Three things are no secret: 1) Elon Musk benefits more than any other individual from Tesla’s success, 2) Elon Musk has gotten extremely involved in political matters (emphasis on “extremely”), and 3) many people won’t buy Tesla products because of those first two facts.
New research from JW Surety Bonds finds that 1 out of 4 Americans “avoid Tesla’s technology due to their opinions on Elon Musk.” That’s a full quarter of the US public that won’t consider great electric vehicles, including the best selling vehicle in the world, because of Musk’s highly abnormal involvement in US politics.
Before we get to more of the research, it should also be noted that Musk has been getting more and more involved, including in highly abnormal and extremely right-wing ways, in European politics — in the UK, Italy, Germany, and other major auto markets. Without a doubt, this is starting to impact consumer behavior in Europe as well.
I can’t think of anything else as significant in consumer product sales. Yes, there are some other highly politically engaged business people, but they aren’t so directly involved or tied to significant mass-market products. (I’m not counting the MyPillow guy, for example.) There are founders and CEOs of major corporations who are known political actors, but not so openly and loudly that they draw widely significant scrutiny or tarnish the brand they represent.
They’re also not good cars. There’s no reason to buy a new one in 2025
Even if they fired Elon tomorrow I wouldn’t buy one for this reason. A few years ago they were the only viable option for an electric car, so people overlooked a lot to get one of them. But now there’s a ton of electric cars and even more coming out in the future. Why would I go with a company that’s had pretty significant issues over one from a company with more experience building cars?
Even now I’m pretty sure they have one of the best if not the best drivetrains. The problem is everything else is total trash and you won’t be able to fix it if anything goes wrong
That’s the thing that sucks. Engine tech is incredible. Everything else is miserably and embarassingly bad. Even if Elmo wasn’t such a colossal fucking bigot, I would never consider getting a Tesla for the asking price, or used
In 2014 I would have if I really needed an EV, but these days I can just get an Audi.
Fair point. I have considered Tesla swapping a Prius because it would be hilarious