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.
