I'm currently driving that VW TDI -- best car I've ever owned in 35 years. Next vehicle wasn't going to be a Tesla, but perhaps an F150 Lightning if they ever get their head out their asses and offer a regular old e-pickup -- I don't want quad cab and a short bed, just two doors and a regular full size bed would be great. Alas, that's hard to find in ICE, let alone electric.

I understand not being in a financial position to buy a new car (though Telsas are expensive, I’m sure you could trade it in for something and still avoid a new payment).

Anyway, the good news is if you can’t afford to change cars “Fuck Elon” bumper stickers are very cheap!

https://www.etsy.com/market/anti_elon_musk_car_sticker

people on Lemmy could have some empathy and not just assume that everyone driving a Tesla is sanctioning anything that Elon Musk does.

Costs 1 EUR and takes 10sec to put a sticker on a Tesla that says "I bought this before Elon went mad" and plenty of people on Lemmy would understand I bet. It's more of a gesture to show that one having a Tesla does not support the actions of the its CEO. A Tesla without even a sticker on is assumed to be owned by someone who knows yet either does not care or even supports Musk.

No one cares when you bought. You’re supposed to flood the used Tesla market to suppress new sales happening NOW.

I’ve heard a lot of excuses from Tesla drivers about how they can’t afford to stand for their ethics. It’s pathetic. How are we to believe this from anyone who could afford one in the first place?

Plot yourself on the historical spectrum of “what was I willing to give up for my ideals” and that brave moral stand about not having a car payment looks pretty fucking limp.

I have empathy for you. I’m just more concerns with your soul than your car payment.

Like the other guy said, Elon Musk is public about his shittiness. In the beginning didn't even care about him, and yet I couldn't escape him because he was constantly on the news.

True, but most CEOs are unknown to consumers, only to employees and share-holders. Usually there is a "culture" of a company that is a blend of PR, advertising, marketing, etc. Here Musk became associated with the brand though. Tesla existed before Musk and worked well... but was nowhere near a popular. I hate Musk yet I feel it's fair (and please if you have data showing I'm wrong, do share, I'd love to remove any wrongful attributed credit from him) to say he made Tesla enormously more popular than before he invested in it. So... you are right in most cases people buy cars, and other products, without knowing about the CEO but that specifically does not apply to Tesla where the hype precisely came from a self branded as IronMan.

Nowadays? Yeah y'all missed the bus. The time to do something about this was several years ago, when Tesla's atrocious build quality was becoming publicly apparent and Musk was inserting himself into every news story in the worst ways possible.

"Pedo guy" comment in 2018 was the first major wake up call to most people who weren't paying attention.

Acquisition of Twitter in 2022, and the major fuckery involved with that, should have rung the bell for anyone left behind.

At either of those times you still could have sold a Tesla to a Maga chud and still come out on top. Now you're just stuck holding a bag. And my concern for said bag holders is relatively minor because people who really can't afford a car are still driving 20 year old Hondas and Toyotas and Buicks. If you bought a Tesla new (and yes, it was bought new, because a used market did not exist at the time) you have car money. Buy an $8k beater, used, like the rest of us do.