Why do people really want Tesla to fail?

[SSonnentag]

Convenience stores will be fewer due to the lack of locals refueling and buying something inside while they pump as more people will be charging at home.

Now this is a real concern. Without all the gas stations and convenience stores, where will BEV drivers go to wash their windshields and use the restroom?

No, seriously, I use their restrooms all the time . . .

 

[SMAlset]

Why do people (some) want Tesla to fail? Hmm here's a few I came up with:
Some people don't like change.
Don't trust anything new and "unproven".
Like playing Devil's Advocate.
Are UAW or union workers and want a bigger member paying base.
See an opportunity to float or promote "bad news" articles when the stock is doing better to make "easy" money off the stock when it causes some people to sell on the news. Funny how those stories come out every so often.
Investor who shorts and got burned real badly.
Still believe that Tesla took loans from the Government and didn't know they paid them back early.
Don't like Elon because he's intelligent and trying to make a difference.
Maybe think Elon's smarter than them and have a problem with it.
Maybe it's his accent or that he was born in another country.
Aren't green people.
Don't believe in climate change.
Don't like fanboys or gals and Tesla has too many of them.
Didn't like Prius owners so this is the next thing to hate on.
Still holding a grudge that he sat on the President's council.
They work for an ad agency and never get any Tesla business.
Are perfectionists and don't feel the quality is as good as their Toyota.
Work in the automotive industry in some capacity and are fearful for their jobs.
Work in the automotive industry and don't want to be retrained for the new EVs in general that Telsa has made popular.
Don't like that their cars have been beaten at the track by Teslas.
Think the cars cost too much so no one should buy them.
Debbie Downers.
Made in California, you know that crazy yuppie beachbum fun-in-the-sun State run by that hippie Governor.
Like their internal combustion cars and don't want to see them disappear overtime.
Gasoline prices will probably go up as more EVs are on the road and it will cost more to run their big ICE vehicles.
Don't like tech, computers or anything that needs charging or phoning home.
Work for the oil company or have stock in it.
Don't like people digging holes underground in their city.
Think sending rockets into space is fanciful thinking and going to Mars even more so. Who wants to learn Martian?
Sending a car into space with a driver dressed up as an astronaut made no sense and polluted our universe. What's with all those acronyms anyway and it stands for what!?
Own a gas station and don't want to add charging stations.
Don't like flamethrowers, teslaquilla, or hats or anything fun.
Can't buy the car they want now.
No one's offered them a ride in their Tesla.

 

[Olle]

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 grew up in Sweden too and experienced this. Especially Saab people thought Volvo people were "conventionalist" and dumb since they failed to understand the merits of fwd and independent suspension. Saab people were weirdos according to Volvo owners. Can't remember the seething hatred though that we now see against Tesla online.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Because they are luddites who fear the future.
Because they want humanity to fail, rather than dare build another tower of babel.

 

[RedOctober]

Why do people (some) want Tesla to fail? Hmm here's a few I came up with:
Some people don't like change.
Don't trust anything new and "unproven".
Like playing Devil's Advocate.
Are UAW or union workers and want a bigger member paying base.
See an opportunity to float or promote "bad news" articles when the stock is doing better to make "easy" money off the stock when it causes some people to sell on the news. Funny how those stories come out every so often.
Investor who shorts and got burned real badly.
Still believe that Tesla took loans from the Government and didn't know they paid them back early.
Don't like Elon because he's intelligent and trying to make a difference.
Maybe think Elon's smarter than them and have a problem with it.
Maybe it's his accent or that he was born in another country.
Aren't green people.
Don't believe in climate change.
Don't like fanboys or gals and Tesla has too many of them.
Didn't like Prius owners so this is the next thing to hate on.
Still holding a grudge that he sat on the President's council.
They work for an ad agency and never get any Tesla business.
Are perfectionists and don't feel the quality is as good as their Toyota.
Work in the automotive industry in some capacity and are fearful for their jobs.
Work in the automotive industry and don't want to be retrained for the new EVs in general that Telsa has made popular.
Don't like that their cars have been beaten at the track by Teslas.
Think the cars cost too much so no one should buy them.
Debbie Downers.
Made in California, you know that crazy yuppie beachbum fun-in-the-sun State run by that hippie Governor.
Like their internal combustion cars and don't want to see them disappear overtime.
Gasoline prices will probably go up as more EVs are on the road and it will cost more to run their big ICE vehicles.
Don't like tech, computers or anything that needs charging or phoning home.
Work for the oil company or have stock in it.
Don't like people digging holes underground in their city.
Think sending rockets into space is fanciful thinking and going to Mars even more so. Who wants to learn Martian?
Sending a car into space with a driver dressed up as an astronaut made no sense and polluted our universe. What's with all those acronyms anyway and it stands for what!?
Own a gas station and don't want to add charging stations.
Don't like flamethrowers, teslaquilla, or hats or anything fun.
Can't buy the car they want now.
No one's offered them a ride in their Tesla.

Well that about sums it up. Thanks for that.

 

[Moderatefan]

Now this is a real concern. Without all the gas stations and convenience stores, where will BEV drivers go to wash their windshields and use the restroom?

No, seriously, I use their restrooms all the time . . .

Obviously, Elon needs to get into the business of maintaining restrooms at his supercharger locations. Also, add food joints. Why is he thinking a single restaurant with roller skating waiters will do? We need one at each supercharger location.

 

[Atoms]

People wishing for Tesla to fail appears to me like fans of one football team wanting the other team to fail. This is a human psychological character and has nothing to do with benefits to society. Just think of these people as football fans of the oil burning teams.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Now this is a real concern. Without all the gas stations and convenience stores, where will BEV drivers go to wash their windshields and use the restroom?

No, seriously, I use their restrooms all the time . . .

I carry my own squeegee and bucket. So far as restrooms are concerned, I make 70+ mile grocery shopping trips and long ago learned the location of the public restrooms in every type of store I visit, since I am away from home for many hours. No convenience stores needed.

We can adapt...

 

[cpa]

What you mentioned about jobs disappearing in the auto supply sector is true but as with other advancements over the years, other sectors will see an uptick. A quick example is the post offices across the world. They were all in fear of going out of business when computers and email came along. As we are seeing that isn’t the case. The old adage “times change and we change with them”.

I would suggest that your thesis comes with a caveat or two:

Many jobs that would be eliminated will be replaced with entry-level or lower paying jobs. Many individuals who are displaced or relegated to less meaningful (to them) work will be older workers closer to retirement. There might not be as many jobs available where they live. These people will be faced with difficult personal decisions--perhaps decisions that they are unprepared or unable to make.

Each of us has made conscious decisions about our lives and our lifestyles. We live in a certain region. We choose our trade, profession, or occupation. With the anticipated electrification of personal (and even freight) transportation, no one today really knows just how those changes will affect each person or each company.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

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.

I have a somewhat similar perspective, but the difference is that I was (and still am) a huge fan of Apple products, and I simultaneously hated Steve Jobs.

My observation is that people who hate Tesla tend to have that hatred focused around Elon Musk. They hate what they see as his bragging (example: that Model S/X are the best cars/crossovers), alleged disrespect for the older automakers, and over-promising on everything from delivery numbers to shipping dates. Tesla haters tend to characterize the company as a "scam" and a "cult".

Some of these aspects were why I disliked Steve Jobs. Jobs had a tendency to brag that Apple's hardware and software was the best. Some of Apple's demonstrations, like the 1984 Macintosh reveal, were a bit rigged (the Mac in that event was specially configured to speak). In the late 90's, I would grind my teeth when Steve Jobs bragged about how fast Apple's PowerPC products were, and how great MacOS was. I knew that was a load of crap, because anyone doing "real work" at the time (my narrow conception of "real work" 20 years ago) was using a Sun SPARCstation and later some variant of a Sun UltraSPARC, or an equivalent workstation from HP or Silicon Graphics. I had Apple using friends who mindlessly yammered on about the greatness of PowerPC, the "Supercomputer" Altivec chips, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, I was doing work on a computer with a "real" operating system (Solaris), and I knew that MacOS was a kludgy mess of holdover code from the 80's layered with all kinds of hacks and extensions.

Despite all of this... I had a PowerMac at home. It was friendly in a way that the UltraSPARC was not. For word processing, old LucasArts games, and surfing WWW 1.0, the Mac was fun. I could easily forgive its quirks and occasional crashy-ness. I could justify to myself owning Apple product because I liked Steve Wozniak and felt that he was an honest guy with a creative sense of humor.

I believe that 90% of the hatred towards Tesla is because many people find Elon Musk to be "arrogant", "weird", and "untrustworthy". The remaining 10% or so hate Tesla because they are scared of Electric Cars and the future in general.

Why did I dislike Jobs, but not Musk? To be honest, Musk seems like a lot less of a jerk, and Musk is also completely unafraid to admit, in public, when he has made mistakes (such as the Model X being too complex, and moving to fast with automation on the Model 3 line). Steve Jobs would just snap at people and say unhelpful things, like "you're holding it wrong" when iPhone 4 had issues with dropped calls when held a certain way.

 

[rywmark]

I literally can't have a conversation about my Model 3 without having to dispel random people's concern about manufacturing, based on one article they read.

The negative PR brigade is strong on literally every front. People need to just chill and wait to see what happens. Creating a mass production car company ain't easy. And especially the way they're going about it.

And those same people are blissfully unaware of the whole other side of Tesla that is perfectly positioned to benefit from the solar generation and power storage goldrush that's happening right now.

 

[JRP3]

This kind of statement is exactly the reason so many people have a bad impression of Tesla and its diehards. Very snobbish and elitist.

And your statement exposes your own insecurity, as does your constant bashing of Tesla on this and other sites. I spend no time posting on GM vehicle boards. Your negative obsession with Tesla is revealing.

 

[cellogig]

I am trying to do my part for it not too. The showroom where I am located does not have a model 3 to show. So I park my model 3 there on occasion during the day and walk to work.

 

[MrAustraliaTax]

My observation is that people who hate Tesla tend to have that hatred focused around Elon Musk.

This is a great topic and one which has made me ponder my own feelings towards Tesla (love my P85DL, but will almost certainly never purchase anything made by Telsa ever again).

I think you have hit the nail on the head with this one. I can't stand Musk. There are many ways to describe Musk, but liar is the most appropriate word. If Tesla fails, it will be because all of his lies catch up with him and drag the company down (eg lying about 691hp, lying about Model 3 production, lying about EAP/FSD). He doesn't make over-optimistic predictions. He knowingly lies.

 

[RedOctober]

This is a great topic and one which has made me ponder my own feelings towards Tesla (love my P85DL, but will almost certainly never purchase anything made by Telsa ever again).

I think you have hit the nail on the head with this one. I can't stand Musk. There are many ways to describe Musk, but liar is the most appropriate word. If Tesla fails, it will be because all of his lies catch up with him and drag the company down (eg lying about 691hp, lying about Model 3 production, lying about EAP/FSD). He doesn't make over-optimistic predictions. He knowingly lies.

Well this is why I asked the question. I hope Elon doesn’t drag the company down because I love my car and I think with any faults it has it’s the best car I have ever owned.

 

[Barklikeadog]

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.

So what you are saying is that pickup truck owners should have been buying the Tesla pickup truck all along? Bunch of idiots for not buying something that doesn't exist, right?
Are you including yourself in that 'divisive close-minded' group?

The gov't shouldn't be picking winners and losers like this. Solar, oil, etc, let the market decide who has the best product, as long as everyone plays by the same overall rules and guidelines.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

So what you are saying is that pickup truck owners should have been buying the Tesla pickup truck all along? Bunch of idiots for not buying something that doesn't exist, right?
Are you including yourself in that 'divisive close-minded' group?

You completely missed his point.

There are people who are deliberately creating pollution and expressing hatred of companies like Tesla in order to demonstrate aggressive anti-green credentials.

This is a small number of people, but they do exist.

 

[Barklikeadog]

You completely missed his point.

There are people who are deliberately creating pollution and expressing hatred of companies like Tesla in order to demonstrate aggressive anti-green credentials.

This is a small number of people, but they do exist.

I understand his point perfectly. "They would rather drive" says enough. If you want people to see your point of view, you cannot lecture or preach down to them. That drives people away. You are wrong... Now will you join my side?

The worst part of this thread is the assumption that people arent buying the all electric tesla because of these stubborn reasons. It shows little understanding of others.

Millions of households rent... They cant charge up a vehicle. Millions more live in urban areas... No garage, no driveway, no way to charge their vehicle. And this isnt going to miraculously change in 5 or 10 years.

The AGI for Model s/x owners is over 300k. Most of the 'haters' on your lists are spending 20k on a sedan. Do you think they want to hear about your 90k future car?

I'm in the middle on this. Give me a viable better cleaner driving option for my needs and I will buy one. Greenies are pretty bad when it comes to lecturing others, and then they dont understand why others hate them. Blah blah UAW workers, blah blah oil company employees.... All that does is make a million people think... F you, buddy. It is the wrong way to go about this.

 

[djplong]

The problem is exacerbated by stubborn, willful ignorance. There are psychological studies that prove that it's more common than you think to keep doing something, even though you know it's bad for you, just because you don't want to admit you're wrong or made a bad decision.

People will make up all kinds of crap to try and defend bad decisions.

 

[Barklikeadog]

The problem is exacerbated by stubborn, willful ignorance. There are psychological studies that prove that it's more common than you think to keep doing something, even though you know it's bad for you, just because you don't want to admit you're wrong or made a bad decision.

People will make up all kinds of crap to try and defend bad decisions.

See... now you are doing it. Judging someone's choice of auto as a 'bad decision'. Such psych studies are right, this is real and it is everywhere. We are talking
about buying an automobile, though. Tens of millions of people cannot buy what you want them to buy. They just can't. Informing them that they need to buy something
they can't afford drives thema way faster.

It is a bad decision to talk down to someone and expect them to join your side. When it doesn't work, double down on the lecturing.