries, dragged down by CEO Elon Musk's right-wing political stances and an aging vehicle line-up that has turned off some buyers.