Remember when he removed the Disney+ app from Teslas because he was angry over twitter ads? That kind of unreliable behaviour might have something to do with it.

Tesla would do well to distance themselves from Musk, for a lot of reasons. But it may be too late - the damage to their reputation may already be fatal.

Didn't someone have a picture of a Tesla in the wild with a bumper sticker that read something like: "I bought this before I knew Elon was a complete idiot."

No shit. My lease on the Model 3 I got in 2020 is up in a few months and the requirements we had for the replacement was "anything but Tesla".

(which turned out to be a VW ID.7)

Indeed

i am not spending a fucking dime on anything that Elon Musk earns money on

i even deleted my twitter account when he bought it

But, even though Elon is an ass, the way tesla handles repairs on their cars, makes me not want to own one anyway. I wanna just use my local mechanic. Not exclusively teslas own

I wanted a Tesla and couldn't afford it. Now I can afford it and I would buy one right now if it weren't for Musk turning into a complete shit bag. (I realize he always was, but he hid it well and I thought he was an awesome dude) Fuck that guy, and fuck every company he's a part of. I'll just wait until conversion parts become cheap enough it's worth playing with.

His vehicles aren't even safe for other Dragons to ride on. Why would I buy from a company who unironically had the below answer for me when I googled from the back seat of one of their cars while Ubering and thought of that news:

Opening a Rear Door with No Power

Not all Model Y vehicles are equipped with a manual release for the rear doors. Remove the mat from the bottom of the rear door pocket. Press the red tab to remove the access door. Pull the mechanical release cable forward.

Emphasis mine. Still don't know which kind I was on, but an emergency would have not been the ideal 'find out' time. I'll avoid that by not fucking around with purchasing their cars.

A while ago, someone posted a photo (I think on Reddit before I left) of a Tesla with a bumper sticker that said something like, "I bought it before we all found out Elon was crazy."

I think that should be encouraged for all people who bought a Tesla before the 'pedo guy' incident. After that, you have no excuse.

I appreciate that Teslas helped normalize electric cars, but yeah, I don't trust him enough to drop that kind of money on a product from one of his companies.

What's to say he wouldn't do something recklessly impulsive the moment I buy one that makes it harder to get parts, removes software features, or gets my car keyed by someone who hates his guts?

Anecdotally I agree. Back when all I knew about Tesla was that they made fancy electric cars, I dreamed of the day I'd be able to afford one. Now I'm looking to buy a new car this year and I won't even take a Tesla on a test drive.

To this day, you can still find conservative media that shits on anyone with electric vehicles, for some reason.

Now Musk opened his mouth and said stupid shit, and the other side doesn't want his cars either. All he's got left are the people who don't care, already bought one, or fall over themselves to kiss his feet.

I bought my first EV last month. I've been looking forward to making the switch for 10 years. I would have been happy to buy a Tesla back then (not that there were many options). I didn't even consider it as an option now because of Musk.

I am avoiding Tesla because their design philosophy and decisions are gimmicky and don’t not prioritize functionality.

If I am going to spend big money on a car I am going with quality. Not some gimmicky pos where you can’t even open the doors if the battery cuts out. I’ll pass on the touchscreen with wheels.

As someone who owns one, i bought it before i knew how truly awful he was. As a car it's actully been really great, it's s done just over 100,000k with zero issues no rattles, still feels new and I'd be lying if i didn't admit it's the best car I've ever owned. The only maintenance is tyre changes from wear.

What sucks is i hate being seen in it because it makes me look like a Musk fan boy, and I'm understating is when i say i dislike him intensely.

The reality is I probably won't buy another Tesla when i eventually drive this to its grave, purely because of the association with possibly the world's biggest douche.

I live in hope Tesla will jettison him from their company and refocus on just making eclectic cars without him, then i might consider staying with the brand. But if he's there I won't be, and clearly im not alone.

I was talking to a fervent Musk fan. He was explaining how much he loved how much Musk was pissing off liberals and how he was such a good businessman. I asked him if would ever buy a Tesla and he said no. I told him that Musk doesn't sound like a very good businessman.

Maybe lefties boycotting Tesla will cause MAGAs to go electric... Silver lining?

I bought my first electric car in December 2023. I ruled Tesla out because of Elon Musk.

He's damaging the company's finances in other ways now too.

He sold a bunch of Tesla stock (admittedly his right to do so) to buy Twitter. However, now he's demanding the board give him more stock so he'll have more control back. Uh, Mr. Musk, you HAD the stock and control, but you traded it away to buy a social media platform. No one made you do that. Further, why should the company give you more stock when another social media platform may catch your eye and you sell all your stock again. You just can't be trusted with it after your past behavior with it.

No thank you. No more Tesla control for you Mr. Musk.

I just bought my first EV and he's precisely why I didn't even consider a Tesla when it came down to it. Also it helps that I want buttons on my dash and not all screen. Ended up with a Hyundai Ioniq5, it's boss.

I admit that I have a Tesla. Overall I’ve been happy with it, but there are things that I definitely don’t like either. Unless there are major changes in the next 5-10 years, which I don’t anticipate as long as Musk is running things, then I definitely will not be buying another one.

Some recent developments have also made me wonder how Tesla’s finances are holding up. There was an article recently stating that Elon had issued an edict that new owners could not get their cars unless an employee gave them a test drive to demonstrate the Full Self Driving system. Clearly it’s an attempt by Musk to try to convince new owners to shell out an additional $12k for the feature (or a monthly subscription).

Just the other day I received an unsolicited email from Tesla that I’ve been given a free Full Self Driving trial for the entire month of April, clearly with the same intention in mind.

Personally I won’t try FSD at all and have zero desire to be in a car that uses it. I’ve had enough issues with Autopilot (their terribly named adaptive cruise control) and other things that rely on the cars camera system that I just don’t trust FSD to operate properly. I’ll often get alerts that a camera is blocked/blinded by bright sun, road grime, etc. And the cameras have a hard enough time operating things like the automatic windshield wipers (they can turn on in bright sun on a clear day) and automatic high beams (nothing like blinding oncoming cars at night) that I find it hard to trust them. If the car can’t handle those simple tasks then how can I trust it with more complex ones like FSD?

My next car will probably still be an EV. It just likely won’t be a Tesla. By the time I’m in the market for a new one there should be a lot more good options available.

A friend bought a Tesla that came with a defective rear window from the factory, they found out when opening the door at home. A tech came out and sealed the door shut so the car could be used. It took 10 months before the car was repaired and the door was usable.

Their next purchase was not a Tesla, future purchases will not be a Tesla ever again. Just by the quality of their product.

Regardless, Musk is a douche nozzle.

We're making our last payment on our EV this month, and a few weeks ago I brought up the idea of maybe trading it in for a newer EV, since our current one was starting to show signs of possible battery degradation and it's a Leaf that's stuck with CHAdeMO charging instead of CCS/NACS charging. My husband asked me what car we'd consider replacing it with, and the instant I floated maybe looking at a used Tesla, my husband barked back "Absolutely NOT!" And the thing was, I couldn't find myself disagreeing, either.

I know that my husband and I are far from the only ones who think the same way.

I feel so smug in the fact that I never liked the guy, never bought into the hype...

I don't know what's going to save the human race folks, but it's not going to be a billionaire in a cock measure contest.

I’m another one in this camp. Had a Model 3 for five years and loved the car, but moved internationally and had to sell it. Looking at EVs again of course but uninterested in Tesla because of this guy - that and his staunch refusal to add CarPlay. What kind of a moron refuses to add phone support to a $60,000 car?

I know I have... I'd probably have one right now if it weren't for him.

I was pretty down with Tesla until i listened to the Behind the Bastards episodes on Elon. Now I want nothing to do with him or any of his businesses.

I make enough to buy any of his cars.

I just bought an EV and his cars were not considered because he’s a piece of shit.

I guess this is true for me in the sense that his toxic business culture makes me confident that his companies are rushing products and cutting corners wherever they can to that end. Not a quality I like in a vehicle....

I wanted a Tesla until the pedo guy incident.

I also don't want a dashboard that only has a touchscreen for vital functions and a bunch of Internet bullshit