While I agree with the sentiment, if the face-value goal of this note becomes true, this has the same vibe as “Sell it to who, Ben? Fucking Aquaman?”
Actually, that’s exactly the point of “act fast” as described in the text.
If you assume that many will sell their cars, you also assume prices will drop. That means, it’s better to sell now, when prices are still somewhat high. It’s the same mechanism as in any stock crash.
That’s the goal, though. If people start doing this, the value of used Teslas will crater. That will kill sales of new ones. Why buy a new one when you can get a used one dirt cheap? Why buy a new one if you know it will lose all of its value because the used market died?
Unfortunately downward price will come against up the tariff inflation of new trucks and cars (estimated 20%+ increase by dealers) that will happen if Trump unchanges his fucking mind one more time.
I still think annoying but not impossible the remove stickers are the solution. Do that enough times and anyone who hasn’t fallen into the sunk cost fallacy will either be looking to sell, or at least never buy another swasticar.
Still plenty of rubes that support trump. The backlash against tesla actually probably has whole swaths of them looking to buy one to own the libs.
I think that’s a big stretch. The venn diagram of people that buy electric vehicles and those that support Trump barely intersect.
We’re talking gold medalists at mental gymnastics though. My right wing relatives are now retiring their own narratives. They used to say “drill baby drill, EVs are for libs.” now they are saying that Tesla is the only brand for a patriot because the company and factories are in America.
I would have said the same about crypto a few months ago, but here we are with a presidential shitcoin grift being carried by millions of Trump supporters
I promise you there’s always going to be someone willing to buy one. You’ll possibly just have to drop the price really low. I’d buy a used Tesla for a dollar, for example. If people suspect the price is dropping then hopefully they’ll panic sell, and force the price to drop even faster.
I honestly don’t understand what selling it does though. The same amount of teslas are still on the streets. Please help me understand.
The advice isn’t about reducing the number of Teslas. It’s about helping someone get out of owning one. Also, that money doesn’t go to Elon, it goes to the seller, so to some people, they might consider that part a wash.
It’s about helping someone get out of owning one
You realize that if someone sells their Tesla, while they no longer own one, someone else does, right?
The point is crashing the market value of used Teslas, thereby reducing new sales as people will be more incentivized to buy used.
Sure, but the person selling doesn’t want it anymore and gets their money back. While at the same time; the person buying would have bought one anyway, potentially a brand new one. By selling your tesla to another driver, you’re bailing yourself out of a shit decision and taking one less buyer off the market further disrupting the companies income.
Every tesla bought off the used market is one less tesla purchased new, and Tesla the company only makes money off of new sales.
What’s wrong with owning one? Its a car and we can assume the owner has a need for it (obligatory “Fuck cars!”). It’s the buying of one with the knowledge we have now that is the issue.
Edit: I see a few downvotes so I must have said something wrong. What am I still not understanding?
It’s also an overpriced “luxury” vehicle, a terrible one with a boatload of recalls and recurring design issues. How long before we consider owning one to be like owning a Daewoo or Pinto?
We’ve also known what their CEO is about for a while now. Years in fact. And that same CEO is dismantling the US government and killing people with his actions. I think a lot of us see it this way: If someone still owns one, they get to “own” that they own it now.
As much as you may not be into cars, for a significant amount of people they’re seen as a status symbol and part of someone’s identity. It may match a persons style or lifestyle choice.
If you are seen to be driving one others may believe you side with Elon musk and his radical political shift. You may also disagree with him so much you may not want to daily something that benefits him overall.
Because elon bad all cybertrucks must be defaced and their drivers hung - at least that’s the sentiment I’m seeing around here lately
If everyone wants to sell and nobody wants to buy, the used price will go down.
If used teslas in good condition are dirt cheap, there’s no point buying a new one.
If nobody wants a new Tesla, there are fewer Teslas entering the streets.
If enough people try to get rid of their Teslas the Used value will crash and bring the New value even further down.
That was observed when Elon in his brilliance secured the Hertz deal and then slashed new Tesla prices. Leaving Hertz no choice but to dump their inventory.
The sell off from Hertz hurt the used value because it was a large supply of “We just want out, we already lost money on these”
Cars are worth what someone is willing to pay. More used cars on the market means lower prices means fewer new cars are purchased. The biggest drop in value on any car (bigotry aside) happens at mile 1 when you drive it off the lot. But manufacturers love scarcity when there is high demand, so some manufacturers explicitly forbid buyers from selling their cars (Tesla and Ferrari are the only ones I know of, but there may be more.) If you want one, you must buy it new, and you better buy it quick because it won’t last. They don’t want buyers leaving the lot and shopping around, they want to create an atmosphere of panic and exclusivity.
Fortunately, they cannot enforce the requirements that you don’t sell your car. What they can do is refuse to sell you another one, which Ferrari is famous for doing. With Tesla, if you’re selling because you don’t want to be associated with Nazis, you’re not going to care if the Nazis won’t sell you another car. Yes, you’re probably selling to another Nazi, but most people cannot afford to simply abandon or scrap a functioning* car on principle. Selling is the next best thing, as it undercuts the aura of scarcity, drives the price down, and reduces the number of new cars sold.
Previous owners that gave money to Musk can distance themselves from him, while new owners that believe Teslas are good can buy one without giving money to Musk.
I’m in the market for a car and there is an amount of money I would spend for a used Tesla despite the potential for vandalism etc. I don’t think there is an amount of money I’d spend on a new one
It always warms my heart to see actionable lists.
Even pointless ones that don’t result in fewer of the thing existing? Selling it just means passing off the note to the next person.
The number of them out there is erroneous. It’s what perceived value they have that matters.
And the value of used cars can drastically affect the value of new cars.
Anyone buying a Tesla now, knows what they’re buying, and what it can imply. Those selling are often selling to avoid the implication that comes with owning a Tesla.
The value doesn’t matter if they are still around. I guess it could reduce future new sales. But if someone has a shitty thing in public and just sells it to someone else who also has it in public the end result is the shitty thing being in public.
Cool, so if the price goes down and now some less well off person who cares more about their necessary affordable transportation can buy an electric car. Do we blame them for choosing a cheap Tesla over taking a voluntary stand against Musk when they aren’t giving money to Musk in the second hand market?
Other than the person who sold the car no longer having that car, what does this solve?
It’s never about making them not exist. It’s about destroying the value of the car, so fewer new ones are sold. If the used market is full of like-new versions for significantly lower prices, the number the company can sell will drop dramatically.
Musk’s wealth is largely in stocks. If we can make the value of his companies drop them we directly hurt his wealth. The cars don’t matter. The value of the company matters.
I keep seeing this talking point, and I can’t tell if it’s just bad faith propaganda, or if so many people really are this obtuse.
Where did anyone get the idea that selling a car because the head of the company is a Nazi is intended to reduce the number of extant cars? It’s such a specifically stupid argument that I have a hard time believing more than one person came up with it on their own. It’s like if you were debating coke vs pepsi, and suddenly there were hundreds of people chiming in, “Have you tried standing on your head and peeing into your own mouth?” It’s neither intelligent nor relevant in any way. That’s what you sound like. Having one person say it is weird, but seeing multiple comments makes you wonder if you’re not just mindlessly repeating something somebody told you to say.
The meme is suggesting passing the thing along to the next person who will then be the target. Like selling a nazi uniform to someone else who will wear it instead, it wxchanged hands but is atill around.
It is an obvious possible first take, not some mysterious coordinated pooh poohing of a meme.
it’s like if you were debating coke vs pepsi, and suddenly there were hundreds of people chiming in, “Have you tried standing on your head and peeing into your own mouth?” It’s neither intelligent nor relevant in any way. That’s what you sound like.
This both makes zero sense as a comparison and shows you lack reading comprehension skills.
Awesome, I love the approach. 👍🏾
I get the sentiment and am on board 100% that Elon Musk is a fucking loser Nazi – but what a condescending note. Whoever wrote this note needs to mind their own business, and maybe take a week away from the internet.
Definitely agree there. I get suggesting alternatives but literally everything they explicitly listed is really pricey. Assuming their tesla is paid off, who’d go another 20 to 30k in debt because of a note?
It would make more sense slap an anti Elon bumper sticker on and keep driving it until either EVs get cheaper or they can afford something different
Whoever made this probably thinks that the currently favored “call them all Nazis” approach is more likely to form/feed persecution complexes.
A simple ‘Swasticar’ sticker, for example, will make the owner feel personally attacked, even though it’s meant to be an attack on Musk and doesn’t really have anything to do with them.