Tesla rebranded itself.
Elon Musk didn't expand the Tesla brand. He damaged it.
I am not a "car person." I don't love cars. I drive a Toyota Avalon hybrid. It needs washing. But I am aware that cars make implied statements about the owner because they express choices and tradeoffs: Size, performance, occupancy, number of doors, and fuel choices. A convertible says something different than does a mini-van. A Toyota Avalon hybrid is larger than a Camry. It implies an older, prosperous White guy who wants a roomy comfortable sedan. I call it a "Japanese Buick," although most of it was manufactured in Kentucky. I wouldn't drive a Buick because they are too White. Too Episcopalian.
Am I reading too much into car brand statements? Yes. The nuances of brands overstate the case, but some vehicles make very bold statements. For example, big pickup trucks, especially Dodge Rams, are a unmistakable statement of power, along, of course, with the utility of a truck bed. A Dodge Ram implies can-do capability. A Dodge Ram could bring a washing machine home from Best Buy, saving the delivery charge. Plus, a Dodge Ram passenger sits high behind a formidable front end. A man could buy a Dodge Ram thinking he is protecting himself and his family in a manly way--not by getting a vaccination for COVID, which is for wimps, but by being the "winner" in any collision with a car or tree. There is a belligerent side of the Dodge Ram image. It has a Gadsden flag quality: Don't tread on me. It fills up the road or a parking space. Possibly, somewhere in America, there is a Dodge Ram with a bumper strip that says Co-exist or Stop the Keystone Pipeline or even Biden, but I have never seen one. Those bumper strips are for people driving a Prius.
Teslas were bold statements, too. Teslas represented technology and progress. They represented new and cutting edge. Teslas represented smart environmentalism. Teslas represented upscale cool. Tesla cars had an urban sophisticated quality. Prosperous people drove them. People who read the New York Times drove them. You don't see gun racks in the back window of Teslas. Possibly somewhere in America there is a Tesla with a bumper strip that says "Trump Won," or "Let's Go Brandon," but I have never seen one.
Red state traditionalists aren't going to start buying Teslas. Fox News hosts sneer at people who speak of climate change, greenhouse gases, and electric cars. The populist right celebrates internal combustion engines and jobs in the fossil fuel industry. Teslas are like wind power; untested, inconvenient, and another example of “woke progressive nonsense." Red state populists who watch Tucker Carlson think Tesla drivers are elitist libs.
Elon Musk muddled the Tesla brand. He tweeted "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci." Prosecute?? He retweeted a post suggesting Nancy Pelosi's husband was involved in a homosexual tryst, not a home invasion. Say, what??
Musk is acting manic and foolish. He muddled the Tesla brand along with his own. It is now a vehicle for upscale people who are OK with downscale opinions. Teslas are expensive, so upscale is baked in. Conspiracy theories voiced by Marjorie Taylor Green and Tucker Carlson were not upscale. Apple was the cool brand with the "Think Different" swagger. Early adopters of Apple became early adopters of Tesla. There was swagger with Tesla, too. Anti-establishment nose-thumbing has the potential for being cool, but not if it reflects Q-Anon conspiracies. Know-nothing politics isn't cool--not to Tesla buyers.
The bloom is off the rose. I will wait until Ford or GM or Volkswagen comes up with something. No use overpaying for a Tesla.
We were down in the Bay Area over Christmas and there were so many electric cars down there driving around that I had never even HEARD of. Lucid, Rivian, Ionic, Polestar- my head kept turning. I imagine it’s only a matter of time before they start hitting the Rogue Valley like the Teslas did.