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That’s actually good news for Tesla in the long run. It’s a company that sells cars mostly to yuppies and woke buerguesie who drive the cars as a statement.

That’s actually good news for Tesla in the long run. It’s a company that sells cars mostly to yuppies and woke buerguesie who drive the cars as a statement. Now it’s time to let this bird fly and see if it survives, for that it needs to appeal to the mass market and not just the ones who “move to Canada” every 4 years. Tesla stock like every stock is (over)valued based on the future, and at this point de-Musking Tesla a little bit could be the thing that actually brings the money to those Tesla stock “investors” in the mid/long run.

pavlov 4y ago
Is that actually a good way to expand the market? Apple around 2000 was stuck in a niche that would probably be described as “woke” today: graphic designers and hipsters. The way that Steve Jobs broke out of the niche wasn’t that he suddenly started courting Dell PC buyers and went around saying: “Designers are dummies and ‘Think Different’ was a joke anyway.” That’s basically how Musk is treating his existing Tesla customers now. (Including myself. The car is still good but I have serious doubts I’d buy another.)
acdha 4y ago
> It’s a company that sells cars mostly to yuppies and woke buerguesie who drive the cars as a statement. You’re bringing a lot of emotional baggage to this mischaracterization. Tesla’s buyers are affluent because they didn’t sell anything cheap but that doesn’t make them woke - the dedicated environmentalists bike or take the bus to work - and the smartest move Tesla ever did was making the first one a sports car. That got all of the “car guys” interested because it changed the thought of an EV from something bland but virtuous to a fun, premium experience. Even knowing that “woke” is how right-wingers describe anyone who isn’t, it’s really not accurate – I know more libertarians who bought them until the quality control problems started catching up with them.

pavlov 4y ago

Is that actually a good way to expand the market? Apple around 2000 was stuck in a niche that would probably be described as “woke” today: graphic designers and hipsters. The way that Steve Jobs broke out of the niche wasn’t that he suddenly started courting Dell PC buyers and went around saying: “Designers are dummies and ‘Think Different’ was a joke anyway.” That’s basically how Musk is treating his existing Tesla customers now. (Including myself. The car is still good but I have serious doubts I’d buy another.)

acdha 4y ago

> It’s a company that sells cars mostly to yuppies and woke buerguesie who drive the cars as a statement. You’re bringing a lot of emotional baggage to this mischaracterization. Tesla’s buyers are affluent because they didn’t sell anything cheap but that doesn’t make them woke - the dedicated environmentalists bike or take the bus to work - and the smartest move Tesla ever did was making the first one a sports car. That got all of the “car guys” interested because it changed the thought of an EV from something bland but virtuous to a fun, premium experience. Even knowing that “woke” is how right-wingers describe anyone who isn’t, it’s really not accurate – I know more libertarians who bought them until the quality control problems started catching up with them.