On the other side of the Atlantic, on March 18, under pressure from the United Auto Workers, the big three Detroit car producers—GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler—agreed a more or less complete nationwide shutdown. The one holdout, predictably enough, was Tesla. Whereas in China, Elon Musk had complied with official instructions, in California he decided to make a stand. He announced that concern about Covid was exaggerated. “My frank opinion remains that the harm from the coronavirus panic far exceeds that of the virus itself,” he told his staff.37 A day later, he too folded.
