Bulldoze First, Partner Second

“To win over Panasonic, Straubel needed to convince Yamada that Tesla meant business. He had a plan. It harked back to how Tesla had cajoled early investors into taking a chance on a little startup. To stoke Daimler and Toyota for the Model S, years before it was ready, they had worked up mule cars—dummies that were close enough to the real thing to give their audience a taste of what was to come. Tesla needed something they could showcase, a mule factory. Blueprints for a factory, however, failed to capture the kind of excitement their prototype cars had. The Tesla team became convinced that they needed to demonstrate to Panasonic and other suppliers how serious they were about the project. Quietly, they forged a deal with landowners in Sparks and began preparing the site for construction. They called bulldozers and earth movers from around the state, erected massive lights, began moving tons of dirt. The bill was enormous, climbing to $2 million a day. Straubel wanted to have a site prepped for a demonstration to Tesla’s would-be partners. He had to make it convincing enough to suggest that Tesla was charging forward—with or without them.”

“His younger relatives who worked with him in Hong Leong and CDL said that they relate to him mostly as a boss and rarely as an uncle. “His work is all consuming, and therefore, it is very hard to distinguish between him as an uncle and as chairman,””

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kwek had to get used to virtual meetings. He was often a good 10–15 minutes early, and bristled when others logged on closer to the scheduled time, as is the norm, said his nephew Kwek Eik Sheng and group chief operating officer of CDL. “He scolded the guy who signed in last — even though he was five minutes early. The poor chap got it from him,” he shared with a rueful smile. Veteran hotelier Daniel Desbaillets said: “For me, he’s a natural. What you see is what you get.””