Comment by ghaff
3 hours ago
I'm skeptical. If someone really wants a Tesla, my guess is that they'll rationalize Musk's actions or least compartmentalize them.
3 hours ago
I'm skeptical. If someone really wants a Tesla, my guess is that they'll rationalize Musk's actions or least compartmentalize them.
That was 10-15 years ago, but back then Musk appeared different, and Telsa was new. Today you can buy a Tesla, they are no longer the status symbol they once were. A 15 year old Mercedes is a status symbol in the US, a 15 year old Tesla is not, Tesla didn't capture the status symbol market (which might have been a good decision - what wasn't a good decision was for the CEO to go public about political views that are lot of his potential base to not support)
A 15 year old Mercedes is a falling apart PoS maintenance nightmare driven by someone with a lack of common sense.
They still look like luxury, though. Here's a 2011 entry-level Mercedes https://www.edmunds.com/assets/m/for-sale/38-wddgf8bb5br1533...
No, it's the reverse. Someone who finds Musk's behavior so abhorrent they fear being affiliated with it will actually find reasons they don't really want a Tesla.
It doesn't help that Tesla, making extremely low quality and uncomfortable cars for the price point, provides plenty of dislikable things to find.
I think Facebook is even more universally thought of as a bad company, and everyone still engages there, too.
Facebook as a monopoly of a sort and so is hard to get away from. If I don't like Tesla there are many other options. Even if you only buy EVs, there are a lot of options that you can buy today. The only people who have to buy Tesla are the type who are buying 10 year old EVs (the limited range on 10 year old Nissan rules them out).
Well, lots of people don't use Facebook. But you're right that there aren't any real like for like replacements.
Of course, Twitter was a quasi-monopoly as well. That said, Bluesky emerged but only as an alternative with much less critical mass.
Difference is their product is so good as to be basically irreplaceable (good = strong network effects, which is the only flavor of "good" that matters)
There are network effects to social networks that do not apply to choice of vehicle