The buyer’s remorse is playing out at a volatile moment for Tesla, as stocks dropped by double digits in the last week, wiping out most of a post-election surge for Mr. Musk’s company. A recent report showed plummeting sales in Europe, and the company faces increased competition from other E.V. makers eating away at its market share. Recent protests outside Tesla showrooms in the United States and some notable cases of vehicle owners being harassed have also made headlines.
Ms. Trebb, 54, a family therapist and a Democrat, said she had decided to trade in her Tesla for a gas-powered Mercedes, accepting $32,000 of the Tesla’s original $55,880 value, despite having only 10,000 miles on it. Her decision, she said, was cemented during a recent trip to the supermarket.
“Two weeks ago, I was called a Nazi,” she said, “in the parking lot at Kroger,” adding an expletive. “I came home and told my husband, ‘That’s it. I’m done.’”
A number of defectors from the Tesla brand said that a deal-breaker was when Mr. Musk extended his arm diagonally upward, palm facing down while speaking at an inauguration event for Mr. Trump, a gesture that resembled a salute used in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.
“I’m sort of embarrassed to be seen in that car now,” said Ms. Trebb, who got a bumper sticker that said, “I bought this before Elon went crazy,” one that has gained popularity.
I kinda feel bad for people who thought they were doing something good for the planet, but ended up supporting a Nazi.
Over 3 years of driving my swasticar, I’ve spent just $800 on electricity to go over 40,000 miles.
Other than replacing the tires once, no other maintenance.
I’m working on terminating my financing without too much loss, and will likely go back to driving a $30/week gas car for awhile until I can figure something out.
It honestly kinda sucks, but fuck Musk.
Are there any sort of subscriptions that make you keep paying Musk for the car? I think he’s already been paid for the purchase, might as well keep the car? Unless you just don’t want to be seen in it of course.
I don’t like being associated with it. Also in my area people are spray painting and kicking dents and breaking windows of Tesla’s…which costs me repair money. I’d prefer to avoid that.
All extremely valid concerns. Sucks, I do like what Tesla stood for until a few years ago. I’ve always hated that they normalised tablets in place of physical controls though.
Why wouldn’t you just buy an EV from a different brand? All the benefits you describe are of an EV, not a Tesla
Got you, sorry to come across preachy. It’s probably more that I missed your $30/month point which I guess means to lease a shit box.
Naturally only works if it works but 3yrs back I moved to a electric moped and the savings have been insane. I feel better about hiring a car/grabbing a taxi/being fleeced by the train companies once in a while
That moped sounds awesome! Unfortunately 1-2 times a week my commute is 1.5 hours and…I’m not sure if that’d be great.
If anything, other EVs would be even less maintenance because Tesla uses lower quality materials, has less experience designing cars, and the cars are more prone to faults than almost any other car manufacturers cars.
Nothing good can come from capitalism.