ZigOpinion: Why Does Tesla Get All The Hate?

Oh dear, this is a touchy topic. It is so because when it comes to cars (like with sports) there are camps. No, I do not mean the summer adventure camp one goes to at 13 and gets their first crush, I mean a bunch of hardcore fans who will do anything - ANYTHING - to defend the brand of their choice. And sadly, it is because of these camps (or sometimes, just an individual) that a car (or a brand) gets a bad rep. 

 

 

 

 

 

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In the global automotive scene, this hardcore fan base was once Ford vs Chevy, BMW vs Mercedes, Porsche vs everyone else, Ford vs Holden, and so on. The most vocal ones of the lot, though, usually were the BMW boys with their ‘I aM Superior’ attitude towards everyone else - sometimes real, sometimes grossly misplaced, and more often than not, people chose to ignore them as they meant no harm. In very recent times, though, there has been one fanbase that far, far (x infinity) exceeds everyone else in terms of their ‘jehrilapan’ or toxicity. Yes, you guessed it - Tesla. 

These fan’peeps’ (important to be gender neutral here) think their electric cars are the best thing since sliced bread (btw, Pau is better) and that nothing under the sun is a better mobility tool. Now, credit where it is due (and it really, really is) - Tesla has done more single-handedly for the electric car and electric mobility than all other automakers combined (and then multiplied by 10). I am not talking about making cars go longer, faster, drive better here, but the one big thing that held people off from buying an electric car in the first place - a mental block, ‘they do not work’. They do work. They work really, really well, actually. Especially in an urban environment where 99 percent of the normal car-buying public drives their car. 

I still remember flying to the United States for the first time in 2018 to drive the Tesla range for the first time. No, it wasn’t a usual invite from Tesla, because they don’t really do that. We rented the then brand spanking new Model 3 from Turo (which is an app that lets you rent out nice and interesting personal cars) and actually drove around and did some content around it. This was the first time the Tesla India rumours were flying around, and since the Model 3 was HOT HOT HOT - the idea was to get a real, firsthand experience. Frankly, the cars (with the exception of some overall build and quality issues) are not bad at all. They drive really well, and at least until recently, they were generally well loved by the kind of thoughtful, forward-thinking individual that you could actually have a productive conversation with. 

In recent times, all of that has been turned on its head. You now have hardcore Elon fans that at one point hated Tesla and the idea of an electric car, loving Tesla, and you have Tesla’s core audience, that forward-thinking, perhaps left-leaning individual who always batted for EVs and Tesla, suddenly hating the brand because of its founder. Fair enough - everyone is entitled to a free and fair opinion, even if it is daft sometimes, but why hurt the poor cars? News of Teslas being set on fire, cars being smashed up, road rage against Tesla drivers, and poor scores for Tesla Uber drivers comes out of the United States every day. Why blame the car on a single person? Why blame something inanimate for the follower of a human? 

It frankly hurts to see any car of any brand receive this much hate because let's face it, in this case, it isn’t the car’s fault! Teslas in general are great cars - especially the Model S,3, X and Y, and you only need about 30 mins behind the wheel of one to find why. IT is only because of them that every other automaker got off its backside and developed an electric vehicle, and frankly, at least in the United States, if it weren’t for them, the charging infra would have never been usable. 

This hate is not sadly limited to Tesla and the United States. In India, mass catered towards Porsche happened post the fatal Pune accident. We all know the memes that surround the Suzuki Burgman, and the blind hate every Maruti car that gets on the internet. Even phenomenal products like the Creta and, of course, the Thar have been affected by this. All we have to say is this - hate a car by all means if the product is bad. Don't hate a car if people you don't like drive them or if the head of the automaker is unhinged. 

Gaadi ne kya bigada hai yaar? 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ZigWheels. 

Tushar’s Note: The acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles have no grounds to be condoned. They’re based on disagreement with the brand’s founder, his actions and political affiliations, but the repercussions are more real for the employees who will be affected by the attacks. The billionaire’s still going to be a billionaire on the other side of this!

That being said, this does show the other side of being a one-man brand ambassador. Tesla never bothered marketing its cars in the way others did, simply because so much of the brand’s aura was directly linked with its owner alone. Elon Musk has often been hailed as a once-in-a-generation visionary for his work with Tesla and beyond, and the praise is at least in part warranted. However, these recent events highlight the risks of overindexing an entire organization’s reputation on the actions of one person with the repercussions affecting sales and perception worldwide.

While things may get better in time and with changes within the brand, it serves as a reminder that no brand goliath is immune to serious challenges and when things change, they can change seemingly overnight.

Let us know what you think about this in the comments below!