• @TeamAssimilation@infosec.pub
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      161 month ago

      I think he would be relieved to get rid of Tesla if someone would buy it. The full self-driving promise was always a matter of interpretation, and the cars they build are more expensive symbols of status than practical products. Tesla can’t compete with global EV manufacturers, that’s a Damocles sword waiting to fall.

      SpaceX is where the money is now, and all the electric innovation Tesla did can be used for something else.

      • @OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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        351 month ago

        The full self-driving promise was always a matter of interpretation

        There’s nothing to interpret. It does not fully drive itself.

        • Flic
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          21 month ago

          @OutlierBlue @TeamAssimilation but it will next year, right? Let’s just ignore all those times it’s veered into the wrong lane or onto train tracks or whatever, it’s fine. Next year, next year, next year.

          And Mars in a decade.

          • @Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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            1 month ago

            Starship was supposed to be doing trips to mars each year by last year. Instead it has sometimes managed to not explode on a suborbital trajectory. But of course regulations are what hold it back…

      • themeatbridge
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        221 month ago

        Musk is getting $8 million each day from the US government to destroy the US government. He was given $44 billion to destroy Twitter. He’s not worried about money.

  • @Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    1191 month ago

    Nobody at Tesla headquarters voted to alienate their customer base. No board meeting decided to turn their electric car company into a political lightning rod.

    This is technically not true. The board keeps Elon Musk on as CEO of Tesla, and they granted him the biggest bonus package ever, while he was already very controversial and clearly was losing his mind, because they thought he would be able to make them money.

    • @borth@sh.itjust.works
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      541 month ago

      You’re right, that’s not just technically untrue. The board voted with their wallet, by giving him even more money than ever, so he could continue doing what he is doing. The people on the board wouldn’t give a shit if only Nazis buy their cars, as long as there’s enough of them to keep buying.

      • @Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        321 month ago

        Well joke’s on them though, because it seems Musk has found a way to tap US citizens directly, so he probably doesn’t even care much about Tesla anymore now that it is failing.

          • @vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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            11 month ago

            It is and if he loses that wealth I’m pretty sure he is getting kicked to the street. He has no other skills that aren’t readily available by folks who aren’t utterly unstable drug addled dipshits.

    • @scarabic@lemmy.world
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      11 month ago

      You are 100% correct. They knowingly doubled down on him. They can all ride his coattails straight to hell.

  • 👍Maximum Derek👍
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    751 month ago

    About a week ago I saw a brand new model Y (still had the 90 day temporary plate) sporting one of those “bought before elon…” stickers.

    • Pennomi
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      501 month ago

      Elon has always been a terrible person, but he was once focused on things that society actually needed, like electrifying transportation to avoid climate collapse.

      He seems to have gone sharply downhill into total insanity by taking ketamine while locking himself in a rightwing echo chamber. It’s the perfect storm of dissociating from reality.

      • @Flatfire@lemmy.ca
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        351 month ago

        Potential ketamine addiction aside, he’s just gravitated toward where he sees more money and unfluence for himself. He wanted the prestige of being a leader in tech, so he used his influence and money to build SpaceX. Then he bullied his way into the ownership of Tesla, desperately wanting to appear as a genius to libertarian and liberal minds alike, but he’s never been any less of an authoritarian. When Trump rose to power the first time, he sat and watched and along with the rest of the Silicon Valley Moguls, he began to move himself into positions of influence with populist politicians, borrowing the evangelical right’s playbooks and throwing himself into the spotlight no matter the reason. He pivoted off his falsified image as some kind of American self-starter into MAGA rhetoric.

        Musk doesn’t have lofty ideals or any real focus on the betterment of society. I don’t think he ever did. He just wanted to be a real life Tony Stark and command the influence that came with it. Now he doesn’t need to, because he’s got Trump in his back pocket and is mostly untouchable by any normal means.

      • @schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business
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        211 month ago

        Elon has always been a terrible person

        The problem with Elon is he’s been provably an idiot for the past 25 years.

        The first thing I ever heard about Musky is that back in 2000-ish he wanted PayPal to take their infra, throw out all the Linux/BSD in use, and move everything to Windows NT.

        Anyone who was even remotely IT adjacent in that era can come along and tell you how utterly moronic that idea is.

        Anytime I’ve ever heard him blather on about some stupid shit that doesn’t exist except in his delusions or talk about, well, ANYTHING technical or specialized all I was ever able to think of is that he got lucky that Thiel didn’t drain all of his blood and leave his corpse in a ditch.

        • @Redredme@lemmy.world
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          11 month ago

          From a musk pov it’s 100% logical. Money.

          Why? Win2k was quite stable. Stable enough to use it in warships.

          Linux/Bsd is not free. When you use it in your company you want pro support. That support comes free with windows enterprise licenses. So the cost difference there is almost non existent. And, MS being M$, they would’ve sweetened the deal. A lot. Just think of the marketing worth of this deal for MS.

          And lastly: Who is cheaper? A good linux admin or a windows guy?

          So 90% of the stability at 50% of the cost. That’s not a bad deal.

    • @ryedaft@sh.itjust.works
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      111 month ago

      Dr Dorothy Bishop resigned from the Royal Society back in November 2024 because of Musk. Everybody knew. And being an FRS is a huge, huge deal to a British scientist.

      • @intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        01 month ago

        Not as big a deal as virtue signaling to that particular British scientist, naturally, but it’s quite important to the other ones I’m sure.

    • kn0wmad1c
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      21 month ago

      Damn, your temp plates are 90 days? Where do you live?

  • @Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    581 month ago

    It is mental that a man worth billions in mostly electric car companyv shares is courting people who would run their cars on coal if they could.

  • Sundray
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    1 month ago

    Tesla might have to go on welfare… by having the US government buy thousands upon thousands of Teslas. 🤮

  • partial_accumen
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    1 month ago

    Remember 2015? A Tesla parked in your driveway told your neighbours that you valued innovation, that you possessed an environmental conscience, that you had a stake in the future of the planet. The cars weren’t perfect, but they meant something. They represented hope - for clean energy, EVs, and a world beyond fossil fuels.

    This was me years go. I knew climate change was real and an imminent threat. I wanted to vote with my wallet for a cleaner future. I also wanted to strike a blow against the National Automotive Dealers Association for their regressive practices that hurt consumers and drive prices for cars higher for everyone. Buying a Tesla did those things. I charge the car on sunlight from my house. I don’t have to support the petroleum industry’s damage to environment and people around the world. I was proud to be doing something rather than just talking about needs for changes against climate change.

    Musk doesn’t get any of my money from this car. I don’t pay for any of the Tesla monthly services. I’m don’t want to be seen driving with a Tesla logo on the car. I’m ashamed that my good intentions funded a fascist.

    • @multiplewolves@lemmy.world
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      241 month ago

      There is no shame in your ownership of the vehicle based on your intentions; I would humbly assert that anger is a more appropriate reaction to the current leadership of the company that made it. If strangers judge you, that’s on them.

      If I had had the means to purchase one 10+ years ago, I would have. Most people who claim they wouldn’t are not being honest with themselves or disapproved of the virtue signaling associated with them at the time.

  • @FanciestPants@lemmy.world
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    311 month ago

    Will he really need customers much longer? I mean it seems like he can just have any government agency replace their fleet with his trash in the name of “efficiency”.

      • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝
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        228 days ago

        The thing is, if this follows the Hungary script, Musk is going to become replaceable.

        He doesn’t command votes like Trump does, but is rich enough to be a threat. Look up Simicska.

  • The Pantser
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    231 month ago

    Well VW is still around. Maybe Teslas will be classic cars in 80 years.

    /s: They will all self immolate.

    • @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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      91 month ago

      VWs never randomly caught fire. And also they don’t look like if Transformers could somehow breed, but had an abortion.

      • @corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        This.

        And VWs were survivors, crossing the desert under air cooling and repairable usually with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver. The rear bumper can hold a grown man perched back there manually pulling the throttle if you bust the linkage … or, so I … hear.

        I worry Teslas wouldn’t survive long enough to become classics. They don’t seem to be survivors.

        /63+71+71super here.

    • @frezik@midwest.social
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      51 month ago

      I checked on where Edsel prices have gone. They mostly match inflation. Not a worthwhile investment as a car that people are interested in decades later because it’s an infamous failure.

  • Ulrich
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    201 month ago

    Musk chased right-wing approval, but the only thing he got was declining sales and a dying brand.

    I mean he got tens of billions of dollars in increased wealth so I dunno if I’d say that.

  • Horsey
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    1 month ago

    Everyone forgets where the German cars, Henry Ford, etc came from politically.

    I was looking into my first EV, and politics just didn’t weigh that much into the decision. Now, the “infotainment as a perpetual service”, that turned me off and away from Tesla. With CarPlay my car dash will never lose service, and will always be free to use with updates from Apple/Google. I can’t imagine why people would ever pay for their infotainment when CarPlay is better or equal in all cases to the alternative.

    That said, if Tesla and other brands were equally weighted in my purchase decision, I’d then happily rule Tesla out based on merit.

    • @skeesx@lemm.ee
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      241 month ago

      German cars come from Carl Benz, who built the first automobile in 1885, four years before Hitlers birth.

      • Horsey
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        1 month ago

        Not necessarily Carl Benz himself, but it has been litigated that the company had ties to the nazi regime. I’m not arguing that Mercedes was founded on Nazi values, I’m just saying there was a connection and a less than stellar history of bedfellows.

        • @skeesx@lemm.ee
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          11 month ago

          Every German corporation that was around back then had ties to the Nazis, especially anything industrial. As one can see in the US at the moment, corporations swim with the tide. Most of these companies succeeded despite the Nazis, not because of them, with obvious exception being VW.

    • @AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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      161 month ago

      Are either Ford or Mercedes currently run by Nazis? Can the average person on the street name the CEO of either of them?

      The problem with Tesla is that everyone hates the guy who has made himself the face of the company at a time when there are plenty of alternatives.

      • Horsey
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        1 month ago

        The issue is that the alternatives generally aren’t that much better in a vacuum. Infotainment vs Tesla infotainment (removing the CarPlay merits): It’s not even close. Tesla is like 10-15 years ahead of everything else on the US market in their price range. Car manufacturers famously lock in their tech and designs something like 3 years before public release.

        Will there be meaningful software updates for your Kia EV6 in 2028? Absolutely not, no way.

        Do you want to tow anything more than 1000Kg? Good luck outside of Tesla.

        NACS? Not one single other car available yet.

        Do you want a dashcam? Rivian is the only other brand, IIRC.

        I’m not apologizing for Tesla, but it’s really painful how awful all other cars are compared to the competition.

        • @rusticus@lemm.ee
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          61 month ago

          If Rivian had a more affordable option they’d be eating Teslas lunch right now. R2 coming next year.

          • Horsey
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            11 month ago

            Issue with waiting for the R2/3 is that the tax credits will probably be gone by then.

        • @btaf45@lemmy.world
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          41 month ago

          Will there be meaningful software updates for your Kia EV6 in 2028? Absolutely not, no way.

          I just got a new electric Kia and I don’t give the slightest shit about updates. In fact I would prefer no updates for fear it would make the great car I have worse. And no way in hell will I ever give Dotard Musk any of my money,

        • @j4yt33@feddit.org
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          21 month ago

          What an annoying position to be in, needing software updates for your fucking car. Then what, you’ll have to replace it after three years because it won’t get any new security patches anymore?

        • @Ronno@feddit.nl
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          21 month ago

          Tesla was ahead 10-15 years, sure. But they mostly lost that lead. Yes, their software is great, but at the same time Tesla doesn’t seem to be able to do basic car features right. For instance, it doesn’t have a rain sensor and relies on the front facing camera to detect rain. I can tell you from experience that it doesn’t work as well as a sensor. It’s even worse when it detects rain, while it is completely dry. But you cannot turn the wipers off, because then you won’t be able to use cruise control anymore. Cruise control, which by the way (non FSD) is shit in comparison to the competition.

          The tablet might be a couple years ahead of the competition. The value they bring in bang for buck with a great feature package is also greatly competitive. But the car is behind when it comes to just normal car things. I have buttons on my steering wheel as indicators for fuck sake, a problem we already fixed when we were still prosecuting Nazis.

      • @shalafi@lemmy.world
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        41 month ago

        Don’t have a working stereo in my 22-yo truck or 23-yo car. Bluetooth speaker it is!

        (I don’t generally listen to anything driving. I like to chill and think about life. Which ain’t always the wise move.)

  • @eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    191 month ago

    8% drop in car sales isn’t great but I think the article is overselling the idea that the company is straight up dying. (Sadly) Most people just don’t make a connection between how they spend their money and the politics of the people they prop up.

    • @Buffalox@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Tesla is definitely dying unless they can turn this around quickly.
      Surplus capacity is expensive, and I bet they are already operating at a loss. And turning around a bad reputation is hard.
      Their models are dated, the cheap Tesla is cancelled, the Cybertruck is a catastrophic fiasco, and the model Y has already lost a lot of popularity, so even a new mode already said to be mostly a facelift, is unlikely to make a huge difference.
      The drop in sales in January in EU is 50%, and they are losing market share in China and USA too. So I think the actual drop is higher now than 8%.
      Note that for Nissan a 5% drop last year was called catastrophic!! And their survival is also questioned, and they are way bigger than Tesla.

      • @markstos@lemmy.world
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        81 month ago

        To your list add that new Tesla sales are also competing against an increasing number of Tesla owners who now want to divest themselves of the brand.

        More used Teslas on the market will only push down the market rates and thus profits of new Teslas even further.

        • @Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          11 month ago

          Good point, the article states a Tesla that only had 10k miles on it, had dropped in value by about 40%!!
          With such low mileage cars on the used market so cheap, Tesla will absolutely be competing against their own used cars.

    • @rusticus@lemm.ee
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      111 month ago

      It’s close to 50% drop in Europe. The EU has 500 million people. They may not know it yet but Tesla is on hospice care.

  • modifier
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    81 month ago

    And the board is probably afraid to fire him now too.