Tesla rises above Chevy’s diss, ‘hopes’ to see Bolt on the road

GM CEO Mary Barra threw some shade at Elon Musk and Tesla during her CES keynote today.

She touted GM’s extensive franchised dealer network as a key advantage over Tesla’s much smaller, corporate-owned network. She noted that the Chevy Bolt is the first EV to offer CarPlay and Android Auto, something that Tesla has so-far declined to implement.

Oh, and then there’s the fact that stodgy old General Motors beat Tesla to (the announcement of) the mass-produced, longer-range, affordable electric car. A confident Mary Barra did all that in 20 minutes today, and without mentioning Tesla once.

So, what is Elon Musk’s response? To take the high road. A statement just issued from a Tesla spokesperson claims the announcement of the Chevy Bolt EV today helps achieve Tesla’s mission:

Commitments from traditional car makers to build electric vehicles advances Tesla’s mission to accelerate the advent of sustainable transportation. We hope to see all those additional zero-emission vehicles on the road.Tesla, smoothly “hoping” to see those EVs out on the road. We’ll see how long this corporate “friendliness” lasts when potential Model 3 buyers are flocking to GM dealerships to cross-shop the Bolt.