Tesla owners

[Moorfellduck]

I would never buy a Tesla now - literally over my dead body. I think Musk is dangerous and delusional and don't want to be associated with him in any way. I've got a few friends that have Tesla's and I know that they feel a bit conflicted. I guess they are kind of stuck with them for now.

If you've got one do you feel bad driving it and feel that people might be judging you now or do you dissociate the brand from Musk himself? I not a journo, just interest given how popular they are and a bit 🤔that people think it's okay to buy one now given they can make a choice that isn't contributing to Musks wealth and power.

Musk is the wealthiest man in the world, worth about $384 billion, according to Forbes estimates. Much of his wealth comes from his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX, companies he co-founded.

As ordinary citizens we can't do much about SpaceX, but we can do a lot about Tesla. Enjoy your attitude "I just like the car and don't care what others think about me", until Musk/Trump/Putin and the likes will come for you.

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

My point to you would be that I do not need to speak to you to understand what you believe.
I can tell by the car you drive.
Edited to add - if you bought it after 2023

Surely the issue with Elon is that he’s been allowed into American politics in a way he shouldn’t have? I suppose the age old argument that business would run things better than the public sector is being played out in real time. He is a successful businessman, of course he wants to meddle in politics. That he’s been allowed to by the American political system is more concerning to me.

Great 👍

I'm interested in getting an EV with lots of driver assist safety features, like automated emergency braking, lane change assist, etc. I always thought I wanted a Tesla (and Autopilot) but am having second thoughts due to Musk. Does anyone have any recommendations of cars with similar features?

Pretty sure Musk isn't "coming for me".

Just others?

In your case it's not a stupid assumption since you have just said that you will continue to support a nazi. The fact that you hang out with hard right wing people aren't helping either if you want to be perceived as anything but a nazi bigott.

. Do I care if I'm judged as a Nazi? No

I suppose that is one of the differences. I would hate to think some might think that of me & it would probably make me a little anxious tbh. We live in a world where people can film you and upload it onto social media and the whole world can judge you. I don't agree with that but it happens.

I recently saw a social media post where someone had a sticker in there's saying they bought it before the realised musk was a nutter

Teslas and personalised number plates seem to go together.

My company actually got rid of Tesla's as company cars last year and I am so relieved. Although I am not sure it was solely because of Musk's shenanigans, because there were also a lot of problems with the cars themselves.

You are right
I will lose huge amounts of money on a car I really like that I bought over a year ago by selling it and I am sure Musk will instantly stop being a nutter.
🙄

I never said I judged people who had bought Teslas historically or that you should sell your car. But I would judge those who decided to buy one now.

My response was that you dismissed @nearlylovemyusername’s argument because the policies Musk is driving won’t affect you. I just wanted to know if you were happy for them to affect others?

Not in our house

Loosing wealth won’t make him less of a nutter but it will curtail his influence on the world.

I wouldn't judge people who bought one before the last 6 months (and particularly the last month or so) when Musk started showing his true awfulness

I would judge anyone who bought one from now on.

Of course I am not happy about anything Musk is doing, or his very existence frankly BUT I prefer to focus on things that directly affect me or people I care about and/or things I can do something about.
Slagging off Teslas just sounds like virtue signalling to me

As for you or anyone else judging me I think I will cope.

You might be surprised... He and Trump have already made it clear they aren't stopping with the US.
They are playing a dangerous and high stakes geopolitical game and we should all be paying attention

All new cars have advanced driver assistance systems such as automated braking, lane departure warning systems etc, and most are available with adaptive cruise, and steering/lane assist tech. Mercedes and BMW (and maybe others) have cars on sale in Europe with higher levels of autonomous driving certification than Tesla, whose system, in my experience, are flakey but, more importantly, not all available in the UK anyway. Tesla’s are one of the efficient small(ish) EVs on the market though, but that efficiency isn’t optimised for European driving in my experience.

Walt Disney was a nazi. Epcot is all about the 'world of tomorrow' and he wasn't just thinking of monorails. Doesn't stop people watching Disney+

There is paying attention and then there is needless hysteria.
Trump and Musk are scary, no doubt about it but me having a Telsa or not makes no difference to that

I wouldn't not buy one because of EM. If i was looking at buying a new car it would be much more important if the car was safe, economical to run and repair, nice to drive etc.

Hertz (US) lost billions by moving part of its fleet to Tesla and then having to extricate themselves from it. They bought 100,000 Teslas and have subsequently written off/down $2.9 billion. Now, part of that was because Tesla agressively cut prices (it’s done the same in Europe / UK) to prop up sales, which trashed the residuals of the existing fleet. Partly it was because of higher maintenance and repair costs than its existing fleet, and partly it was because American customers weren’t that fussed about renting / driving them as Tesla’s charging network in much of the US is patchy, so demand was low.

There’s so much more choice today than 11/12 years ago when I had my first Tesla I’m not really sure why, other than just because it’s cheap, you’d buy one over the competition nowadays. Tariffs might make them more expense here as well, accelerating the loss of their last remains USP even quicker than it’s being eroded by the Chinese!

But you can do something about it. You can’t change the past but next time you buy a car you can choose not to buy a Tesla. If everybody stopped buying them the share price would fall and he’d lose influence.

It’s fine if you want to carry on buying Tesla products but you don’t get to disassociate that choice from the wider geopolitical situation. It’s also fine not to care if people judge you (I’m sure there are plenty of things people judge me on) but like it or not buying a new Tesla in the current climate suggests that (at best) you don’t have a problem with Musk and therefore what is happening in the states at the moment.