Tesla's Elon Musk, Chrysler trade jabs over U.S. loans

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, who always seems to relish a digital flame war, wasn't backing down Thursday when it came to the automaker's claim that it was first to fully repay the government on its federal loan.

He took on Chrysler Group via Twitter.

After Tesla made its claim Tuesday in announcing that it had repaid the remaining $451.8 million on its Energy Department loan nine years early, it raised hackles by saying in its statement: "Tesla will be the only American car company to have fully repaid the government."

The veiled reference to Chrysler Group and General Motors, which both received federal bailouts as part of their 2009 bankruptcy restructuring, drew an immediate reaction from the former.

"The information is unmistakably incorrect," says Chrysler spokesman Gualberto Ranieri in his own statement. "It's pretty well-known that almost exactly two years ago –- May 24, 2011 -– Chrysler Group LLC repaid (in full and with interest) U.S. and Canadian government loans more than six years ahead of schedule."

Not so fast, Musk countered. First, he noted that Chrysler is now controlled by Fiat. The automaker is Italian, not American. Then he tweeted, "More importantly, @Chrysler failed to pay back $1.3B. Apart those 2 points, you were totally 1st"

Musk didn't elaborate. It's a tweet, 140 characters maximum, after all. But it appears the $1.3 billion is a reference to the money that government gave to keep Chrysler operating as it transitioned to a new entity in 2009. It was not a loan. The company is not under obligation to pay it back.

Musk regularly takes on detractors, critics or others using his Twitter account. He used Twitter to savage an unfavorable New York Times review of the electric Model S earlier this year. The Times backed down, sort of, when its omsbudsman didn't fully back up the critic.

Now the question is whether Chrysler has a retort for Musk's retort.