The comment I was responding to says they don't think Elon's politics will have any bearing on car sales, because "because people don't often act on their beliefs." Paraphrasing.
The line "because people don't often act on their beliefs" is what I found most egregious in regards to the automotive industry because, yeah - I think lots of people do purchase vehicles based on their beliefs (ideals). I shared some learned history and lived experience around that topic to rebut.
Not looking to change anyone's world view with my comment here. I don't think I'm too far out-of-line with I'm saying: many people do buy cars based on their ideals (beliefs).
The closest example I can think of for people avoiding a car brand for political reasons is "Greatest Generation"/Boomers refusing to buy cars from Honda, Toyota and other Japanese companies because of Pearl Harbor, but most of them relented eventually because the value of Japanese cars was undeniably better.
This is not to say that Tesla won't suffer for Musk-induced political reasons. But I don't think this is the primary mechanism behind Tesla's downfall. Rather, I think Musk's political flailing has punctured his reality distortion bubble, so Tesla is returning to the value it rationally should have been at the whole time. It has always been a fringe manufacturer, propped up by unrealistic fantasy about the near future.
The line "because people don't often act on their beliefs" is what I found most egregious in regards to the automotive industry because, yeah - I think lots of people do purchase vehicles based on their beliefs (ideals). I shared some learned history and lived experience around that topic to rebut.
Not looking to change anyone's world view with my comment here. I don't think I'm too far out-of-line with I'm saying: many people do buy cars based on their ideals (beliefs).