As Tesla expands its lineup and cuts prices, it’s likely to get bigger and more dominant. Problem is, the tech media doesn’t like its CEO and, by extension, Tesla.
Because Musk is a megaphone for conservative and libertarian ideas, that makes him a magnet for media scrutiny. Elon-obsessed tech journalists — who generally lean only one way politically — repeat variations of the same groupthink every week. See the latest weekly installment from the Wall Street Journal as just one example among many.
But all the anti-Musk opinion in the world won’t dissuade consumers from buying a Tesla. And it only emboldens the hordes of Musk boosters and Tesla peeps on X.
I live in Los Angeles, one of the most liberal cities in America. When I go to my local Whole Foods the parking lot looks like a Tesla dealership. I’m guessing all those Model Y owners don’t care — or know — what Musk says on X or what Musk-loathing journalists say.
They buy the car for practical reasons.
Journalists with politics on the brain miss the point. Musk — for better or worse — is in the mold of Henry Ford or Howard Hughes, as many observers (including commenters in the WSJ article cited above) have stated. That is, he doesn’t care what people think. And ankle-biting critics only stiffen his resolve.
More broadly, Musk’s politics have little effect on the average American car buyer. Many just want to hold onto their gas cars for practical reasons.
“In the larger EV market, buyers will transition from ICE vehicles to EVs slowly,” Sam Fiorani, Vice President Global Vehicle Forecasting at Chester Springs. PA-based AutoForecast Solutions LLC, told me.
While “running a business and touting your political beliefs will not work in your favor,” Fiorani said, “the current transition will be slow, with or without the political rhetoric,” he added.
I would add that Tesla is not your typical business. And the styling, quality, safety, and technological leadership of its cars will decide its fate not politics.
