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.

  • Ulrich_the_Old@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    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.

    • Snapz@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      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.

        • Snapz@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          “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…”

  • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
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    5 days ago

    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 US world politics

    There. FTFY.

  • m_f@midwest.social
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    5 days ago

    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.

    • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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      5 days ago

      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.

    • Laurel Raven@lemmy.zip
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      4 days ago

      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.

    • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 days ago

      At least they also don’t have to put their car into CAR WASH MODE to not brick it getting a clean hahaha

  • Critical_Thinker@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    Open source self driving tech is out there and works in cars from toyota, honda and many other domestic and foreign manufacturers.

    Tesla is shit.

  • vga@sopuli.xyz
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    4 days ago

    Yeah at this point I’d rather get rid of my Tesla, but unfortunately I’m not rich enough to just willy nilly change cars because I don’t like the owner of its manufacturer.

    Car manufacturers are a weird bunch. Like take Henry Ford for example, total nazi sympathizer. Or Volkwagen, from none other than Mr. Hitler himself.

      • vga@sopuli.xyz
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        19 hours ago

        An EV that fits a family of four with at least the quality of a Tesla? Yeah I think this would mean I pay about 10Keuros for the change.

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    4 days ago

    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.

    • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      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.

    • _bcron@midwest.social
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      3 days ago

      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

  • AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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    4 days ago

    They’re also not good cars. There’s no reason to buy a new one in 2025

    • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      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?

      • AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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        3 days ago

        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.

    • tempest@lemmy.ca
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      4 days ago

      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

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        4 days ago

        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

        • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
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          3 days ago

          What’s special about their engine tech? Electric motors are a very mature technology, so I’d like to hear some details about this.

        • AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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          4 days ago

          In 2014 I would have if I really needed an EV, but these days I can just get an Audi.