Opinion: I Will Never Understand Tesla Fans

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

Yesterday, I got Musked*.

I wrote an op-ed about how I think the Cybertruck won’t sell well over the long term, though I do expect it to sell strongly at first. I said it might be the first real flop from Tesla.

Perhaps predictably, it caused quite the stir among the company’s fans on Twitter.

I got accused of being paid off by the legacy OEMs (not true, and anyone who reads this site regularly knows we’re just as critical of them), of being bought off by the OEM who hosted my dinner the night the Cybertruck was unveiled (I provided that anecdote for color/background, the dinner had nothing to do with my opinion of the truck), of being bitter I wasn’t invited to the truck’s launch (I wasn’t upset about that), of having stock in an OEM (I don’t, as knowingly owning OEM stock would be unethical. Whatever stock I have in retirement and investment accounts is blind to me), and of all sorts of other things.

I was even accused of writing “clickbait.” Never mind that a) We want you to read everything we publish and b) it’s not mutually exclusive to hold an opinion and also anticipate it might get clicks. It’s completely fine to have a take and expect it to get attention. It’s not some violation of journalistic ethics. It’s not a cynical play for clicks.

I think even Elon Musk himself either re-tweeted or subtweeted the piece.

All this kerfuffle over a prediction.

I didn’t say one shouldn’t buy the Cybertruck — I wouldn’t do that without having driven the thing, unless perhaps I was laying out a comparison of specs and pricing between the Tesla and the competition. That wasn’t the purpose of the piece. I did say I kinda find the truck to be ugly and that based on what we know about it, I don’t think it will be as useful in terms of utility as the competition. That’s it.

Yet, TTAC’s Twitter was swarmed. Swarmed, I tells ya. Again, over a prediction. Made by one automotive journalist. One of many.

I’ve never seen anything like it. I can’t imagine the response would’ve been one-tenth the same if I had said the Ford Bronco or Ford Maverick or Chevrolet Corvette C8 or Ford Lightning would be a sales flop.

I’m not complaining, mind you. We got clicks, and while the reaction from Tesla fans was over the top, I wasn’t truly harassed via either TTAC’s account or my personal Twitter (of course, I know how it might have been different if I weren’t a straight, white male).

But I am amused that a mere sales prediction could stir the stans to that level. If it were me, and a writer predicted a car I was excited about would flop, I might get annoyed, sure. But then I’d move on with my life. I don’t have that much invested (in terms of personality and/or financial stake) in any one company or product.

To be clear, I don’t mind those who actually raised legitimate, valid arguments about why I might be wrong. The whole point of writing an opinion piece is to drive conversation, to provoke thought, and to stir debate (the clicks are a nice side benefit). If I am going to argue something, I expect pushback, and as long as it’s intellectually honest and reasonable, it’s all good.

And to be fair, I didn’t get as in-depth with my arguments as I sometimes would — I wanted to keep the piece brief.

What baffles me, though, is the level of vitriol over what is ultimately just a guess made by one guy sitting in front of a laptop. It’s like being a Chicago Bears fan and wanting to take to Twitter to call some slicked-hair pundit on ESPN a brainless moron because he says the team will only win three games this year.

Yeah, you might disagree, and maybe his take is bad, but is it worth getting that fired up over?

A lot of the Tesla fans seem to think I will be upset if I am wrong. Well, I won’t be. If the Cybertruck is a sales hit and stays a hit, there’s no skin off my back. I won’t likely be fired over getting a prediction wrong. I won’t be losing sleep over it. The worse thing that happens is some people with too much time on their hands dunk on me on Twitter. I can handle that.

If I won’t be losing sleep over whether a car that I have no stake in will or won’t be a sales hit, why are the Tesla fans — especially those who have no financial stake in the company — so worried about what one journalist predicts?

*I wish I could take credit for “musked” but it came from another journalist I know.

[Image: Tesla]

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Daveo Daveo on Jul 19, 2021

    I agree it's vaporware. And as the number of companies who are going to stop buying EPA credits from them (Stellantis was first) their ONLY profitable business is going away. Do you know someone who (does crossfit; is a vegetarian; owns a Tesla)? Not sure... Trust me, if you did you'd know.

  • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Jul 19, 2021

    No matter how much outrage you stir up by posting edgy political articles and poking the bear that is the Tesla fanbase, you'll never be Robert Farago writing about the Subaru B9 Tribeca.

  • Slavuta Inflation creation act... 2 thoughts1, Are you saying Biden admin goes on the Trump's MAGA program?2, Protectionism rephrased: "Act incentivizes automakers to source materials from free-trade-compliant countries and build EVs in North America"Question: can non-free-trade country be a member of WTO?
  • EBFlex China can F right off.
  • MrIcky And tbh, this is why I don't mind a little subsidization of our battery industry. If the American or at least free trade companies don't get some sort of good start, they'll never be able to float long enough to become competitive.
  • SCE to AUX Does the WTO have any teeth? Seems like countries just flail it at each other like a soft rubber stick for internal political purposes.
  • Peter You know we’ve entered the age of self driving vehicles When KIAs go from being stolen to rolling away by themselves.
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