--- title: "The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan" description: "Tesla's market-entry sequence: start with an expensive car to fund cheaper ones." canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/elon-musk/the-secret-tesla-motors-master-plan/ updated: 2026-11-03 --- # The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan > Tesla's market-entry sequence: start with an expensive car to fund cheaper ones. Walter Isaacson's framework, from Elon Musk, pp. 162 to 174. Framework 3 of 7 from [Elon Musk](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/elon-musk/index.md) by Walter Isaacson. Category: Growth and strategy. ## The steps 1. **Shatter the golf-cart image.** Build an electric car without compromises that beats a Porsche or Ferrari so that electric no longer means boxy and slow. 2. **Enter at the high end.** Sell the first model to customers prepared to pay a premium, because most new technology starts with a high unit cost. 3. **Drive down market.** Move as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model. ## Where it comes from From chapter: Chapter 21: The Roadster: Tesla, 2004–2006, pp. 162–174 Tesla's early plan was to piece the Roadster together from outside suppliers, a decision that would haunt it. Musk meddles in every design detail, enlarging the door, widening the seats, adding headlight covers and carbon fibre, which makes the car better and costlier. The clash with Eberhard over who is the real founder escalates, press releases omit Musk, and he fights for credit. The July 2006 unveiling, which Musk takes over, brings celebrity deposits, and his Secret Master Plan sets the strategy of entering at the high end and driving down market. ## The animation 24 seconds, 4:5, no sound. - MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/elon-musk/the-secret-tesla-motors-master-plan.mp4 - MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/elon-musk/the-secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-dark.mp4 - Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/elon-musk/the-secret-tesla-motors-master-plan.png - Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/elon-musk/the-secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-dark.png