Inc. Magazine
Buying a Tesla was once seen as a symbol of environmental consciousness, but it has now become more about signaling values. As Elon Musk’s controversial politics have tarnished the brand, many owners are distancing themselves and selling their cars at steep discounts, creating buying opportunities in politically conservative states.
Author: Peter Cohan
I noted earlier this month that Tesla owners are taking serious measures to distance themselves from the brand’s owner, Elon Musk, including plastering their vehicles with magnets disowning Musk’s far-right politics and disguising their vehicle with badges from Tesla rivals such as Subaru, Honda, Rivian, and Mazda, according to Rolling Stone, and many are selling their Teslas at very steep discounts.
Tesla’s demographic shift brings to mind Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—the theory that people must satisfy their most fundamental physiological and safety needs, like shelter and food, before they move up the hierarchy which culminates at self-actualization—the realization of one’s full potential.
Automobile manufacturers have long marketed cars as an answer to both lower-level needs and that highest one—self-actualization. A Tesla is perfectly fine for answering those lower-level needs. It’s a way to get work, to ferry the kids to soccer, to take that roadtrip. But this current phenomenon of Tesla regret proves that owning a Tesla is more about virtue-signaling than functionality.
As I learned when I co-authored the Harvard Business Publishing best-seller Apple’s Electric Vehicle, before Musk’s true self emerged, drivers were willing to put up with safety weaknesses to enjoy the virtue signaling of driving a Tesla.
Take Rachel Segall. She and her husband bought a 2023 Tesla Model 3 because they wanted to drive an electric vehicle—a reason I interpret as a quest for self-actualization. Since then, Segall identifies the vehicle with something she dislikes—“Elon Musk, with his alleged Nazi salutes, and what she sees as his cruel slashing of the government and people’s jobs,” reported the Globe.
Now, while she tries to sell her Model 3, she has plastered its rear bumper with magnets that read “Here for zero emissions, not Elon” and “Bought it before we knew how awful he is,” noted the Globe. A dealer offered her such a low price to buy back the new vehicle that she is trying to sell it herself on Facebook Marketplace. She says she would be willing to take a $5,000 loss for “emotional betterment,” she told the Globe.
This is a reminder, of course, to think carefully about why people buy your products. Do they come to your brand to meet lower-level needs like food, and shelter? Is that it? Or does your brand also help them tell a story about themselves? If it’s the latter, then make sure you really know what your brand’s values are—and beware of flip-flopping on them.
It’s also a reminder that when a brand does fall short of its brand promise, opportunities are created for customers and competitors alike.
Now that Musk has thrilled Trump voters with his alleged Nazi salutes, Tesla has become a way for Trump supporters to signal their values, and Charlie Karyanis has spotted the opportunity in that. Karyanis, president of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based City Motor Group, buys used Teslas on the cheap in blue states and ships them to dealers in red states.
He recently sold a 2022 Tesla Model Y with 26,000 miles to a dealer in Fort Lauderdale for $27,400—a 32 percent discount from its value before “Musk’s reputational dive,” he told the Globe. “There is a lot of opportunity there for someone who wants a pretty sophisticated car,” Karyanis added.
Credits: TCA, LLC.