Elon Musk is preoccupied with machines that build machines. Tesla Tesla just reported its fifth-consecutive profitable quarter, setting itself up for its first-ever full-year profit. On a call with analysts and investors to discuss the Q3 results, CEO Elon Musk returned to a preoccupation with manufacturing, an area that he believes could be Tesla's greatest achievement. Musk wants Tesla to do things very differently from the rest of the car business, in order to go beyond building cars to developing a new, vertically-integrated industry. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Ever since Tesla's volatile profitability (or lack thereof) settled down a year ago, CEO Elon Musk has been able to spend more time talking about what he's really interested in.It isn't cars.