4 ms·

Does “salesman” figure actually affect your choice of car? Shouldn’t it be objective characteristics like TCO, reliability, etc

ZeroGravitas 2y ago
Cars are one of the most brand and image driven purchases that people make, certainly when weighted by cost. There's very little cold logical thought involved in most new car purchases.
gtirloni 2y ago
This should clarify a few things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human
Tesslaaas 2y ago
Yes. I have not bought that kitchen by that weird sales guy who ignored my wives kitchen 3d model (ah we don't need that, we will start from scratch) I will not buy a Tesla either.
short_sells_poo 2y ago
Yes, yes it does. Why is it inconceivable that people don't want to give money to Musk? It's called voting with your wallet. I may like the car, but I deeply disagree with the business owner's views and deranged behavior over the last couple of years. The easiest thing I can do is to give my money to someone else instead. Ultimately it doesn't matter whether Musk truly believes some of the lunacy he says, his actions speak for him. I disagree with his actions and don't want to support him. He could make the best car in the world for all I care.
- jesterson 2y ago
  what do you think of Volkswagen then?
  - short_sells_poo 2y ago
    If it was 1940, I'd avoid buying one. If you are aware of the Volkswagen profits going directly to a known nazi supporter, I'd love to know. People can change, as can ownership of companies. If Musk divested himself completely of Tesla, I'd be happy to buy one. I have no bias against Tesla or it's employees, I have a bias against the owner currently hard at work trying to destroy democracy in the US and across the globe. More to the point, are you deliberately trolling or you genuinely do not see the point being made?
    - jesterson 2y ago
      > I have a bias against the owner currently hard at work trying to destroy democracy in the US and across the globe. Slight deviation from the topic - i am very keen to know how the owner “trying to destroy democracy in US and across the globe”. Especially curious about the “across the globe” part. mot trolling, genuinely curious.
  - gtirloni 2y ago
    It's not so simple with companies, if you view them as a single entity, because they are composed of many individuals and you interface with them at different layers. In the case of Tesla, you have a very public figure embodying the figure of the company. If Tesla has the best EVs it's not really Tesla that has them but _Elon Musk's Tesla_ (whether that's true or not in terms of his stocks doesn't matter to the general public). Same with SpaceX. It's not SpaceX's great engineering team launching rockets that people remember, it's "did you see Elon's latest rocket launch? amazing!" The fact we don't remember who VW's CEO is speaks volumes about this (in the opposite way).
simion314 2y ago
>Does “salesman” figure actually affect your choice of car? If I have multiple choices that are equivalent then I will use other criterias like "Am I giving money to nazis?"
Mashimo 2y ago
Have you ever talked to carbon based humanoid life forms before?
npteljes 2y ago
Absolutely it does. Not to mention, if the mood is right now "let's spray paint teslas because fuck elon", buying a tesla means that I can be the next car owner with a fuck elon spray paint. Who wants that, even if the TCO, reliability etc are all there.

ZeroGravitas 2y ago

Cars are one of the most brand and image driven purchases that people make, certainly when weighted by cost. There's very little cold logical thought involved in most new car purchases.

gtirloni 2y ago

This should clarify a few things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human

Tesslaaas 2y ago

Yes. I have not bought that kitchen by that weird sales guy who ignored my wives kitchen 3d model (ah we don't need that, we will start from scratch) I will not buy a Tesla either.

short_sells_poo 2y ago

Yes, yes it does. Why is it inconceivable that people don't want to give money to Musk? It's called voting with your wallet. I may like the car, but I deeply disagree with the business owner's views and deranged behavior over the last couple of years. The easiest thing I can do is to give my money to someone else instead. Ultimately it doesn't matter whether Musk truly believes some of the lunacy he says, his actions speak for him. I disagree with his actions and don't want to support him. He could make the best car in the world for all I care.

jesterson 2y ago
what do you think of Volkswagen then?
- short_sells_poo 2y ago
  If it was 1940, I'd avoid buying one. If you are aware of the Volkswagen profits going directly to a known nazi supporter, I'd love to know. People can change, as can ownership of companies. If Musk divested himself completely of Tesla, I'd be happy to buy one. I have no bias against Tesla or it's employees, I have a bias against the owner currently hard at work trying to destroy democracy in the US and across the globe. More to the point, are you deliberately trolling or you genuinely do not see the point being made?
  - jesterson 2y ago
    > I have a bias against the owner currently hard at work trying to destroy democracy in the US and across the globe. Slight deviation from the topic - i am very keen to know how the owner “trying to destroy democracy in US and across the globe”. Especially curious about the “across the globe” part. mot trolling, genuinely curious.
- gtirloni 2y ago
  It's not so simple with companies, if you view them as a single entity, because they are composed of many individuals and you interface with them at different layers. In the case of Tesla, you have a very public figure embodying the figure of the company. If Tesla has the best EVs it's not really Tesla that has them but _Elon Musk's Tesla_ (whether that's true or not in terms of his stocks doesn't matter to the general public). Same with SpaceX. It's not SpaceX's great engineering team launching rockets that people remember, it's "did you see Elon's latest rocket launch? amazing!" The fact we don't remember who VW's CEO is speaks volumes about this (in the opposite way).

simion314 2y ago

>Does “salesman” figure actually affect your choice of car? If I have multiple choices that are equivalent then I will use other criterias like "Am I giving money to nazis?"

Mashimo 2y ago

Have you ever talked to carbon based humanoid life forms before?

npteljes 2y ago

Absolutely it does. Not to mention, if the mood is right now "let's spray paint teslas because fuck elon", buying a tesla means that I can be the next car owner with a fuck elon spray paint. Who wants that, even if the TCO, reliability etc are all there.