Musk has witnessed a mass sell-off of Teslas in recent weeks, in protest against his unprecedented intrusion into the US government through the so-called “department of government efficiency”. Sales of new vehicles have declined around the world, with February sales in Australia down about 72% compared with the same month in 2024; in Germany sales were down 76% for the same period, while Tesla’s stock price has lost almost half its value since December.
As protests have grown, the White House has rallied round Musk. Last week Donald Trump claimed the boycott was “illegal”, while Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said on Friday she would launch an investigation into vandalism against Tesla vehicles and showrooms.
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In Brooklyn, people were apparently undeterred by the threat. Teslas driving past the protest were treated to a volley of boos, and lusty chants of “Sell your Tesla”. The demonstration certainly appeared to have restricted the number of people entering the dealership: the Guardian counted three customers in the space of an hour and a half.
I saw a video that suggested he is trying to pull out of Tesla and place his bets on SpaceX because of the mounting backlash.
SpaceX and Starlink are insulated from consumer sentiment, most of their money comes from huge government contracts and have already been made essential through an escalating series of frankly godawful decisions, unfortunately.
Atrioc is indeed pretty insightful as to the actual reasons why Tesla is viewed as an albatross - the fact that major stakeholders are selling off shares as soon as they acquire them should be a big warning sign. They are still massively over valued of course.
My takeaway is that protests and the like should start going after his other businesses especially SpaceX. His fucking fantasy is Mars and we should take that away from him.
A lot harder to go after aerospace factories and launch sites, both of which are at least “secure areas” in the commercial sense if not “restricted areas” in the national security sense.
I agree that it’s easier to go after starlink contracts and express disappointment to those working for Musk rather than going to the sites themselves.
That was a lie so he could get government contracts to build missiles. It was a fucking sales pitch.
Musk lies a lot so I can’t be certain but I think he genuinely wants to be remembered as “The Father of Mars” or some bullshit. I think that fantasy is the real infantile Musk poking through.
Don’t forget that he also used Tesla to essentially but Twitter…if Tesla fails, then so does his entire social media disinformation and propaganda platform. Can’t have that happening…which is why donald came 'to the rescue ’
They are nothing without twitter and whatever the hell that lies circle platform he keeps using.
I keep seeing posts that mention if Tesla hits $120 per share, it drops below the collateral level of the Twitter acquisition loan.
I have no idea how true that is but I’ve seen that number pop up multiple times across socials.
Can anyone confirm where that number is cited?