Elon Musk takes it on the chin
It has long been an article of faith for Republicans to extol the “virtues” of capitalism. They shove their fiscal religion in our faces as if it’s a self-evident truth. When we complain about the obscene profits of oil companies and other corporations in the so-called free market, they remind us that America is “the land of opportunity.”
But their religion of mammon has a built-in hypocrisy. When banks began to fail in 2008, it was Republicans who suddenly championed the socialism of bailing them out. They like the idea of the free market until it hurts their underwriters.
When Tesla sales slumped due to a boycott caused by America’s hostility to Elon Musk, the thug Donald Trump called it “criminal.” But it’s nothing more than their precious Republican free market doing what the free market does. No amount of pimping Trump’s ugly trucks and cheap, lousy, falling-apart cars on the White House driveway is going to force Americans to buy Musk’s cars.
It’s starting to look like the free market has decided that Tesla is finished. Nowhere is that more obvious than in Germany. The people of Germany, not the government, not any political party, but the VOLK, have decided they don’t like Tesla and they are not going to buy Tesla.
A recent survey of 100,000 Germans confirms the slumping Tesla market in Germany. A whopping 94% of Germans say they will never buy a Tesla. This contradicts the fact that sales of electric vehicles are rising faster in Germany than anywhere else. It turns out that most Germans have bought or want to buy an electric car. They just don’t want Teslas.
While Tesla sales dropped 41% in Germany in 2024, the overall sale of electric cars in Germany rose 27%. If you think that’s bad for Tesla, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Tesla sales in Germany are expected to plummet all the way down to single digits by the end of this year. They’ve already fallen 70%. All thanks to a man who gives unabashed Nazi salutes to crowds and openly supports a fascist dictator.
You would almost think that the people of Germany have, oh I dunno, a bad experience with dictators, maybe? Welcome to the free market — the Realkapital — German style!
The problem for Tesla is it used to be the brand for liberals. When Musk exposed himself as a democracy-destroying, toxic supporter of fascists, he permanently killed off his core customer base.
Tesla is dead in Germany and it’s moribund in the rest of Europe. Almost nobody over here wants one of Musk’s shitty little cars, and owners are now embarrassed to be seen in one. People are even removing the Tesla logos from their cars. Musk is losing billions of dollars. I don’t know about you, brothers and sisters, but I think that’s just wonderful.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.