Rubbish. For most of the general public outside of the tech elite, nobody knows anything about electric cars. They're a curios novelty that simply do not enter

Rubbish. For most of the general public outside of the tech elite, nobody knows anything about electric cars. They're a curios novelty that simply do not enter into the discussion when choosing a car. This controversy has actually put Tesla and electric cars on the map for an enormous number of people. This is the exact kind of global publicity that is worth billions of dollars of marketing money. While the impression itself is not necessarily positive, the controversy involved here means that a potential buyer will do a tiny bit of research, which has a chance to lead to a purchase. People who already were planning to buy from Tesla would not be swayed by this controversy at all, as they would probably have sided more with Musk's remarks after already convincing themselves the car was sensible. This entire saga is a huge win for Tesla. I actually saw mention of it in a local newspaper which has never reported on Tesla before now.