# 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:** 14
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/261 "2025-04-28T02:30:39Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Tesla is hardly a failure even if the CT is the world’s ugliest truck. Wow, you don’t convince anyone by not even reading the failed goal in the quote. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/262 "2025-04-28T02:34:42Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Wow, you don’t convince anyone by not even reading the failed goal in the quote. Tesla hasn’t failed so I’m not sure what your point is. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/263 "2025-04-28T02:35:26Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Tesla hasn’t failed so I’m not sure what your point is. > Elon Musk’s polygonal pickup is a polarizing sales flop that’s missed the billionaire’s volume goal by a staggering 84%. And there’s no sign that things are improving. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/264 "2025-04-28T02:37:49Z")
Are you trying to say that that poor sales of it’s truck is a failure of the company? That would be every car company that ever existed was a failure because one of it’s models did poorly. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/265 "2025-04-28T02:38:05Z")
[https://www.fastcompany.com/91086771/6-reasons-why-tesla-is-failing-and-they-all-have-to-do-with-design](https://www.fastcompany.com/91086771/6-reasons-why-tesla-is-failing-and-they-all-have-to-do-with-design) > All this has seriously damaged Tesla’s brand. In a [recent poll](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/01/12/teslas-brand-is-tanking-survey-finds/?sh=57ca1b42b781), only 13.4% of U.S. adults have a favorable view of Tesla compared to 28.4% in January 2022. J.D. Power puts the company almost at [the bottom of its 2022 car quality survey](https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/29/23188085/jd-power-initial-quality-study-2022-tesla-polestar-ev-decline), made using 84,165 verified U.S. owners. Consumer Reports’ 2022 survey ranks Tesla’s reliability [at number 19 out of 28 brands](https://insideevs.com/news/622136/tesla-consumer-reports-reliability-2022/) in the United States. > > Companies including BMW, Ford, Toyota, Kia, and Subaru enjoyed around a 60% loyalty rate in 2022. Tesla’s dismal public image is a big problem that affected the sales plunge. That’s why, according to S&P Global Mobility, Tesla’s [U.S. EV market share will continue to drop](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/29/teslas-dominance-of-evs-is-eroding-as-cheaper-cars-hit-the-market.html) until it reaches 20% by 2025. As legendary investor and Columbia Business School professor emeritus Bruce Greenwald had already [pointed out in 2021](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/not-a-chance-tesla-will-dominate-car-industry-in-20-years-bruce-greenwald-135645405.html): “Twenty years from now, you really think that they’re going to dominate the auto market? Not a chance.” > > We are three years into those two decades. This drop is not just a bleep. It’s a sign of much bigger trouble ahead. BTW, that was last year, **before** Elon decided to be Wormtongue to the president. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/266 "2025-04-28T02:44:25Z")
**Tesla** ([TSLA](https://research.investors.com/quote.aspx?symbol=TSLA)) stock appears to be moving higher as investors look past the disappointing first-quarter results and focus on Chief Executive Elon Musk sticking to a robotaxi rollout in June and his plan to scale back his work for President Donald Trump. Tesla stock soared 9.8% to 284.91 during Friday’s [stock market action](https://www.investors.com/category/market-trend/stock-market-today/), reclaiming the [50-day moving average](https://www.investors.com/how-to-invest/investors-corner/what-is-the-50-day-moving-average-when-to-buy-or-sell-growth-stocks/) as it extended its post-earnings. The stock advanced 3.5% to 259.51 on Thursday as the general analyst consensus was positive coming out of the conference call late Tuesday. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/267 "2025-04-28T02:51:29Z")
That is really a Non sequitur, but ok, it is clear that there is no counter to what was posted. As Bruce Greenwald mentioned, lack of loyalty before and world dislike of what ~~Saruman~~ Trump is doing now with tariffs, are very likely to take Tesla down; short term ups in the stock market are not reliable. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/268 "2025-04-28T02:52:48Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Then, by that standard, you accept it’s 100% his idiocy, poor business sense, and corruption that’s tanking it right this second? > [@Magiver](#): > > No, that would be the Democratic Party’s need to demonize him for his association with Trump. Man, those Democrats are so powerful. They’ve made Tesla’s sales tank this quarter in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, as well as in Canada. [https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/france-car-registrations-down-1454-march-tesla-sales-fall-3683-2025-04-01/](https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/france-car-registrations-down-1454-march-tesla-sales-fall-3683-2025-04-01/) > **[Tesla sales are plummeting in Canada. Is a backlash against Elon Musk to blame?](https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/tesla-sales-are-plummeting-in-canada-is-a-backlash-against-elon-musk-to-blame)** > > Over 360,000 Canadians have signed a petition to revoke Musk's Canadian citizenship, acquired through his Saskatchewan-born mother ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/269 "2025-04-28T03:07:46Z")
Yep, “past performance is not indicative of future results” [https://www.reuters.com/pictures/targeting-tesla-anti-musk-protests-around-world-2025-04-10/](https://www.reuters.com/pictures/targeting-tesla-anti-musk-protests-around-world-2025-04-10/) > Demonstrators protest against Elon Musk at Tesla dealerships around the world. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/270 "2025-04-28T03:23:47Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Yep, “past performance is not indicative of future results” They are not demonstrating against the car. They are demonstrating against Trump via Musk. ---
**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:** [April 28, 2025, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/271 "2025-04-28T03:25:55Z")
Neither Musk nor Tesla was critical in the technical development of EVs. I have a friend who is a huge proponent of EVs who was driving some kind of custom-made EV before Teslas hit the market. (She’s now driving a Tesla with some anti-musk sticker on it.) What Musk did very successfully was to market EVs. He took a concept that people compared to a golf cart and made it sexy and desirable. That’s an important thing, even if it isn’t a technological thing. I wonder if some combination of being too rich and taking too many drugs has addled Musk’s brain, because he seems to have made a lot of business missteps recently, as well as outed himself as a raging racist and generally evil human being. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/272 "2025-04-28T03:26:52Z")
I assume Tesla stock is going up because the US just eased regulation of US-made robotaxis, and a lot of people still believe that Tesla will be producing those sometime in the next year. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/273 "2025-04-28T03:29:00Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > They are not demonstrating against the car. They are demonstrating against Trump via Musk. That is fine, but I was talking also about the loyalty reports. Not talking about the protests is like demanding that one factor in the mess should not be mentioned. (and it was also thanks to the Tesla profits that Elon became the power behind the throne) In this case is like demanding that what the OP was about is not the subject here. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/274 "2025-04-28T03:53:24Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > It’s absurd to suggest that there would be no EVs today without Musk. > > There was nothing on the horizon prior to Tesla in modern history. The closest thing was GM’s EV1 and that was a miserable failure. The modern EV started by Musk who took little flashlight sized Li batteries and soldered them together. There were certainly many examples of clean-energy cars in modern history before Musk got involved. One of them was Tesla, which Musk did **not** start. The big American carmakers may not always be shining examples of innovation, but they do innovate, and they’re also not the only carmakers in the world. GM produced the EV1 electric car decades ago, and Chrysler made a limited-production turbine car, also decades ago. The EV1 was actually very popular with drivers despite the technical limitations of its day including primitive battery technology. Li-ion batteries were key to Tesla’s success and were certainly not invented by Elmo. The reasons for the demise of the EV1 are complicated and mired in company and industry politics, but it wasn’t a technical failure, despite the battery limitations. The carmakers do innovate. The best examples of automotive innovation are found in the astonishing reliability of today’s cars. To suggest that Musk did much more than just marketing is ill-informed and misleading. I think one of the reasons that Musk has been pushing the idea that he has Asperger’s is that it not only serves as an excuse for his sociopathic behaviours, but also casts him as an “eccentric genius”. He isn’t, as we can see today, although having the kind of wealth he possesses has its own inertia that at some level become invulnerable. But the Asperger’s claim strikes me as just more marketing, and cynical, callous, and insensitive at that. While it’s true that some people arguably and controversially diagnosed with Asperger’s may exhibit traits like a lack of empathy, lacking empathy is also the hallmark trait of what medical science refers to as “being an asshole”, a non-controversial diagnosis that’s easy to make from a distance. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/275 "2025-04-29T15:35:24Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > No, that would be the Democratic Party’s need to demonize him for his association with Trump. Well, associating with Trump is a valid reason to demonize someone. And it’s not like he’s just hanging out with Trump, he’s actively participating in the clusterfuck. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/276 "2025-04-29T15:41:45Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > No, that would be the Democratic Party’s need to demonize him for his association with Trump. You’re giving the Democratic Party way too much credit for their ability to affect anything. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/277 "2025-05-09T22:27:04Z")
98 year old British WWII vet crushes a Tesla with a Sherman tank. > A decorated veteran of the Allied campaign in Europe, Turner made a strong statement before getting into the tank. He said, “We’ve crushed fascism before, and we’ll crush it again.” > **[US war hero rolls WWII tank over Tesla in protest against Elon Musk](https://interestingengineering.com/culture/crushing-tesla-with-wwii-us-tank)** > > British World War II veteran Ken Turner, who is 98 years old, drove a restored Sherman tank over a Tesla Model 3. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/278 "2025-05-09T23:40:42Z")
Okay, so this was planned and they didn’t destroy anybody’s property without permission, but the article didn’t answer the question I had before clicking: Whose Tesla was it? And I’m left wondering how much money was spent (or what that Tesla was worth if it was donated). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/279 "2025-05-09T23:48:26Z")
And of course the headline generated by the link makes the WWII UK vet into a “US War Hero”. He was probably one of the sailors on the SS-33: > **[U-571 (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-571_(film))** > > U-571 is a 2000 submarine film directed by Jonathan Mostow from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sam Montgomery and David Ayer. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi, Jake Weber and Matthew Settle. The film follows a World War II German U-boat boarded by American submariners to capture her Enigma cipher machine. > Although the film was financially successful and received generally positive reviews from critics, winning the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing... ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-a-tesla-get-sieg-heils-apparently-it-ain-t-easy-being-green-any-more/1015416/280 "2025-06-16T03:45:02Z")
French Tesla renters going to court to get out of their Tesla leases because Elon has made the car an “extreme-right” symbol and destroyed their pleasure in driving it. > **[Drivers sue Tesla as legal action claims Elon Musk made electric cars...](https://www.gbnews.com/lifestyle/cars/drivers-sue-tesla-elon-musk-electric-cars-extreme-right)** > > 'The situation is both unexpected and impossible for French Tesla owners' [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=13) [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=15)