1 week Ago By Lorraine Sommerfeld
Article content Also, stop flipping off Tesla drivers. Nobody who bought a Model S , 3 , X , or Y (I always cringe writing those model names out) over the last 10 years or so knew their acquisition would, in 2025, become a symbol of whatever the hell is happening in the U.S.
right now. Back in the day, Tesla ran away with the lead on the development of electric vehicles. Early adopters took the leap of faith — the number one thing that defines early adopters.
Sure, new tech is cool; but this new tech could change the world and save the environment. That’s what they were buying. Hell, that’s what Elon Musk was buying when he paid the engineers who actually invented Tesla.
The man takes a lot of credit if not responsibility. My city is purpose-built for something like electric cars. Lots of single-family homes and above-average incomes.
I watched as people tested the waters with things like the Nissan Leaf as their second (or third) car, and eventually moved over to the sportier Teslas. For many, it’s their primary ride, proving what the makers have been stressing is possible. If I devoted my day to flipping off Tesla drivers, I’d run out of time — and birds.
Now, of course, it seems that vandalism of Teslas and Tesla dealerships is a worldwide sport. While I may agree we’re due for a revolution, there is little use in the peasants’ pitchforking each other. Stories abound of Tesla owners being accosted or threatened or having their vehicles defaced.
A dealership in Hamilton had 80 of the electric vehicles vandalized. A dealership in Rome, Italy, had 17 of the cars destroyed by fire . “I bought this before I knew Elon was crazy” Anti-Musk posters in London bus shelters ; owners rebadging their Teslas to pretend they’re driving Audis or Toyotas; Etsy stickermakers capitalizing on iterations of “ I bought this before I knew Elon was crazy ”; Kia Norway with their own cheeky take: their EV3 campaign with “I bought this after Elon went crazy” (Kia corporate had them take it down, but viral is gonna viral, message received).
Last week, a story hit the news of a new Tesla being keyed in a Bloomington, Minnesota parking lot. Vandalizing a Tesla is not news anymore, but the response of the owner was. She just wanted the woman responsible (all captured on video, of course) to fix her car.
She declined to press charges, the offender ponied up the US$3,200. Expensive tantrum. The police chief in that case summed it up well: “We need our leaders to start leading and stop feeding this rhetoric.
..[p]eople should be able to drive whatever car they want without fear of going into a store and someone scratching their car or people yelling at them because of the car that .
.. they choose to drive.
It’s time for all of us, you know, just to start getting along and knock this stuff off, man. People should be able to be left alone.” Doesn’t matter which leaders he’s referencing (it was likely Democrat Governor Tim Walz), he’s right.
I admire and appreciate the creative approaches as much as I abhor the violent ones. The way to take the boots to someone who counts their importance by how much money they have is to fight them on that battleground. Tumbling Tesla sales worldwide — especially in key places like Sweden, Germany and California — is the way.
Heavy headwinds of change in China are also the way. Crashing stock value is also a way, though we’ve all seen it yo-yo around for years and as much as I would love to see it enter DNR territory, it would be imprudent not to mention that many, many pension portfolios have Tesla stock. They, too, bought it before Elon went crazy.
We are living in emotional times. It’s grueling watching media ask economists what is happening when they should be contacting psychiatrists. Two megalomaniacs have teamed up, it will not be for the better, and the costs will be high.
I’m truly tired of living in unprecedented times. I’m too old for this shit. In the meantime, those caught in the crossfire — people who bought Teslas because they were the best option for them, or just because they liked them — are paying a steep price both financially and socially.
EVs don’t have particularly good resale values , but Teslas’ are dipping faster. A car is a major purchase, and people can’t just toss it off like a t-shirt with a swear word their mother doesn’t like. Maybe those who support what is happening will put their money where their mouths are and start buying Teslas.
I doubt it. I’ve attacked Musk in these pages over the years, but not the cars. Cars don’t build themselves, cars don’t sell themselves, and they don’t drive themselves.
Most of my Musk ire has been reserved for him telling people his cars do drive themselves, and his efforts to skirt regulation as his creations kill people who believe him, and innocents who are collateral damage of his ego. There is emotion involved in car purchases. For over a century, North American culture has been driven by cars.
What’s happening in our auto industry right now is not only economically tumultuous, it’s deeply personal. Sports fans are booing the American national anthem, and while I understand, it is one more thing in this upside-down world I find disheartening. Remember when Canadian hockey fans sang the entire American anthem after a mic cut out? The Nashville Predators were in Toronto to play the Leafs on November 14, 2014 when the technical mishap occurred.
That still makes me cry. You can watch and cry yourself. I don’t know if we’ll ever get that back.
As for the Cybertruck ? Yeah, don’t vandalize that either. But whoever buys that thing is just signaling that they’re all on board with Musk’s unhinged worldview. They had full warning.
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