# Drive a Tesla, get Sieg Heils? Apparently it ain’t easy being green any more **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2025, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416 "2025-03-11T03:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/181 "2025-03-15T20:07:22Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > > [@Al128](#): > > > > just as a FYI, it should read **SIEG** Heil (in the title) > > Oh, good catch. I’ll fix that Well, that’s a small victory. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/182 "2025-03-15T20:07:51Z")
And, destroying a Tesla that is already purchased does not hurt Musk, just the owner and the Insurance company- if any. Refusing to buy one, however- that is a solid idea. > **[Tesla's latest decline could be one for the history books, JPMorgan analysts say](https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-stock-decline-jp-morgan-analyst-guidance-2025-3)** > > Tesla recently lost nearly 50% of its $1.5 trillion market. JPMorgan analysts don't know another car company that lost so much value so quickly. - About 48% of Tesla’s market capitalization was wiped out in a matter of months. - The decline came amid sagging sales and concerns about leadership, namely its CEO, Elon Musk. - JPMorgan analysts said they couldn’t find “anything analogous in the history of the automotive industry.” [Tesla](https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla) _has lost so much value in such a short period of time that JPMorgan analysts said they couldn’t think of another comparable moment in automotive history._ ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/183 "2025-03-15T20:40:17Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > And, destroying a Tesla that is already purchased does not hurt Musk, just the owner and the Insurance company- if any. As already noted, if people are worried about their cars being torched, they are less likely to buy a Tesla. It also publicizes the fact that a lot of people hate Tesla and Musk, which further drives down demand. This isn’t rocket science. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/184 "2025-03-15T20:41:25Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Well, that’s a small victory. The smallest. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/185 "2025-03-16T00:27:27Z")
I saw another article about this that basically said, “it’s just a correction, the stock was massively overvalued based on ordinary metrics.” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/186 "2025-03-16T01:12:53Z")
I just hope that Scott Kelly doesn’t trade in his Tesla for a Ford. Henry Ford was quite the asshole, too. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/187 "2025-03-16T01:26:49Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I saw another article about this that basically said, “it’s just a correction, the stock was massively overvalued based on ordinary metrics.” Certainly possible. The stock market is an arcane art. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/188 "2025-03-16T01:29:25Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I just hope that Scott Kelly doesn’t trade in his Tesla for a Ford. Henry Ford was quite the asshole, too. LIterally everyone knows that and he died almost 70 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/189 "2025-03-16T01:31:14Z")
Also, Scott Kelly is the brother of the senator in question. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/190 "2025-03-16T02:08:15Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Henry Ford was quite the asshole, too. Sure, but how often does he post shit on Twitter these days? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/191 "2025-03-16T02:54:57Z")
Yeah, i don’t worry much about enriching dead people, nor about validating them. I think this came up when we were taking about authors with unsavory personalities, too. I’m much more likely to avoid their works if they are alive than if they are dead. And if they are long-dead, i just don’t much care, except to better understand their works. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/192 "2025-03-16T03:31:15Z")
There’s also the issue of what they are doing. When a public figure is using their wealth to promote whatever it is you find obnoxious about them or just generally calling harm, that makes giving them _more_ money to do more damage a genuine problem. That’s different than one who has nasty opinions but isn’t actually doing anything about them. There’s a large spectrum between “said some bigoted things in an email twenty years ago”, and “is actively harming thousands or millions of people _right now._” And Musk is all the way to the latter end of it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/193 "2025-03-16T06:29:39Z")
Oops, you’re right. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/194 "2025-03-16T10:39:09Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > [Multiple Teslas Set On Fire in Germany - Newsweek](https://www.newsweek.com/tesla-vehicles-set-fire-berlin-germany-elon-musk-2044692) Setting cars on fire is a time-honored tradition in Berlin. We just normally wait until May 1st for that. It does bear noting though that Tesla is particularly unpopular here. The factory in Brandenburg was opposed locally before and during its construction, and after it opened Tesla’s [completely unsurprising anti-worker tactics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_and_trade_unions#Giga_Berlin) have kept it… “controversial,” let’s say. Last year the residents of the local municipality [voted 2:1 against allowing the factory to expand](https://electrek.co/2024/02/20/tesla-gigafactory-berlin-expansion-voted-down-by-locals/). Given that city governments here are moderately corrupt, and it was a non-binding vote, this went as well as the referendum to keep Berlin-Tegel Airport open and the expansion was approved anyway. I have heard gleeful speculation from locals that this may not matter if the factory is a victim of Musk facing consequences for [election interference](https://www.politico.eu/article/elon-musk-will-face-consequences-interfering-german-election-front-runner-friedrich-merz/), but see previous sentence. Anecdotally, [this person says](https://bsky.app/profile/xefenic.bsky.social/post/3ljt3clrr5c2h) “I personally know of a case where the owner took the Tesla outside the city to relatives” and I have heard similar (that was also from last week, before this recent spate of arson). Germany is a major EV market, but Tesla has never had the kind of commanding presence it had in the US. At least here in Berlin I don’t think we were ever especially primed to vibe with Tesla’s gamer-boy chic (I mean: ooh, a _giga_-factory 🙄) or view them as a particularly innovative or aspirational brand so there’s not an established base of Germans inclined or able to rationalize owning one despite social opprobrium. > [@PastTense](#): > > [Tesla is done in Germany: 94% say they won't buy a Tesla car | Electrek](https://electrek.co/2025/03/14/tesla-is-done-in-germany-94-say-they-wont-buy-a-tesla-car/) > > But that still leaves 6% who might! They would also need to be the right people 😛 and unfortunately, despite Musk stumping for his Neonazi buddies in the AfD, they are not big EV consumers. A lot of Germans drive cars but acquire them through their company (company lease cars are a majority of new vehicle sales) and if the teams managing those acquisitions view Tesla as toxic, then the addressable market for Teslas in Germany is the subset of Germans who would be willing to buy them _and_ Germans who would be willing to buy their own car rather than taking it as a company perk. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/195 "2025-03-16T22:01:29Z")
A Tesla down the street had large letters on the front bumper spelling out “F-ELON”. I don’t think that Colorado has new sex offender registry requirements that obligate those convicted to label their cars, so I suspect it is a political statement. Anyway, I was going through some stuff in my Mom’s garage and found this vintage Jeep badge. Will people think my EV is made by AMC if I swap it onto my trunk? [![](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-4nunktcv/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/2047/1018/collinsbros_2272_133444153__53904.1408567571.jpg?c=2) ](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-4nunktcv/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/2047/1018/collinsbros_2272_133444153__53904.1408567571.jpg?c=2) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/196 "2025-03-16T22:07:40Z")
That will fool a non-zero number of people, and make the rest laugh. Go for it. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/197 "2025-03-16T22:09:40Z")
Oh, definitely. And if you’re game to up your odds, might I suggest … > **[Amazon.com: Jeep Trail Rated 4x4 Badge Nameplate/ Emblem MOPAR : Automotive](https://www.amazon.com/Trail-Rated-Badge-Nameplate-Emblem/dp/B004DR4RSC)** > > Genuine Mopar Jeep "Trail Rated 4x4" metal emblem. Measures approximatly 2-1/4 inches in diameter. Used for many years in different applications. This badge is a great add on to any Jeep, or whever you want to put it. Installation is a breeze with... Maybe on each front fender. ETA: maybe to gild the lily just a skosh… > **[Jeep ducking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_ducking)** > > Jeep ducking, or Duck Duck Jeep, is a custom among owners of Jeep vehicles, in which they leave rubber ducks on other Jeep brand cars. > In 2022, it was estimated that Jeep ducking Facebook groups had around half a million members. By 2023, it had become common to see rubber ducks on the dashboard of Jeeps. > Stellantis, the manufacturer of Jeep, rented the World's Largest Rubber Duck for the 2022 North American International Auto Show in celebration of ducking. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/198 "2025-03-16T22:15:33Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > just as a FYI, it should read **SIEG** Heil (in the title) Wow, what a spelling Nazi! (I kid, I kid) > [@TroutMan](#): > > > [@DrDeth](#): > > > > And, destroying a Tesla that is already purchased does not hurt Musk, just the owner and the Insurance company- if any. > > As already noted, if people are worried about their cars being torched, they are less likely to buy a Tesla. It also publicizes the fact that a lot of people hate Tesla and Musk, which further drives down demand. > > This isn’t rocket science. _There are no bad tactics, only bad targets_. Apparently if you own a Tesla, you are a good target. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/199 "2025-03-16T22:52:52Z")
By “good” and “bad” are you talking about effectiveness or making a moral judgment? Those are separate things, and I’m talking only about the former. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/200 "2025-03-16T23:52:32Z")
> [@DETXL](#): > > Last year the residents of the local municipality [voted 2:1 against allowing the factory to expand](https://electrek.co/2024/02/20/tesla-gigafactory-berlin-expansion-voted-down-by-locals/). Given that city governments here are moderately corrupt, and it was a non-binding vote, this went as well as the referendum to keep Berlin-Tegel Airport open and the expansion was approved anyway. I have heard gleeful speculation from locals that this may not matter if the factory is a victim of Musk facing consequences for [election interference](https://www.politico.eu/article/elon-musk-will-face-consequences-interfering-german-election-front-runner-friedrich-merz/), but see previous sentence. If Tesla sales continue to collapse the factory expansion may be abandoned because it no longer makes economic sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416.md?page=11)