Tesla ownership: how the “painless EV” became anything but
Recent media stories about falling Tesla sales have been accompanied by much schadenfreude amongst those appalled by Elon Musk’s behaviour, of which there appear to be many: YouGov reports that his net favourability rating (those who like him minus those who dislike him) is -53 in the UK. Amongst the ABC1 group wealthy enough to buy a Tesla the score is -71: that is even worse than Donald Trump (-68).
However, a word of warning is in order. Tesla’s sales have always been the lumpiest in the industry, often depending on when ships arrive in the UK with a new cargo. Tesla has never been interested in smoothing sales in order to meet monthly market share targets (which is rather to their credit), so month-to-month changes of 50% are not uncommon. Once the first quarter sales figures are published, we will have a much better idea if the decline is structural.
Clearly, some people will never buy a Tesla while Musk is in charge, and some buyers may agree with his politics (although the Venn diagram of environmentally conscious EV buyers and Elon Musk’s Trumpian supporters can’t have much of an overlap).
Of course, most people don’t consider politics when buying a car. However, premium buyers do tend to consider the “golf club test” – i.e. when they pull up at the golf club, how will their friends react? If their car is not the obvious Audi/BMW/Mercedes choice, they may be asked why they chose it. With Tesla, that used to be an easy answer: “This car is the future”. However, it is it is now more problematic – do people want to risk an argument with friends/partners/children over the car they bought? Do they want to come back to their Tesla to find a “Swastikar” sticker attached to the boot, as recently happened to a colleague?
Buying a Tesla is a bit like carrying a placard saying, “I voted Brexit”. Even people proud to have voted Brexit generally don’t want to provoke an argument about it every time they leave the house.
It is ironic that Tesla has built its reputation as the EV that is painless to own, thanks to its charging network. Yet, it is now arguably the most socially awkward product to buy.