[gmoore]

I don't think this just about 'the competition getting wiser' or 'the market for EV's getting bigger'. People aren't buying Tesla because of Musk. Maybe not every missed sale is for that reason - but if you think for one minute that his behavior and his positions doesn't affect car sales - you're simply mistaken.

[sliken]

As an owner I disagree. Ya, Elon is often as ass. Tesla's are fast, safe, and have all the usual EV advantages. I'm not buying a worse car just because a billionaire is an ass.

However most people that want a tesla, have a tesla.

But they all look similar, have narrow use cases (commuting on clean roads), have minimal road clearance (except the truck). People (like me) like turn signals, shifters, and temp sensors. I bought a model 3P, the only option was tires not good for under 40F (because of damage to the tires, not traction). No option for anything else, despite it being under 40F that same day a 1.5 hour drive away.

The new model 3P (no Yp yet) made the steering wheel buttons WORSE, they don't click. Pretty much a deal killer for me, especially since they removed the turn signal and shifter stalks.

Model Y is nice, but very low for a SUV at 6.6 inches. Well below what you might need if there's a snow storm.

Rivian R2 and other competition is looking pretty good, last thing I want to think about is the rotational alignment of the wheel so I can hit a moving target of a turn signal, without even a click to let me know I hit it.

I'm plenty pleased with the ergonomics of my 3P, nearly everything either has a button, voice control, or is set rarely enough (like seat heaters) that I leave it on auto. The new 3P is a disaster in comparison and won't even warn me accurately track when it's going to freeze.

[averageRoyalty]

I doubt it's significant. If you're not super online or in tech, it's very likely you don't know much about Musk. Millions of people own Teslas who know little to nothing about him. It's got to be a single digit percentage who don't buy because of him.

[EA-3167]

I think the Cybertruck and QC issues that have become weekly issues in the media can't be helping either. It's a big, ugly, expensive piece of crap and that has to leave some people wondering about the stories of panel gaps and other issues in other Tesla models. Add Musk to that, and the existence of alternatives and I'm not shocked that the Tesla bubble is deflating.

[red-iron-pine]

the cybertruck is such a failure. the US truck market is gigantic; the F-150 is the single best selling vehicle -- not car, not truck, but ALL consumer vehicles -- in the US.

There is a massive demand for the F-150 Lightning and a very pragmatic part of the US wants rechargable trucks esp. since they're more often than not commuter vehicles. Like, gas for these trucks is expensive. There is a market segment he could totally grab, and all he had to do was make a knock-off Nissan Titan with batteries and then dominate.

The rest of the market is saturated and is now competing on price, and Asia will dominate there. If you can't compete on price then you compete on image, reliability, safety, etc., but their poor QC, combined with Musk's increasingly unhinged behavior, suggests that the brand is of dubious value.