Now that he’s backed out of his bid to buy Twitter (although there’s a court battle which make require him to pay billions for his change of heart), Elon Musk is back to running Tesla Motors.
But Tesla isn’t exactly the only game in town when it comes to electric vehicles, and Musk’s childish behavior and infantile tweets are driving many potential customers to steer clear of Musk’s car company, according to a new report from Bloomberg:
“Before it was reported Musk had an affair with Sergey Brin’s wife, which he’s denied; before his slip-shod deal, then no-deal, to acquire Twitter Inc.; before the revelation he fathered twins with an executive at his brain-interface startup Neuralink; before SpaceX fired employees who called him “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment”; before his daughter changed her name and legal gender after his history of mocking pronouns; before an article said SpaceX paid an employee $250,000 to settle a claim he sexually harassed her, allegations he’s called untrue; Musk’s behavior was putting off prospective customers and perturbing some Tesla owners.”
Case in point, Emma Sirr of Bozeman, Montana:
“We took Tesla off the table from the get-go. As consumers, our power is what we buy. I think younger generations in particular vote with their wallets, and I feel like that might come back to bite.”
Dennis Levitt bought his first Tesla in 2013 and says he thought it was “so much better than any car I’ve ever driven.”
But he has since soured on Musk and wishes he would stop trying to be an online troll:
“Over time, his public statements have really come to bother me. He acts like a seven-year-old.”
And while Musk remains the richest man in the world (at least for now), a major settlement against him in the Twitter lawsuit and decreasing sales at Tesla could wind up turning him into nothing but a has-been.
