25% of Americans Avoiding Tesla Tech Because of Elon Musk
25% of Americans Avoiding Tesla Tech Because of Elon Musk
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News! 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 peopl...
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.
I can't boycott Tesla because of Musk because their reputation for poor build quality and horrific servicing means I wouldn't even consider them to begin with. That and I want my control stalks.
Those are rookie numbers - you gotta pump those numbers up
I'm more deterred by the amount of control that Tesla retains over their vehicles after they've "sold" it. But if that wasn't enough, Musk's descent in oligarchic fascism certainly would be.
Musk is clearly bad for the companies he heads. I'm eagerly awaiting the investor lawsuits. The stocks will probably have to dip first, though.
25% of 800 U.S. citizens surveyed is not indicative of the entire country. Not only that, the original study release here (as far as I could find) doesn't state how or where the survey was conducted.
A survey done in California would be wildly different than one done in Mississippi. That article and this post are ethically dishonest, and the study proves absolutely nothing.
My favorite are the bumper stickers that say "I bought this before I knew what he was like". Seen 3 or 4 now.
It's sad because behind this shitstain of a human being there are a bunch of actually intelligent people making electric cars and rockets who are having their intellect and effort overshadowed by an insufferable man-child.
That’s a full quarter of the US public that won’t consider great electric vehicles
This is subjective.
including the best selling vehicle in the world
This is distorted by the fact that they have fewer than half a dozen models. They aren't even in the top 10 brands world wide. BYD is in the top 10 and they sell twice as many vehicles.
Tesla isn't growing and as the foul Musk spread through global politics the brand will fall more. He wasted his first mover advantage. It's just a waiting game on how long the market will remain irrational with the stock price.
75% of americans are selfish assholes.
Opinions of him are negative here in the UK as well. In April 2022, 40% of Brits had an unfavourable opinion of him. By August 2024, that had risen to 64%.
Does this 25% fall inside the venn diagram of people who can afford / would otherwise be buying Tesla products?
It's not like we are talking about pancake mix, it's $50k+ cars, with the biggest offenders (e.g. cyber truck) being 100k
The best way to fight the oligarchy is to stop paying them.
The rest avoid it because they're shit cars
I would imagine this number is actually higher.
I mean, there's also the fact that his cars are expensive, and shit.
How many of those 25% have the resources to consider buying one in the first place?
Tech people and bankers know where they stand.
Yeah fuck this guy
Tesla has “tech”!?!??
They sell average EVs, a bunch of branded meme items, and a stock. No tech.
For me, its more about the fact that I don't trust that unhinged motherfucker to not do a mandatory update in the middle of the highway and disable braking.
I hate how, when he needs some money, he can just drop a crypto meme coin name somewhere on social media and watch the price go up. He can then sell all of the coins he undoubtedly bought beforehand and sit back and watch a couple of millions added to his bank account. He did it a couple of times with doge, and now with kekius. I'm not smart enough to follow the money for crypto coins, but I'm sure someone could identify one or more whale accounts with suspicious buying and selling moments for these coins as Musk's secret little money factories. (Or the creation of a couple of thousands of smaller accounts, if he really wanted to conceal his tracks)
The problem is how many are still ideologically attracted to him or the MAGA movement and how likely are they to be impulse buyers. Musk already made sure to get the most money he could out of the nerds that would have no problem moving onto competitors once there was legitimate competition. There's legitimate competition, meaning that in order for Musk to continue making the big bucks, he has to appeal to the same sort of market Alex Jones was able to peddle bullshit dietary supplements to.
Would they buy Tesla if Elon were visited by Luigi?
I refused to buy Tesla products when he decided to slander rescue divers trying to save kids trapped in a flooded cave. His politics didn't even hit my radar until later. But, yeah; fuck that weirdo and any company that associates with him. I'm happy to give his competition money.
Also WTF is the wording in that article. A lot of jumping to conclusions on a number of things.
