Americans are starting to realize Tesla isn’t the only EV option

　　Not long ago, Tesla’s electric car was far ahead of any other electric car on the market. If you want a sleek, long-range, easy-to-charge, and fully functional electric car, then Elon Musk is your most likely supplier—even if you loathe him terribly.
　　But that is no longer the case. Over the past year, I’ve tested a number of cool new EVs coming in 2021 and 2022. There are cheap ones, expensive ones, big ones, petite ones, oddly designed ones, and uninteresting ones. The Ford F-150 Lightning is the electric version of America’s longtime bestseller, and the Ford Mustang is great inside and out: beautifully designed, roomy, and fun to drive. The striking futuristic look of the Kia EV6 even had strangers stop me and ask me what a cool car I was driving. Brands such as Chevrolet, Mercedes-Benz, and Rivian have also launched very good models.
　　While I love the Teslas I’ve driven — like the uber-expensive Model S Plaid, which can go from 0 to 60 mph in about two seconds and is a lot of fun — the truth is, the best EVs on the market today None of which were made by Musk.
　　The emergence of new competitors in the market makes Musk’s recent advocacy for the right all the more puzzling and threatening for his car company. For all the confusion and controversy Musk has unleashed since becoming Twitter CEO — during which time he embraced right-wing views on gender, journalism and public health, often acting like a power-struggling bully millionaire — it seems to have hurt Trump. Tesla brand.
　　According to a report in the Wall Street Journal in late 2022, a survey by Morning Consult showed that people’s favorability towards Tesla has been steadily declining since shortly after Musk proposed to acquire Twitter in May last year; Democrats’ favorability of Tesla plummeted after Musk took over Twitter in November, while Republicans’ favorability of the brand rose slightly.
　　Ross Gerber (Ross Gerber), chief executive of investment management company Gerber Kawasaki, said, “Musk’s various actions are trying to dissuade potential buyers of Tesla vehicles. Whether you are selling pizza, popcorn or other things, Politics with customers is not going to end well.”
　　Tesla’s sales and profits remain strong, its production capacity continues to ramp up, and it will likely benefit from the clean energy vehicle tax credit, but its success will be underestimated by Musk. Tweets are watered down.
　　This makes sense. A few weeks ago, I took a test drive of Chevrolet’s new Bolt EUV, an electric crossover that’s slightly larger than GM’s entry-level Bolt EV line of electric vehicles that launched in 2016. I’m mesmerized by the brand new Bolt EUV. It’s surprisingly roomy and has a nice interior despite its stuffy exterior. Another advantage is that the interior design feels more like a traditional car, with buttons and knobs that are easy to find and operate while driving, rather than Tesla’s full touchscreen design style.
　　During the test drive, I asked myself a question that has come up a lot this year: With so many great alternatives to Tesla on the market, why does Musk keep acting as if consumers have no choice—as if he’s the only one? s Choice? The car I drove costs just under $38,000 and includes nearly every option, including GM’s excellent driver-assistance program Super Cruise. Tesla’s cheapest car, the Model 3, costs more than $45,000.
　　Tesla’s new underbelly is a surprising development. Musk inexplicably turned his mind to Twitter, leaving Tesla in a bind. This year, he sold tens of billions of dollars worth of Tesla stock, raised funds to complete the acquisition of Twitter, and disregarded his own reputation and was involved in successive controversies in the public square of Twitter. Meanwhile, Tesla stock has plummeted more than 60%. It has fallen more than most of its rivals and far outpaced the S&P 500 , which is down about 19% this year.
　　But not all of Tesla’s problems are caused by Musk. Like other global manufacturers, the company has experienced production delays due to the new crown epidemic. It has been struggling to ramp up capacity at its new plants in Austin, Texas, and Berlin. The prospect of steady rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and the prospect of a recession also weighed on Tesla. On Twitter, Musk has repeatedly blamed the Federal Reserve for Tesla’s stock price plunge.
　　But to the analysts and investors I’ve spoken to, these are secondary concerns.
　　”Tesla is Musk, and Musk is Tesla,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities who tracks Tesla.
　　Compared with its competitors, Tesla still holds some advantages, especially because it has more than 40,000 charging piles around the world, so Tesla vehicles have more convenient charging conditions. However, the US federal government plans to spend billions of dollars to deploy a charging network across the United States, which is likely to weaken Tesla’s lead (Tesla has opened its charging stations in Europe to cars made by other automakers. . The company also said it plans to do the same in North America.).
　　Colin Rusch, an analyst at investment firm Oppenheimer & Co., pointed out that Tesla also has a multi-year head start in some electric vehicle technologies. It has invested heavily in advanced battery designs and more efficient manufacturing processes, areas where its rivals are only getting started. Still, Rush recently lowered his forecast for Tesla stock, citing growing distaste for Musk. According to Rush, a lot of people think of a car as “a status symbol,” and “the Tesla brand and what it stands for has more meaning than ever before.”