I have seen a lot of tesla vandalism online the last few days and I’m kind of on the fence about it.
I’ve seen several examples locally here in BC, Canada.
I think totally warranted at newly purchased teslas going forward. Also it serves as a deterrent for potential future buyers.
But vandalizing a car that is a few years old I think is lame. Those driversare already being punished enough by driving something around that’s worth less than scrap.
No, it doesn’t hurt Tesla. There’s no such thing as bad publicity; if there was, Tesla’s owner wouldn’t have been able to throw up two nazi salutes at the inauguration and then be given access to all of the American people’s personal data.
Who do you think gets paid when the owner repairs the car? Tesla makes money every time somebody scratches up a Cybertruck.
Look at Tesla stock it’s literally dropped >20% since he did that. You’re literally giving an example of how it does. “No such thing as bad publicity” is not a real thing. The Hindenburg didn’t help the zeppelin industry.
Future sales is what increases stock. Including perceived future sales. Big example now is BYD and how stock has risen in anticipation of countries not being able to keep them out forever while ramping up production alongside improved battery tech.
There’s a big reason why most companies are incredibly protective of their brand image and traditionally have CEOs keep as much of a blank slate as possible. Most companies pivot towards being faceless with a replaceable CEO as opposed making the CEO their mascot for this reason. It can lead to a huge target on them if things go sour.