Summary
Elon Musk’s vocal support for Donald Trump and promotion of far-right conspiracy theories has alienated many Tesla owners, who now express embarrassment over their cars.
Sales of anti-Musk stickers, such as “Anti Elon Tesla Club,” have surged as owners distance themselves from Musk’s politics.
Once admired by liberals for his environmental advocacy, Musk’s alignment with Trump and leadership in his administration have sparked backlash.
While Tesla remains the dominant EV maker, analysts warn Musk’s polarizing image may impact sales as competition grows and Trump plans to cut EV tax incentives.
Do you want a truck too? Or are you the only person capable of resisting the power of auto industry propaganda?
The fact that people in different places do not all want the same cars is strong evidence that their wants result from human agency, not auto propaganda.
Look what is on the roads in nearly any other country and you will realize that north Americans have way more personal pick ups and massive SUVs. If you ever see an american SUV like a suburban in a place like Japan or a european city, it looks super out of place compared to the other cars on the road.
That’s my point. Those countries have the same auto companies we do. If “auto propaganda” was responsible for people buying trucks, then those countries would be full of trucks too.
Those countries don’t have to follow flawed CAFE standards that make trucks and SUVs easy to build while holding smaller cars to much higher emissions standards.
No, the EU also has emissions standards that are more stringent for smaller cars.
And those regulations also make larger vehicles follow stricter standards which makes the smaller cars still more competitive than US markets.
OK, so if various features make Europeans not want trucks as much as Americans do, then auto propaganda is not what determines what people want.
Yes, not all people are immediately going to buy a giant truck because of propaganda. But it doesn’t have to be everybody, it just has to influence enough people to change the trend over time.
If so, people would be buying as many trucks in the EU and Japan as we do. They’ve had just as much time as we have.