Summary

Elon Musk’s vocal support for Donald Trump and promotion of far-right conspiracy theories has alienated many Tesla owners, who now express embarrassment over their cars.

Sales of anti-Musk stickers, such as “Anti Elon Tesla Club,” have surged as owners distance themselves from Musk’s politics.

Once admired by liberals for his environmental advocacy, Musk’s alignment with Trump and leadership in his administration have sparked backlash.

While Tesla remains the dominant EV maker, analysts warn Musk’s polarizing image may impact sales as competition grows and Trump plans to cut EV tax incentives.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1271 month ago

    2018 he called a diver that saved kids a pedo. Anyone who bought a Tesla after that can get fucked.

    • FuglyDuck
      link
      fedilink
      English
      801 month ago

      A year after Tesla was started, he invested into it with shitloads of money.

      Then he sued Tesla for the “right” to be called a “founder”.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      251 month ago

      You say that but it’s a pretty recent development that there was any significant alternatives to Tesla in the American EV space. Even now that is one of the only options for buying used at a reasonable price. That is finally starting to change but for a lot of people between 2018 and now the choice was between buying another ICE vehicle or a Tesla. I don’t blame people for overlooking some of Elon’s faults in order to help address climate change, especially since the really crazy side of him wasn’t widely publicized until two-ish years ago.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1011 month ago

    I cant stop laughing when I see a Cybertruck. This is the ultimate insecurity toy and the ugliest car ever made.

  • Nougat
    link
    fedilink
    691 month ago

    While Tesla remains the dominant EV maker, …

    BYD has entered the chat.

    • m-p{3}
      link
      fedilink
      451 month ago

      The US will just slap enough tariffs to make them roughly the same price as the competition.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        381 month ago

        As is the way of the “free market”. Us automakers aren’t even trying to compete, half their EVS are massive SUVs/trucks instead of smaller, lighter, more effecient designs.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          Which is exactly the same pattern they repeated in the 70s. Which is when Japan ate their lunch.

          This time though is a little different, with China’s vastly lower worker costs, and possible government subsidization in an attempt to corner the world auto market. I can understand and agree with the 100% tariff.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            191 month ago

            I’d be fine with the tarrif if there was a manufacturer actually trying to compete. Instead it feels like “nooo we can’t have byds cars here, americans need the electric F250 supercab!!!”

            I’d also be fine with the tarrif if there was going to be massive investments in public transit which could reduce the need to own a car and transit tends to be more effecient than even the best EVs and is more fair to more people.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              41 month ago

              I’d be fine with the tarrif if there was a manufacturer actually trying to compete

              What about all the Japanese, Korean, and European brands selling cars here? Is there another market outside of China, where everything is sold well below cost after being built using slave labor and lax environmental regulations, where new cars are as cheap as you want them to be? I think they are competing but the cars are just expensive to build. China is hiding that expense from buyers just long enough for them to try to take over every local market at which time there will be no reason to keep them subsidized because all the competition will be gone.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  21 month ago

                  Most of these brands do manufacture in the US, though, and even Ford and GM manufacture in Canada and Mexico. My issue is with people claiming that these tariffs (prior to Trump) are just protectionism for the couple remaining US companies when they’re not. They’re protectionism for the entire US auto market, which mostly consists of foreign brands.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                11 month ago

                America uses slave labor in the same way, plus with prisoners, so where’s our ultra cheap EVs? Apparently we need to use our “resources” better.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            51 month ago

            I think it’s a complicated situation but the legitimate reason for the tariffs (not just Musk shoveling money into Tesla) is that battery production is a strategic interest for drones and other military equipment.

            I think it’s logical we should make sure the US battery industry is able to develop.

        • Avid Amoeba
          link
          fedilink
          9
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          They are very much competing.You’re just confused about what they’re competing in. It’s profit, not size of vehicle, or efficiency or what have you. The F-150 is still the top selling vehicle in North America. Turns out small vehicles make less profit so they stopped making them and inflated the size of all remaining models.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            71 month ago

            Which is defintely a great strategy to reduce transportation emissions. And clearly everyone NEEDS a truck.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  1
                  edit-2
                  1 month ago

                  Do you want a truck too? Or are you the only person capable of resisting the power of auto industry propaganda?

                  The fact that people in different places do not all want the same cars is strong evidence that their wants result from human agency, not auto propaganda.

              • m-p{3}
                link
                fedilink
                81 month ago

                A want a decent electric sedan/hatchback but here we are.

                A SUV is too big for what I need.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  21 month ago

                  The SUV costs more upfront, costs more to recharge, has larger tires which cost more and pollute more. The costs really add up fast if you are living on a budget.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  21 month ago

                  The Chevy Bolt, a subcompact EV, has been around since 2016. The Nissan Leaf has been around since 2010.

                  Subcompacts of all types, EV and ICE alike, simply don’t sell as well as trucks in the US.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          11 month ago

          What about the rest of the industry in the US? I don’t know why people focus on the two remaining US ICE manufacturers and ignore the dozens of other foreign manufacturers that sell vehicles here when discussing Chinese EVs.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        141 month ago

        There are already people pulling the EV transaxles out of wreaks and putting them in better cars with custom controllers.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          161 month ago

          Aside from the musk debacle, it’s fun to think about a brand new generation of car enthusiasts hacking and customizing EVs similar to all the current “car guys” are with ICs. I hope it takes off.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            101 month ago

            I’ve been following Edison Motors and you can buy the EV transaxle from the electric Mustang as a crate engine from Ford with. Edison hasn’t announced being able to buy individual parts, but they support Right to Repair, so once the kits start rolling out, parts should be as well. They’re a startup and are smartly advertising only a few options to keep the new supply chain simple.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      41 month ago

      I have definitely been considering buying used so that I don’t support Elon. That’s the most important thing to me.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        31 month ago

        I did exactly that. There are ways to even pull your car off the cell network so they can’t actively harvest your driving data

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        21 month ago

        Nice thought but unfortunately it still supports new tesla sales by propping up the secondary market.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          51 month ago

          That’s assuming someone is selling their old Tesla to buy a new Tesla. Hopefully they won’t. I own one and I wouldn’t buy one again.

  • ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔
    link
    fedilink
    481 month ago

    May impact sales…

    Let’s face it, people seem to be able to tolerate a lot of shit before they ever actually start showing how they feel with their wallets.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      141 month ago

      IDK about new car figures, but I’m in the market for another EV. I found a Tesla model 3 long range awd that had done about 150k km, and a Renault Zoe with 15k km and 2/3 the range. The Renault is slightly cheaper, but it’s Musk being a loose canon that’s the reason why I’m going with the Zoe instead. Sure it’s a nicer car, if it works, but the fear that Musk get’s high and disables non-essential stuff is too real.

      So in my case Musk has directly affected my used car choice.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        10
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Does the Zoe have conventional door handles? Cause the functional design of Tesla’s leaves a lit to be desired anyway.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          41 month ago

          AFAIK yes, at least I didn’t notice anything strange, and I believe the one I looked at in the comparison (at a dealership) even had a proper keyhole in the driver door.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      141 month ago

      Oh I don’t know, the Budweiser stock hit endured pretty lengthy after being advertised by a non-redneck.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    461 month ago

    Once admired by liberals for his environmental advocacy,

    They now know him for the liar that he is.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    411 month ago

    While Tesla remains the dominant EV maker

    Well actually they don’t, they’ve been surpassed by BYD.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      81 month ago

      I rent a lot of cars for work travel and BYDs are nowhere near as nice as Teslas to drive. That will change in time though, and their batteries are already better I believe.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        4
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        I’ve only seen one review, I think it was called Dolphin. Overall the car was reviewed as OK to very good for the price here in Denmark, but the handling was awful.
        It shall be interesting to see how well the new LiFePo batteries do, the current gen Blade batteries are allegedly good, but have proven to not be quite as safe as they were supposed to be. Safety was supposed to be a big feature of blade batteries. But in reality, they are only marginally better than other batteries.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    401 month ago

    I have a beater 97 Corolla. Don’t care about stuff hitting it one bit. I wanna get some kind of funny sticker that’s like “at least it’s not a Tesla” or something like that

    • Skeezix
      link
      fedilink
      English
      31 month ago

      Get a sticker “My other car is a piece of shit too.”

    • @person420
      link
      71 month ago

      If you’re looking for a similar class EV, I just got the mach-e and I love it.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    281 month ago

    I prefer to cut off Teslas because nobody is letting me in anyways, and they’ve got automatic safety braking. Yes, my signal is on.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      7
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      I cut off a Tesla once that cut me off first. Asshole was livid, but deserved it. Didn’t think about the safety braking, but that’s a good point, does the Tesla even let them move if someone is cutting them off or do they just have to sit there and let it happen?

      The collision avoidance can’t be that good though, because some elderly man in a Tesla backed in to me once.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    261 month ago

    I myself use a bicycle for local travel, and public transit for longer commutes. Musk’s overpriced EVs are not the solution to global warming, IMO.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        61 month ago

        To be honest, it was almost like they tried to prove EV wasn’t feasible, making ridiculously laughable small cars that could only go 60 km/h, and had even worse range. Then they claimed it should be hydrogen, which for a decade went absolutely nowhere. That was until Tesla proved a functional attractive EV was indeed possible.
        I hate Elon Musk, but Tesla was a huge leap forward for fully battery electric cars.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            21 month ago

            Absolutely, Musk didn’t create the concept or invent anything, he just bought the right thing at the right time. And had some very skillful people working for him. Something only possible if you already have money. Still Tesla struggled early on financially, and he did mange to help Tesla through to success. I don’t think he was as crazy back then as he is now.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            11 month ago

            This is not true, Tesla did a lot of things that were new. They used Lithium batteries, made an electric car that was fast sporty and had long range, instead of the typical “city” electrics. And they built a charging network.
            To say the Tesla wasn’t new, is like saying iPhone wasn’t new, because smartphones already existed.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              3
              edit-2
              1 month ago

              Funny you should mention iPhone, because it was the same thing. Yes the whole package didn’t exist in that form, but all the parts were already in use. They both got lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

              Lithium batteries hadn’t been used before because the technology had just reached the point where they were viable for use in a vehicle. Electric motor technology had also just reached the price to performance to size necessary to make a sporty vehicle. The original Tesla was unique for it’s time, but not because of some genius design. They were just lucky enough to be doing it at a time when others tech was reaching the punt that made it possible.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                21 month ago

                The Palm Treo I had when the iPhone came out could do all of the stuff the iPhone could do, but you had to work at it. I miss that phone…

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                1
                edit-2
                1 month ago

                No that’s not funny, that was on purpose, because all the elements already existed, but nobody had put it together to work nearly as well.
                When iPhone came out, it completely obliterated Blackberry Microsoft and Nokia in the smartphone market. It was so far ahead in design probably about 10 years. So you can’t claim they did nothing new. Please note that I don’t personally use Apple products, because I find their control freak ecosphere policy disgusting, I made that decision already in the early 90’s, and Apple has only gotten worse since, so I haven’t changed my decision not to use their products. But when I saw the presentation of the iPhone and the iPad because I’m a tech nerd, I immediately saw it was a superior product to anything on the market at the time.
                With Tesla it’s very similar, other car makers messed around with embarrassing underwhelming lackluster designs with maybe 40 km range and ugly 2 seater city car format, that could generally only do 60-80 km/h. GM had had a research project with a pretty cool looking car, but it was run at a massive deficit, and was still expensive to buy, and it was still underwhelming.
                The Prius was probably the height of electric even though it was only a hybrid, at the time, and could only do 7km on battery! SAo not much of a hybrid. And Toyota allegedly sold that at a deficit too! Many claimed that what Tesla aimed to do was impossible.
                So no matter how much I despise both Apple and Musk, it must be acknowledged that they were ahead of their time with groundbreaking products.

                Being ahead by about 10 years is not just luck. That takes ingenuity and a lot of clever engineering. Musk was not responsible for either, he just stepped in and bought Tesla at the right time.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  11 month ago

                  I appreciate that people love to gargle tech Bros, but the truth of the matter is what they were most lucky with was having access to the capital necessary to bring those ideas to market. Do you think Steve Jobs or Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning were the only ones to have the idea to put those technologies together? They were just the ones lucky enough to have the means to do it.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        11 month ago

        It is a bit more complex than that. EVs are the necessary replacement for use cases where a car is needed. It is far from reality to think, that we are able to life in a world without cars. There are use cases where a car is absolutely required and here EVs are better than gasoline powered ones. However, a lot of people don’t really need one. Especially in the bigger cities it is very easy to live without a car(its also sometimes much faster because when driving in the city you are standing/crawling forwards most of the time)

  • metaStatic
    link
    fedilink
    241 month ago

    if Musk ever made the affordable car he’s been promising since day 1 I’d be one of these people

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      351 month ago

      He doesn’t deliver on his promises. He didn’t for the people who paid him large amounts for a car, he certainly won’t for the budget minded folk

      • metaStatic
        link
        fedilink
        101 month ago

        He already (publicly at least) lost his mind by the time the cyber truck came out but that was the correct direction for a cheap vehicle

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      221 month ago

      Fuck Musk, but the model 3 launched at like $35k and was eligible for a sizeable rebate. If you were already looking to buy a similar sized new car in 2019, it was relatively competitive. I don’t remember what the rebate amount was, but I’m sure it took at least $5k off.

      The issue is that instead of continuing that trend of basically replacing the Honda Civic, he built a fugly, terrible, overpriced truck whose existence could only ever be excused by its concept being a make-a-wish request from a now-dead six year old. Alas, there are no dead six year olds to blame for that monstrosity. We should’ve had a reliable and affordable EV accessible to nearly every working family in the country. We should’ve had a whole damn fleet of EV freight trucks, possibly with some autonomous driving, at least across long interstate roads where they would just need to keep pace, stay in lane, and not crash. Instead we got a newer, dumber, more dangerous Hummer.

      Again, fuck Musk. He could’ve been okay, but he chose to be awful instead.

      • ArtieShaw
        link
        fedilink
        121 month ago

        existence could only ever be excused by its concept being a make-a-wish request from a now-dead six year old. Alas, there are no dead six year olds to blame for that monstrosity.

        Brutal but accurate

      • metaStatic
        link
        fedilink
        101 month ago

        I believe he was always awful he was just bad at showing it, the balding man child with no public speaking skills was kinda relateable.

        Unfortunately his core audience didn’t get the hairplugs and cocaine nose jobs required to keep him relateable.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 month ago

          Yeah, you’re probably right. I never thought “good” was on the table for him, but if he had used his wealth to get enough good things done for everybody, I could’ve overlooked a few things and thought of him as “okay”.

          • metaStatic
            link
            fedilink
            61 month ago

            I honestly don’t think he ever tried to hide it, just ask his employees from the time.

            He was simply terribly awkward in public and people mistook him for a normal guy.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    201 month ago

    Former owner here. Such a relief to be rid of it. Never again as long as Musk remains at Tesla.