> “What was problematic for me is that he started to become sort of high on his own supply,” veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher says in the episode. “The rich liberals are like, ‘What the fuck am I giving this guy money for?’ Dozens of my friends are like, ‘I want to get rid of my Tesla.’”
I really don’t understand the connection between one’s opinion of Elon Musk and one’s enjoyment of a car. The car’s already bought. Selling it doesn’t hurt or help Musk in any way.
If buying and keeping something meant agreeing with the people who run the company, I’m not sure it would be possible to live in the modern world.
Trust matters and Elon is the face of Tesla’s brand. If he’s not trusted, then all those weird coincidences in quality control slippage and deadline slippage suddenly look like a pattern promoted by Elon himself and his style of leadership. Promises for future products also don’t matter anymore. Also you’re not correct that selling the car doesn’t hurt Tesla. New car sales compete with secondhand sales. and the opinions people have of the car they’re selling also matters for new buyers.
Presumably the owner of a Tesla was going to sell it eventually. I doubt that most Tesla owners are the “drive it til the wheels fall off” type. So, the secondhand sale was always going to compete with the new sale.
I suppose there might be a drop in trade-ins (meaning people choose not to go with Tesla for their next car), but I haven’t seen any numbers for this.
All of this is besides the point in reference to the quote. People want to actively get rid of a car they previously enjoyed(?) because of their opinion of the CEO. Another quote I found was “what if people think I agree with Elon?” — another totally bonkers thing to care about and believe.
Y’all, it’s a fucking car. Caring about what it “says” about you is the most ridiculous first world fake problem.
It also smacks of a smug self-importance that I simply can’t relate to. “I’m selling my car because Elon is a dick!” Meanwhile, absolutely nobody cares.
> I really don’t understand the connection between one’s opinion of Elon Musk and one’s enjoyment of a car.
Easy. Brand image. Elon has made himself a significant part of Tesla's brand image, being the narcissist he is. People strongly associate him with Tesla, and it's no surprise that people who reasonably find the man unpalatable might prefer a different product in their garage than the one that reminds them of him consistently.
Thing about Henry Ford is, he's dead. _Some_ people actually will be concerned with historical wrongdoing in their brands (remember the episode of Seinfeld where George's mother won't let his father buy a Mercedes, because it's German?) but people are far more likely to be concerned with bad _current_ behaviour. Ford's current CEO's wikipedia page is three paragraphs of very boring career details. That's the sort of wikipedia page you want for the CEO of a consumer products company, really.
Elon might be a fascist, but Henry Ford got a medal from Hitler and would complain about Jews when hobnobbing with Chuck Lindbergh. So shut up and buy a Tesla, amirite?
I'd say its yet another "two minute hate" against Musk.
When the takeover of Tesla was actually news, nothing bad could be said about Musk. Now tho, we can go back and say what a bastard he's always been, right?
