Elon Musk took over Tesla with money, strongarm tactics, and his popularity(theverge.com)
theverge.com
Elon Musk took over Tesla with money, strongarm tactics, and his popularity
https://www.theverge.com/23815634/tesla-elon-musk-origin-founder-twitter-land-of-the-giants
17 comments
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 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’m absolutely nobody.
A car is also a status symbol. Elon poisoned that for a fairly large segment of his customers.
> 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.
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.
It sounds like people need to learn to not let famous narcissists live rent free in their head.
That's easier to do when their products aren't sitting in your driveway, which is what I was saying?
Wait till these people find out Henry Ford.
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?
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.
These crap clickbait articles are so dumb. Tesla was essentially worthless (compared to where they are today) when Musk took over.
And musk wasn’t mainstream popular until after he sold the world Tesla.
I recall a period where Musk was going to be forced to buy Twitter and the anticipation of his comeuppance was palpable...
Keeping up with the "Current Thing" orthodoxy has to be exhausting. Does it leave time to do anything else?
Keeping up with the "Current Thing" orthodoxy has to be exhausting. Does it leave time to do anything else?
Okay, I realise it is most improper on this website to read the article, but people usually do at least read the _headline_.
This is about Tesla, not Twitter.
This is about Tesla, not Twitter.
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.