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ArcticStones's avatar

MUSK THROWS TESLA UNDER THE BUS

In January last year, Tesla was the most sold car brand in Norway. This January, almost 40 percent fewer Teslas were sold, dropping their sales to third place behind Volkswagen and Toyota.

Also in the rest of Europa, Tesla has lost significant market share. In Germany as well as France, Tesla sales so far in 2025 have seen roughly a 60-percent drop compared to last year.

It would be a delusional overstatement to say that Elon Musk’s open support of the neo-Nazi AfD party in Germany, and his recent "Heil Trump!" Fascist salute at a rally in DC, is endearing Europeans to Musk and his car company.

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Jonathan's avatar

Plus some Tesla products are illegal in parts of Europe

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DM's avatar

We're seeing similar drops in Tesla's biggest US market, California. Additional there have been cases of vandalism of Teslas everywhere. Spray painting "Fuck Elon" on Teslas seems to be a popular Friday night activity.

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Henrik's avatar

Telling your core consumer, loudly, how much you hate them and their values does in the end maybe have an effect on your sales

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DM's avatar

It also hurts sales when you develop a company in California, are given a lot by the state, then move to Texas and bad mouth California because you want to be somewhere where labor and environmental laws aren't enforced as well.

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Diogenes's avatar

It doesn't help that #47 has declared war on EVs.

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ArcticStones's avatar

Trump had initially also declared war on TikTok. His opinion has changed and he is now delaying ByteDance’s (the parent company) Congressionally- and court-ordered deadline for selling off TikTok.

The reason is simple: A major shareholder of ByteDance is Jeff Yass, one of the largest donors to Trump’s re-election campaign.

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Diogenes's avatar

Yet, despite his alliance with Musk, Trump has not softened his attacks on electric vehicles. In fact, just yesterday, he halted the $5 billion initiative to build electric vehicle charging stations by instructing states not to spend federal funds previously allocated to them under the Biden administration program.

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hilltopper's avatar

I saw a sticker on a Tesla a few days ago which said: "I bought this before I knew"

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Tigercourse's avatar

For the life of me, I can't see how any Democrat can continue to own one of those. If I did, I'd sell it, take the hit, and buy something else.

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JanusIanitos's avatar

I bought one many years ago when the EV market was basically that, the Bolt, or the Leaf. The financial hit of selling to replace isn't something I can justify for myself. I think it'd be a net of >$10k for me to do the sell+replace process if I got something that still met all my needs. Especially harder with the reliability of the EV rebate being in doubt.

It's not a trivial amount of money to take the hit on, especially when I also need to save up to hopefully become a homeowner.

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Henrik's avatar

Yeah, not everyone can afford to base their car ownership of current vehicles on political reasons.

Just get one or those bumper stickers! :P

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JanusIanitos's avatar

I actually have been meaning to get one of those! Looked into it the other night, probably going to order one soon.

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Mike in MD's avatar

I’m thinking of a European vacation this spring, and if I do I’ll order one of the DNC’s “I’m one of 75 million Americans who voted against Trump” sticker sets and keep one in my jacket or pocket at all times.

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JanusIanitos's avatar

A new generation's take on the post-Watergate "Don't Blame Me, I'm From Massachusetts"

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ArcticStones's avatar

On an unpolitical note, one of the best bumper stickers I ever saw was many years ago on a gorgeous Jaguar MK II:

"My other car is a Lada."

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Toiler On the Sea's avatar

I'm convinced Musk doesn't really care about Tesla anymore; he's all-in on his dumb-ass mission to Mars.

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ArcticStones's avatar

Who else would we like to see join him on his expedition to Mars?

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