Is Elon Musk hurting Tesla? (Mod Note Post #1)

Whether you like Musk or not, it's absolutely true that he has damaged the brand through his methods. His modus operandi is to strip out processes down to the bare bone and then break test everything. This isn't an analytical approach and almost seems childish. This is very apparent in what he's done with Twitter and will eventually crash that company.

The idea is to cut costs to the bone, but it inevitably will crash into the law of unintended consequences; something that's happening with Twitter (EU Commission et al). The shoddy build quality is also evidence of this approach. He's also mercurial. Doing things on a whim might be cute, but really isn't a good thing in a car manufacturer. The Cybertruck is an example of this whimsical approach. That thing looks like it was designed by a child. Maybe it was.

But probably the thing that has the most capacity to damage the company is how Musk finances his lifestyle and his purchase of Twitter and other toys. In order to avoid income tax, he takes his pay in the form of Tesla shares which he then leverages with his bankers to get loans (this isn't unusual btw, billionaires innit) which he then uses to live off. No income, no tax. But at some stage in the long run, the piper will have to be paid. However the more pressing issue is what happens if Twitter goes tits up. Morgan Stanley will want their money back and the only way he can do that is to sell Tesla stock. What then happens to Tesla (and Musk) could be very interesting.

TL;DR: Whimsy is fun, but I won't drive a car subject to its vagaries.

to the favourable, he

I never said I care about you or your car - I care about my own principles and opinion of this ‘individual’ in making a decision about 2x €50k cars.

chill. Your car can beat mine at the lights something something something

Genuinely never said I care about this - I care about my own principles, and about any of my hard-earned euros lining the pocket of someone who I personally believe is the most awful individual. Buying a Tesla benefits Elon Musk in some tiny way.

its a decision about principles, not some sort of vanity debate about the car people drive.

If this was about opinions of other people’s car choices, we’d be debating why literally thousands of Irish car buyers in the past 15months bought a Yaris Cross!

I know what you’re saying - but (1) How many Irish car buyers cared less about diesel gate in their future buying decisions - I’d nearly compare it to EV buyers actually caring about the environment, versus their reduced running costs,

and (2) the only way the association between Tesla and Musk ends is for the Board to remove him, or he goes of his own accord.

for sure it’s not ending any time soon, and being led by such a massively polarising voice has the effect of, um, polarising buyers. Either way, you’re reducing your pool of buyers

That's not a principle, that's an opinion.

Don't insult the word principle.

Musk is an obnoxious twat and for most people you might as well replace the name on the car with 'muskmobile'. That's the nature of a celebrity CEO.

To compare that to the situation at Mercedes is off the wall stuff

This is literally from yesterday’s news re the share price’s continued ‘repricing’ - a prediction that sales growth might actually drop to zero this year.

Tesla is/was priced as a high-growth tech stock, and musk is its CEO - remove all his lies, bluff and bluster and it’s really hard to understand how he keeps his job if these numbers bear out (spoiler: he’ll keep his job as long as he wants to stay himself)

Elon musk is at the very least one of the factors in this stagnation in sales growth

Well said and articulated. The fan boys don’t like being called out though….