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.
Count me among the boycotters. Musk has made it all but certain I’ll never ever buy any product or service he benefits from if I can avoid it.
Also…
Musk’s highly abnormal involvement in
USworld politicsThere. FTFY.
He is one of the most dangerous people today. Not one penny of my money will go to him willingly from me.
I’m trying to decide if second hand purchases would somehow have upstream effects.
Yes, because then the original purchase has more value.
Improving the resale value makes the new product more desirable.
I might willingly give him a penny. But only after its been electromagnetically accelerated to sufficient speed by a pair of charged rails.
I fucking hate saying this and agree but it doesn’t matter if any of our money goes to him… he’s a legit supervillain that has the most money. It’s insane. Nothing matters anymore. (Okay some things matter, if someone buys a tesla, money notwithstanding, they also forfeit their privacy)
So, not Iron Man at all, then, just Lex Luthor with hair plugs.
And he actually even has the hair plugs
A family member had a deposit down on a Cybertruck and was ready to buy one. They canceled their deposit and bought a different EV because of how much they despise Elon now, so it’s not just sour grapes from people that couldn’t/wouldn’t buy one anyways.
It may be difficult to really say who’s part of that group. Years ago, I definitely wanted a Tesla. Would I have been part of that group at that time? Then the downsides started to show up. Poor QA. No independent repairs. Expensive repairs and poor warranty coverage. Their vision of a car controlled by an app. Then Musk went insane.
Then later, when I was in the market for a new car, I didn’t seriously consider a Tesla. I looked at them briefly to make sure I wasn’t missing out on something big, and found the options to be lackluster. I ended up buying a Bolt.
Would I have bought a Tesla, were it not for Elon’s political actions? TBH, probably not. The repairs thing really turned me off. Even though it’s largely theoretical (I’ve yet to find an independent EV mechanic), it’s very important that I have the possibility.
I genuinely don’t get when they say “haters are just jealous they can’t afford it”… Like, no? Seriously? Do you see them hating on Lamborghinis or Ferraris? It doesn’t make any sense.
At least they also don’t have to put their car into CAR WASH MODE to not brick it getting a clean hahaha
Sad that it’s only 25%.
I can’t think of anything else as significant in consumer product sales.
Some people may still be boycotting Chick Fil A and Hobby Lobby. Though I doubt if it’s 25%.
I still boycott Chic-Fil-Subpar.
I’ve had it for free a couple times and I cannot understand what the hype is all about. I can go down the street to a mom and pop place and get a way better chicken sandwich for the same price and I don’t have to wait in a line wrapping around the block. It’s definitely some cult behavior.
But yeah, I have LGBTQ people in my life so I don’t need to support an anti-LGBTQ corporation. Unfortunately, most Americans like tasty treats and shiny objects more than morality or accountability.
Yep, I don’t eat at Bigot Bird, either.
I have good memories of eating there with my dad in the 90s and I guess it was fine? But I know better now and I’m too queer for their BS.
I’d break my “don’t eat X animal species” dietary restrictions before I ate there.
I’m still among those people. On the rare occasion that I am presented with no option for food other than Chik-Fil-A, I find their food disgusting. I only have two data points - nuggets and hash browns - and both were excessively greasy, bland turds.
My girlfriend’s mom gifted her a Hobby Lobby gift card. We regifted it back to her the following year.
I only have two data points - nuggets and hash browns - and both were excessively greasy, bland turds.
I fully support folks boycotting Chik-Fil-A, but you went to a store known for their chicken sandwiches and then got other things. Their sandwiches are basic but good. I don’t enjoy their nuggets or hash browns either.
Their chicken is soggy and disgusting.
I kinda hate that Elon is the issue for 25% of people and not the fact Tesla is using regular cameras instead of LiDAR
Not sure about the value of LiDAR, but their inability to integrate ANY multimodal sensors (RADAR or even SONAR parking sensors which are no longer on ANY of their vehicles) points to either an unwillingness/inability to solve the engineering problem of integration, penny pinching, or both. I bought a demo Model 3 in 2019 (it’s a 2018) which has ultrasound sensors (for now? It used to also have RADAR) and as our family has grown a Y would be a much better fit for us. But no chance I’m buying another Tesla.
Do you mean the model used to have RADAR, or your particular car? If the latter, did they actually disable it with a software update?
My Model 3 shipped with front facing RADAR, and continued to make use of it until a software update disabled it. That was some time in 2024, I believe. New Teslas (forget when it started) all omit the front facing RADAR and the ultrasonic parking sensors. I believe the Model X still retains some ultrasonic sensors for its “falcon wing” doors to avoid obstructions.
That is absolutely infuriating
It’s crazy that my decade old car has better sensors than every Tesla on the road
Probably at least another 25 percent of people would not consider Tesla products at all due to misinformation from the oil and gas lobby. Then at least 50 percent cannot afford Tesla. Certainly there is overlap between these groups, but still I am pretty sure that Elons political hobby is costly to Tesla. Unfortunately, whatever Tesla may lose in future revenue, he gains back through crypto pump and dump schemes.
The problem is also that the typical tesla customer was progressive or left leaning, a group which greatly overlaps with the people he pissed off. Plus he doesn’t seem to have pickud up a to of potential customers on the right, they seem to tolerate him at best.
That would be me. I don’t shop at either. Neither do my friends or family. Don’t give money to companies that use it to actively persecute you and your friends.
I don’t go to Chick Fil A because their chicken is gross and soggy. But I still wouldn’t eat there if it was good because the company is gross.
If you are not self aware enough to be embarrassed that you are driving a cybertruck do not worry, everyone who sees you driving it is embarrassed for you.
Cybertruck drivers must truly believe that everyone around them is so happy and impressed. As they look in at all other drivers on the road, they all have huge, incredulous smiles on their faces… Of course it’s fully because everyone they are seeing is mid laugh when they see the jackass that dropped over $100k on that divorced dad tramp stamp of a car. So people burst out laughing at that rusty death machine that permanently breaks if you take it through the carwash. The owners have trouble reading emotion in faces though, so they must just feel like a million bucks as they arrive home, grab the items they went to pickup at the store (ED meditation and father’s day greeting cards they are forging to send to themselves) and the trunk severs their coke pinkie with the long fingernail.
I’d have been game for a cybertruck at $40k, but then he turned it into a rich person toy
“Turned it into” buddy, it never was going to be. Elkins bullshit is just that, bullshit. Was always a bait and switch.
“Just 2 more years…”
Fair - if it looked like that because it was cheap I’d actually find that pretty endearing
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.
They’re also not good cars. There’s no reason to buy a new one in 2025
Even if they fired Elon tomorrow I wouldn’t buy one for this reason. A few years ago they were the only viable option for an electric car, so people overlooked a lot to get one of them. But now there’s a ton of electric cars and even more coming out in the future. Why would I go with a company that’s had pretty significant issues over one from a company with more experience building cars?
Exactly. There’s no need to tolerate body panel issues, awful interiors, bad QC, lack of replacement parts, and dangerous welds now that I can get a used electric Porsche for a similar price.
Even now I’m pretty sure they have one of the best if not the best drivetrains. The problem is everything else is total trash and you won’t be able to fix it if anything goes wrong
That’s the thing that sucks. Engine tech is incredible. Everything else is miserably and embarassingly bad. Even if Elmo wasn’t such a colossal fucking bigot, I would never consider getting a Tesla for the asking price, or used
In 2014 I would have if I really needed an EV, but these days I can just get an Audi.
What’s special about their engine tech? Electric motors are a very mature technology, so I’d like to hear some details about this.
Fair point. I have considered Tesla swapping a Prius because it would be hilarious
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.
I have yet to purchase a single product made by the racist loser and I will continue to do so.
And yet, our tax dollars enrich him. Isn’t that great?
It’s really unfortunate that he owns starlink because in rural areas that’s basically the only option that works at this point.
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.
It’s not just their vehicles. I just bought a ‘24 Ioniq 5, and Hyundai is set to start sending out free adapters to use Tesla Superchargers, but I probably won’t plug into one of those either, because it benefits that moronic man-child oligarch.
Ioniqs are a really great car. If I didn’t live in a country where you can get a BYD Seal super cheaply, I’d have gotten an Ioniq.
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.
Exactly this, I would’ve bought one eventually if he’d just shut up, a lot of would.
But why would I support an openly racist, fascist, fuckhead trying to buy his way into power? Toyota, Honda, Kia, and all the other corpos are plenty evil and have the manufacturing and support experience an auto maker needs.
The idea of a generic parts “libreauto” is cool. A frame/chassis designed to accept drop-in parts from other established manufacturers so you could part out wrecked cars and assemble them into your own frankencar.
Oh yes, 3 ton chunks of metal speeding down the street build by the local methhead of of parts of wrecked cars. Seems very idyllic.
I mean, shade tree mechanics, modified cars, kit cars, and cars restored/rebuilt by amature mechanics, etc have all existed about as long as cars in general. If your local government does vehicle inspections those will still apply when the kit cars become electric. And if it doesn’t you’ll be in no more danger than you already are.
Salvage is already a huge part of car repair and restoration, and certainly isn’t the exclusive domain of methheads.
What, do you want them to explain what’s wrong with modular interoperability by learning about it and engaging with the facts of the issue? That’s haaaarrrrrd!
It’s way easier to just invoke culturally-ingrained prejudice against drug use that was inserted into our heads by some assholes who were cynically manipulating the narrative for political gain.
I also really don’t like the implication that people without an addiction should somehow be ‘above’ reuse, salvage, or diy projects. That consuming products and filling landfills is somehow safer or more dignified. It feels like marketing at work and it’s an attitude I sometimes get from some conservative relatives who see fixing old things as poor people behavior and don’t understand why I wouldn’t just buy something new if I could afford it. I love fixing things, making things, and finding interesting ways to reuse or repurpose parts. I think this idea that buying products, especially new, should be the default or only way is wasteful and damaging. Especially when those products are deliberately made worse so you’ll buy them again and again.
I’ve done some car work over the years and easily half the parts I put in came secondhand off eBay, undoubtedly from a junkyard in some other state.
I’d like to switch to an electric vehicle but I’m deeply skeptical of the built in surveillance and overreliance on internet enabled software. I kind of wonder if my best bet for a car I trust to not spy on me or get hacked will be some kind of kit car situation in a few years.
People don’t realise what they’re missing when they can’t or won’t repair something. The moment I open something and fix it myself is the moment I feel like I truly own it. Prior to that I merely possessed a physical instance of something that belongs to someone else.
Maybe talking about it in those terms, calling into question whether they really own something just because they paid for a copy, is useful rhetoric for conservative types. They care so much about property, undermining that and telling them that proprietary designs are robbing them of having true ownership of their stuff, might make them care about it.
I would honestly love to retrofit my car with an electric system, but I can’t afford to not have it working. Maybe one day I can grab an empty chassis for cheap and retrofit that. I’ve already tinkered with torque-vectoring software so putting that in a real car would be a blast.
The idea there is to take the parts off of the wrecked vehicle that arent destroyed/damaged and allowing them to be slotted in elsewhere much more easily
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%.
I can’t even imagine how that he tried to @ the king
75% of americans are selfish assholes.
Right. Because that’s the ONLY reason we aren’t buying Tesla shit. It has nothing to do with the cost of everything sky rocketing.
Then that is the reason that you are avoiding them. They know you aren’t buying. What’s important here is the people that can afford a Tesla but are choosing to look elsewhere because of Elon. This includes repeat customers as well.
You can still blacklist Twitter and any lazy ass ‘journalists’ that make an article based on a Twitter post and hotlink to said post. Many ways to say fuck Elon Musk
Edit: also Reddit. Fuck spez
Edit: also Facebook. Fuck Zuck. Glad he can finally afford to put pubes on his head tho
