Branson says Virgin working on electric cars: Bloomberg TV| Reuters I see this as a good thing, and I think Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, would agree. Competition always drives innovation and helps to bring prices down. And if they're successful, it'll help to wean people off gas a little faster.
I read it, but it sounds like Branson is just trying to feed his ego. Formula E is cool, and I'm sure branson wants to win it and all, but its a whole different world showing up late to the plug-in party. Barrirers to entry are low on the technology side, but huge on the regulatory and sales side. Apple or Google with their hordes of cash could do it, but I don't think Branson would raise enough money even if he morgaged his empire. Musk had Mercedes as a white knight when he needed help, but I don't think there would be any for this venture.
Empire building - something Branson is good at. He does seem to get bored and move on too often and too quickly. We have his Virgin train company which are ok but not outstanding and certainly not class leading. Virgin Trains - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia We also have Virgin Mobile which whilst having customers, doesn't get particularly great rep. They're not bad, but they're not good either - just steady away. Virgin Mobile UK - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It's like he has an idea, jumps feet first into it, gets it up and running, gets bored and moves on, leaving the company to stagnate. I'm with Virgin Media for my cable package and they're ok and offer a good product, but their customer service sucks. None of the Virgin brands are interconnected so you don't get loyalty discounts or anything like that. There's no interselling which could work. Virgin is just a brand name on individual companies he's bought up - some good, some bad and some shite. Virgin Group - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia With that history I'd be very reluctant to buy an EV. I would really doubt it had the same attention to detail that Tesla offers. Branson would have got bored and moved on before the car was finished.
