March 30, 2016. I arrived to the Tesla showroom/service facility at 7am to a line of about 30 people already camped out. A local Tesla fan club was handing out donuts and coffee. Tesla store employees were handing out whatever swag they had in stock; I got a nice pen.
Then, the line grew… and grew. Hundreds of fans wrapped around the building as we all eagerly awaited plunking down $1000 sight-unseen for a car. It seemed insane, but I wanted nothing else. It was a jovial, exciting party, and we were all there for the same reason. Then, the doors opened and it was electric (heh).
The order system couldn’t keep up, as every customer rapidly put in their reservation as quickly as possible to allow the next person to get theirs. I excitedly rushed home and bought as much TSLA stock as I could afford.
The next night was just as exciting, as I saw the grand reveal. The car was different, but beautiful. It was exactly what I wanted. Other people felt the same.
Then came the excruciating wait, as the company struggled to start production and avoid bankruptcy. People on the subreddit coordinated volunteer opportunities to assist Tesla in any way possible. We were all in this together.
Once deliveries started, it was again like Christmas morning. I got a call from a weary rep that my new baby was ready to deliver. One more painful week, and I was driving my amazing new whip away from the center, cheering to myself. I was hot shit as I turned heads around town in my low-VIN Magic Future Machine. Despite some early part replacements under warranty, it’s been a great car.
Which brings us to today. I’m now embarrassed to pull it out of my garage, despite the fact that lots of Teslas are tooting around town. I roll my eyes at the couple Cybertrucks I see. I want to put one of those “bought this before…” stickers on the bumper, but that seems kind of corny to me. My friends mock my Swasticar. I want to get rid of it, but I have no car payment and can’t be dropping the cash on something else. Even a used Polestar 2 would be $10,000 out of pocket. I’m sure there will be a rush on other EVs anyway.
I’m left with a perfectly good car that tells everybody that I’m an evil racist who supports the destruction of the better world I hoped to hasten with my original purchase. I don’t know what to do. What do owners like me (I assume there are many) suggest? Do we just live with our mistake?
I still love my car, and enjoy driving it. I have nothing to do with the antics of their CEO, nor does it affect me in any way. It’s even in a foreign country (I’m Canadian). Would I race down and buy another one, not after this, no. But at the same time, I don’t look to the auto industry for the inspiration of ethical behavior. Look at VW and Diesel gate, not to mention they were started by the actual Nazis. When you see a beetle, that’s an actual swastzicar. BMW, Mercedes came from terrible people. Henry Ford was an actual piece of shit, heck Ford and GM each donated over a million to celebrate Trump’s inauguration, and could be seen to be just as complicit here. The former Chairman of Nissan had to be smuggled out of Japan in a coffin, just a few years ago, to escape criminal fraud charges. John Delorean himself got busted with a trunk full of cocaine in the 80s, trying to save his car company. Long long story short, don’t equate your consumer purchase choices with conspiring with lunatics. You’d pretty soon have nothing, as everyone from Amazon, to the social media companies, to your favourite entertainers, all act with an appalling lack of ethical conduct.