Could it be that Musk's inflammatory language and behaviors are a turn off for potential buyers? They are a turn off for me. I like the vehicles but I'd never get one.
Oh, come on. Don't wait another 25 years! /s
I talked to the owner who said that his wife had custom ordered it.
As more car manufacturers start to deliver good EVs, I think you'll start to see more variety in the EVs on the road. For example my next car after the cybertruck could be a Rivian or an electric van, if someone finally decides to make one.
But talking with some of the Tesla owners, many feel embarrassed by Elon. Many say that they will not buy another Tesla or they have some other reasoning to justify their purchase (like Elon has gone crazy but we shouldn't punish the entire company for it etc)
Judging by the fragmented and meandering Highland/Juniper roll-out, none.
The company seems to be running on autopilot (or should I say, full self-driving), where local management is making local decisions out of sync with the rest of the company to try and save another quarter. Which is clearly not working anymore.
He could have retired in a blaze of glory a couple of years ago, straight into the pantheon of epic American entrepreneurs.
These were by far not as bad as some people tend to paint them, the problem with the Star Wars prequels IMHO was more that the "old guard" fanbase tends to be quite the whiny bunch.
The sequels are another topic entirely - these were corporate driven projects which isn't a bad sign per se (see the MCU), but unlike the MCU there wasn't a central person like Kevin Feige who actually took care about a cohesive storyline, directors and script writers kept changing, and the SW universe unlike Star Trek or MCU doesn't have a concept of multiple/alternate realities or time travel so a ton of lore went down the drain for nothing.
The fact those movies are terrible is irrelevant.
EDIT: I had heard he was South African. Googled it though: "South African-born American businessman" so I guess he is American now. Thanks.
To Americans, being born to a different nationality doesn't preclude you from being considered a full and true American. First generation immigrants and naturalized citizens tend to be completely accepted as equals by natural born citizens, so long as they are productive and not criminally destructive.
I do understand that this tends to not be the case in many other countries, where even second generation immigrants may not be fully accepted because ethnic identity is so deeply entwined in nationality in most countries.
Without context though my generous assumption is that when they say "Asian driving a Tesla" they mean "Asian-American driving a Tesla" and are lazy rather than racist.
Putting it another way, if Elon Musk was born in South Africa and happened to be black, I doubt he'd so easily be given a pass as an American. Every article would start "South-african born entrepreneur Elon Musk..."
If Elon had decided to just roll over a couple years ago and do everything the media asked him to do (shutdown the Fremont factory during covid, stop "polluting the sky" with starlink, rely on a nice unionized automaker like GM to "lead the EV revolution") Tesla & SpaceX wouldn't exist today.
No, it’s the fascist-friendly sex-mongering racist rhetoric that gets most people.
Even that could be explained the way if it weren’t for his inept business moves with Twitter and ugly cybertruck.
Jobs proved you can be worshipped while being an eccentric asshole if you’re at least competent.
I think that they have saturated the initial EV buyers, mainstream is still afraid of EV and there's more anti-EV propaganda in the media than ever before.
2. Musk is one of few figures whose controversies escape the online world, though. Like the "pedo diver" thing, it was an international story with world attention and he jammed himself in the middle of it.
That said, I'm also not convinced his reputation is the reason for shipments to drop precipitously. But it could absolutely be a contributing factor.
I wonder if the vast majority of potential Tesla customers does though.
The vast majority of the world doesn't exist in the online sphere.
You don't think there's a significant overlap between prospective Tesla buyers and people who are familiar with Musk's hijinks?
He’s made it his mission to insult me on a personal level. One dollar equals one vote so I pay attention where mine go.
... only works when you're making the best car. There are a lot of very competitive EV alternatives now.
If you want to be a loudmouth dick online and intertwine your persona with that of your companies for #traction, it cuts both ways.