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Why do people really want Tesla to fail?

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I’m really hoping they can fix the “bottleneck” with this Model 3 shutdown. Getting tired of answering messages from friends and the doom and gloom that come with them. They questioned me when I purchased my model S and for some bizarre reason want to prove to me they were right that Tesla would not survive. Then I placed an order for a model 3, well how dare I double down. Every damn negative article requires an explanation. Never seen a company where so many want it to fail, it’s as if they get a prize for being right. Even people who come on here everyday day rip into Elon or Tesla. Maybe it’s like one friend said to me, they are small people who are envious. Maybe I should do a poll and find out.
 
I think mainly a lot of people don’t like change and companies like Tesla has the potential to be incredibly disruptive.

I remember when cellphones started appearing in the mainstream, my parents hated them. Now they are just as addicted to their iPhones as everybody else.

There will be a period where many people will dislike the new technology and the companies pushing them, but I think it will change with increasing popularity.

Also, I’m not a car guy, but when it comes to brand loyalty within transportation, people seem very tribal about this. Here in Sweden you was either a Saab or a Volvo guy and it was quite clear that if you drove the “other” brand you were an idiot in the biggest possible way. And everybody would be better of if the other manufacturer just shut down production.
 
I think it says a lot about a society where one can bet on a company failing.

It leads people to say all kinds of things in order to impact the stock price.

Sure there would still be people that are doom, and gloom. But. it wouldn't be so pervasive.

Tesla is also a company who takes a lot of risks. It's only natural to question those that take a lot of risks especially when the risks seem like a misstep. Like I am hugely skeptical of the decision to offer FSD such a long way away from when it would be possible.

We also know that Telsa is cutting it a bit close. Heck Elon himself knows he's cutting it way too friggen close.

The combination of all that makes it only natural to wonder about Tesla's future. Did they bite off more than they can chew? Maybe. I don't think it really matters because cars today aren't like cars of yesterday. What Tesla has is too attractive for some cash rich company to pass up.
 
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Firstly Tesla cannot fail. At least not in the next couple of years. Not with 500,000 reservations for their model 3 and ample demand for S and X (and Y).

Secondly ICE-land is very, very scared. Power, money, status is what they fear to lose. So they bribe journalists into telling lies, they bribe politicians to come up with anti-Tesla legislation and they do anything to make the public believe that Tesla is going to fail.

This is the case now and has been for centuries: powerful people doing their best to preserve their power. First the kings, then the nobility, now topmanagers. Afraid for change they manipulate the world into supporting their goals.
And no, this is not a conspiracy, it's simply the way the mind works. Those who have to lose the most, will fight with all means they've got. Legal and illegal (below the radar, of course).
 
And also because Tesla is pushing against the odds. Because it's trying to do unthinkable, it's persistent, it challenges what can be done. A lot of people or companies would have given up by now. So it'd make them feel better knowing that Tesla failed. It's pretty classic scenario I think where people don't want others to succeeds. And also because a failing Tesla is a much better news story than a profitable Tesla.

But aside that Tesla failing just means Tesla being bought out really. They are too big now to just wind up the business and cease. The worst case scenario they'll end up as EV brand of GM, Fiat, VW or someone. Best case scenario they'll just become "another car company" in 10 years.

Also I can't disagree that the big auto players are scared. This is exaggeration in the opposite direction. Actually I think that they don't give a *sugar*. There are enough cars to sell for everyone. There might be a small dip between now and next few years when there will be zero actual competition for M3 and MY, but really it's nothing to worry about on global scale. Even once Tesla gets to 500k cars a year, if you divide that among all auto makes in the world it is not that much. Brands like Hyundai or Kia are only selling in volume (EU, US) only for the last 10 -15 years. Did they disrupt auto industry? No.
 
Also I can't disagree that the big auto players are scared. This is exaggeration in the opposite direction. Actually I think that they don't give a *sugar*.
I do agree with the legacy automakers not being scared of Tesla as a car company based on volume of sold cars.

What I do think is making them *sugar* their pants, is if Tesla actually makes producing high quality EVs at reasonable cost, while maintaining profitability. Which naturally begs the question "Why couldn't you guys do this with all your experience?"
 
I'm guilty of this as well. I hated Apple for the longest time and for no other reason than they were different. I wanted nothing more than Apple to fail. Now I can't live without my iPhone and Mac and likely will never own anything else. I don't want to text people unless the texts are blue. I agree with the comments above about people and change. A lot of people don't like change. I'm the same way.
 
There is an interesting aspect to people. People have a tendency to take opinions and make them a part of their identity.
This has been one of the issues with climate change. For some people, their denial becomes a part of their identity.
When this happens, more evidence simply makes them dig in their heels.

I suspect this same thing takes hold of people for which their car choice has become part of their identity.
For others, a car that makes a lot of noise has become part of their identity.

Changing these peoples opinions takes a lot, and is easiest done by not challenging their identity.

But this is only some of the Tesla doubters.
Other people simply doubt Tesla because they know what an incredibly difficult feat this is.
New car companies are incredibly difficult to get started, much less endure.
And Tesla’s balance sheets are not impressive.

Some of these people have already changed their minds, as Tesla keeps doing what others say can’t be done.

And yes, then you have a number of short sellers, oil interests, the auto dealers interests. I believe this is the smallest group by number, yet probably has the biggest influence.
 
I'm guilty of this as well. I hated Apple for the longest time and for no other reason than they were different. I wanted nothing more than Apple to fail. Now I can't live without my iPhone and Mac and likely will never own anything else. I don't want to text people unless the texts are blue. I agree with the comments above about people and change. A lot of people don't like change. I'm the same way.
Thanks for being honest. Great comments so far, as mentioned some people are having trouble coping with the ever increasing changes in the world today. Be it environment, technological or political, they most likely wish they could turn back time or at least stop it. Or having Tesla fail would make some feel better about themselves.
 
I think it says a lot about a society where one can bet on a company failing.

It leads people to say all kinds of things in order to impact the stock price.
OP said it is coming from friends, not shorters.

I also think many are afraid of losing their way of life. Elon challenged a 100yo status quo, making it obviously clear that the change is coming. Besides EV, Tesla is probably most known for its AP, which other companies also work on, but you don't hear these loud stories about someone getting killed in an AP accident (besides Uber just recently) and that is another reminder that technology is real and being worked on and soon there will be no more need in human drivers. And then human doctors, human anything and we'll all be living off of UBI...Maybe this is the most visible "in your face" demonstration of what technology is capable of, compared to a slow, less noticable creep of automation in other areas.
 
Some people view Tesla as leaching off taxpayers and the government with "free" handouts. Also, Tesla's are still pretty much a car for "rich" people so that just compounds the perceived problem. Lastly, some also hate the "yuppie/greenie/environmental" association. They would rather drive in the lifted pickup truck and "roll coal". I could go on an on but all the debunking and data is not going to chance any of their minds. Just like our current political situation. Divisive and lots of closed minded people.
 
There is an interesting aspect to people. People have a tendency to take opinions and make them a part of their identity.
This has been one of the issues with climate change. For some people, their denial becomes a part of their identity.
When this happens, more evidence simply makes them dig in their heels.

I suspect this same thing takes hold of people for which their car choice has become part of their identity.
For others, a car that makes a lot of noise has become part of their identity.

Changing these peoples opinions takes a lot, and is easiest done by not challenging their identity.

But this is only some of the Tesla doubters.
Other people simply doubt Tesla because they know what an incredibly difficult feat this is.
New car companies are incredibly difficult to get started, much less endure.
And Tesla’s balance sheets are not impressive.

Some of these people have already changed their minds, as Tesla keeps doing what others say can’t be done.

And yes, then you have a number of short sellers, oil interests, the auto dealers interests. I believe this is the smallest group by number, yet probably has the biggest influence.
I wish we were able to apply more than just one rating to a post. Not only did I like this post but I also found it Helpful, informative, and I loved it!
This concept not only holds true for cars & global warming but politics and religion too; and is why it's best to steer clear of these topics.
 
Some of it is pushback against the overzealous Tesla fans the likes of which I have never seen elsewhere.
Look at how much glee they post other manufacturers recalls and failures with.

There are a lot of Tesla fans that oversell the pros to the point of dishonesty and blow way out of proportion the negatives of ICE.
I think a conversation about Tesla hate is incomplete without admitting the flip side.
 
I’m really hoping they can fix the “bottleneck” with this Model 3 shutdown. Getting tired of answering messages from friends and the doom and gloom that come with them. They questioned me when I purchased my model S and for some bizarre reason want to prove to me they were right that Tesla would not survive. Then I placed an order for a model 3, well how dare I double down. Every damn negative article requires an explanation. Never seen a company where so many want it to fail, it’s as if they get a prize for being right. Even people who come on here everyday day rip into Elon or Tesla. Maybe it’s like one friend said to me, they are small people who are envious. Maybe I should do a poll and find out.

I don't think anyone wants Tesla to fail (well, outside of the big oil people perhaps). What I think most critics DO want is more transparency from the company, more responsibility in production forecasts (no 98% production goal misses like the 200k Model 3's in 2017 that turned into ~2k) , better build quality, less promises broken (FSD for example) and more realistic goals that can actually be achieved.
And less conspiracy theory saber rattling that's making Tesla look more and more like the West Coast White House (of lies).
Tesla Is Starting to Sound a Little Like Donald Trump
and
https://jalopnik.com/tesla-s-war-with-the-media-is-just-unhinged-at-this-poi-1825296262
 
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I do agree with the legacy automakers not being scared of Tesla as a car company based on volume of sold cars.

What I do think is making them *sugar* their pants, is if Tesla actually makes producing high quality EVs at reasonable cost, while maintaining profitability. Which naturally begs the question "Why couldn't you guys do this with all your experience?"

This sort of reminds me of aviation. An upstart like Lancair comes along and is able to produce a product IMHO far superior to what the legacy companies are able to make.
 
A lot of it is simple ignorance. Unless you’ve driven a Tesla, you don’t realize how much of a different car it is. I am still amazed at the number of people who don’t really know anything about Tesla and certainly have never even thought of test driving one. If you don’t know anything about Tesla, wouldn’t the safe bet be that they will get crushed by the big auto companies?

I remember when the iPad first came out. Having used inferior pad and tablet devices in the past, I thought Apple was crazy to bring out yet another barely functional tablet. Little did I realize that with the combo of better batteries, flash memory (instead of hard drives, remember those?), and an App Store, the iPad was a true killer product. And I’m a technology guy, how could I have missed it? My mother bought a friggin iPad before I did. Sad, just sad on my part.

People are busy! And they do have preconceived ideas about things. It’ll just take time and an accumulation of evidence before the light bulb switches on for many people.

Finally, you can’t discount that in journalism, bad news sells better than good news...
 
I am still amazed at the number of people who don’t really know anything about Tesla and certainly have never even thought of test driving one.
That reminds me of how I came to considering Tesla... I heard a little about S/X in the past, but based on the price point I always disregarded it as something out of reach and not worth the time to learn about. Never followed the company. Didn't know the 3 was in the works. Then on 3/31/2016 the news started coming out about crazy reservation numbers never seen before, etc. The coverage was massive. I thought "Hmm, ok. I'll watch the reveal to see what the buzz is about." I watched it and even though I didn't need a car, it took me 1 day to consider the idea and put the reservation in.

And btw, Elon's passion and view of the future was so contagious that I also started considering solar panels and had them installed since;

Also, started reading more about other major environmental issues, such as plastics contamination, esp. Oceans filled by it and killing marine animals by the millions, entering our food chain, and the forecast that by 2050 the amount of fish and plastics in the ocean will be equal by weight...
This is mind blowing as much as the consequences of our reliance on fossil fuels. I came to know about The Ocean Cleanup company that will begin the plastics cleanup effort from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch this summer! The founder is also quite passionate about his mission and made me look up more info and subscribe for monthly donations. Take a look:

Him and Elon may yet be able to save us from ourselves :)
 
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The hate towards Tesla honestly baffles me. The people who hate Tesla would tell you in the same breath how they bemoan the demise of American manufacturing jobs and also concerned about losing technology leadership. Here is a company that employs 30K people in manufacturing in a plant in America. And most of their hires have been just over the last 5 years, during the key years of economic recovery.

People also hate Tesla for various reasons. A friend of mine wrote a blog post on 2012 predicting Tesla's demise in 2013. Despite his blog post being proven completely wrong, he hasn't given up. Infact he has doubled down and keeps sending me FUD every day. His hatred comes from a weird tribal fact - he grew up in Michigan and is extremely concerned that a Silicon Valley company is leading the charge on next gen vehicles. Several of his friends are also on the hate camp for another tribal reason - their definition of what a car should be - complicated engines, loud noise etc. They have been working with cars since teenage years and loath the idea of driving a computer. And then you get the other cohorts - conservatives and libertarians who don't like tax subsidies ( never mind a gazillion things are subsidizes, like home mortgage), oil companies, luxury manufacturers etc etc. Best is to ignore all the FUD and support Tesla via wallet and educating friends and colleagues