Summary
Polish Tourism Minister Sławomir Nitras has called for a Tesla boycott following Elon Musk’s remarks urging Germany to “move past” its Nazi history.
Musk’s comments, made during a far-right AfD campaign event, sparked outrage, particularly in Poland, which lost 6 million people in WWII.
The controversy comes ahead of Germany’s February 23 election and just before Musk’s Tesla earnings call.
As a key advisor to Trump, Musk’s stance could impact Tesla’s market position in Europe, where historical remembrance remains a sensitive issue.
The EU should impose a continent-wide ban on Tesla imports (or steep tariffs eh? Why not copy the orange peel) until Tesla offloads Musk - including buying back his shares.
It’s too early in the morning for me to look this up but I bet his worth is more than most of the EU member’s GDP.
Sanctions on him individually as well as anything he owns. Bar him from entry, tax the living shit out of any of his properties including any assets he has in the EU.
It’s too early in the morning for me to look this up but I bet his worth is more than most of the EU member’s GDP.
EU members aren’t third world countries. The poorest in the EU - Romania - has a GDP roughly comparable to Musk’s theoretical worth (I say theoretical because it’s really tied to what Tesla shares are worth. It’ll only be real if he sells them, and he can’t without collapsing the price of the share).
But comparing GDP and someone’s wealth is comparing oranges and apples, because Romania’s GDP happens every year, unlike Musk’s wealth.
And more importantly, the EU is all those countries’ GDP combined. That’s in fact exactly why those countries have united: to have more weight to throw around. Musk is no match for the GDP of the entire European Union, which is roughly $19tn.
The Swedish strike is still ongoing. The German protest against their factory is still ongoing. The cyber truck can never be approved for use on roads in all of Europe. Every fourth Tesla fails the first EU-inspection. The average for all cars is 3%, so it’s exceptionally bad.
I don’t think a boycott is even necessary. There are enough reasons not to buy a Tesla.
Every fourth Tesla fails the first EU-inspection. The average for all cars is 3%, so it’s exceptionally bad.
I also wouldn’t buy a car from that freak for various reasons but that high failure rate at the first inspection can be at least partly explained. Tesla - unlike most manufacturers - doesn’t do regular inspections on their own. Most cars are checked (and repaired!) by the dealership before they get officially checked. Therefore, the 25% aren’t completely comparable to the 3%.
Any democratic society should boycott Tesla until Musk is removed from the company.
As an aside, I love the irony of that speech. Musk tells the wannabe Nazis that they can forget about the sins of their (great)grandparents.
The idiots of the AFD want to forget the past simply so they can repeat it.
They want to repeat the sins of their forefathers, they just don’t want to be reminded of the consequences that followed.
He’s right we should move past the guilt and onto whatever it is that strips modern day Nazis of their wealth for reparations.
Very few reasons to get a Tesla when Lucid exists. I can think of three good ones— price, software reliability, and concerns about the company’s health— but these aren’t enough to overcome the icky feeling of funding Musk and his aspirations for me.
I would say he’s right if he meant Germany would move past it’s Nazi guilt, stop funding a goddamn present day genocide and arrest the perpetrators of the currently ongoing one, like the ICC has told them to do.
Can you imagine, Germany standing against genocide one of these days ? That would be a grand step forward.
