Photo: Twitter/Sergio Rodriguez
In the echo chamber that is the internet at large, things go from passionate to murderous in a matter of seconds. Add the famously short-tempered Tesla community to the mix, and you get a bizarre but very telling sign of the times.
Much virtual ink has been wasted on the strange dynamics within the Tesla community, built around the cult-like personality of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the undeniable genius behind the current boom in the popularity of electric vehicles. At the time of press, Tesla is a market leader in EVs and the highest valued carmaker in the world, which speaks volumes both to Musk and Tesla’s merits.
However, some Tesla supporters often behave much like teenage comic book stans against anyone who dares criticize a superhero on any account, no matter how justified or well-spoken the criticism is. Generally dubbed the “Tesla fanboys,” these supporters will come out for anyone and anything they perceive to be a threat to the good name of Tesla. Like, say, new Ford Mustang Mach-E owners.
Sergio Rodriguez is a 2020 Model X owner who recently bought himself a Mach-E and started doing comparison reviews and posting them online. His goal, he tells the Detroit Free Press, was never to get one camp against the other, but to provide his personal opinion on both EVs in the hope he would help others decide which suited them better.
Jace Craft-Miller is also a new Mach-E First Edition owner who, taken with his new car, has been posting about it online. If you think about it, neither is doing anything out of the ordinary: who doesn’t like showing off or bragging to friends and strangers about their shiny something-new, whether it’s a cool car, a nice bike, or something even more trivial, like a brand new handbag, a pair of shoes or a new dog?
What these two have in common is the fact that they’re drawing the ire of the Tesla community. Brag as much as you want online, but not about an EV that is not Tesla, or you’re worthy of dying the most painful death. Or so these two have been told—something Mike Levine, Ford North America product communications manager, knows about, since he too has been getting death threats.
Rodriguez says his ordeal started when someone posted about his positive Mach-E reviews on the private Facebook group Tesla Owners Worldwide. That’s when the death threats started coming in, and the majority of them seemed justified only by the fact that he dared review positively another EV. If there’s such a thing as justifying a death threat.
On his social media, Rodriguez says he’s usually not thin-skinned, but once you start getting private messages from people saying “I know how your Tesla looks like. If I see it…,” you start to worry that maybe these are not just empty words. Both he and Craft-Miller have been reporting these users, but there is is something to be said about this kind of ill will that lives within an otherwise very supportive community.
For Rodriguez, it’s a sign that maybe he should ditch the Tesla already.
“Part of me wants to get rid of my Tesla just not to have the association,” he tells the publication. “But folks are commenting and saying disgusting things. ‘You let big oil buy you?’ and ‘How much are people paying you?’ If that's what's associated with being a Tesla owner, why do I want to be part of that group? It's not cool.”
Had this been an isolated incident, it would have hardly registered with anyone, let alone on the news. And, while it’s not a widespread phenomenon (or, as Rodriguez himself says, “not ALL Tesla owners are like that”), it does seem to occur frequently, with renewed intensity.
According to analyst and Autoline After Hours host John McElroy, this is due to the Tesla fanatics’ conviction that “they’re on a messianic mission to save the planet: anyone who is not with them is against them.” Others believe it is good ol’-fashioned auto rivalry brought into the age of the internet and, because of it, made thousands of times worse. It’s a sign of the times, if you will, with the only upside being that it shows Tesla is about to get some real competition soon—if it hasn’t already.
However, some Tesla supporters often behave much like teenage comic book stans against anyone who dares criticize a superhero on any account, no matter how justified or well-spoken the criticism is. Generally dubbed the “Tesla fanboys,” these supporters will come out for anyone and anything they perceive to be a threat to the good name of Tesla. Like, say, new Ford Mustang Mach-E owners.
Sergio Rodriguez is a 2020 Model X owner who recently bought himself a Mach-E and started doing comparison reviews and posting them online. His goal, he tells the Detroit Free Press, was never to get one camp against the other, but to provide his personal opinion on both EVs in the hope he would help others decide which suited them better.
Jace Craft-Miller is also a new Mach-E First Edition owner who, taken with his new car, has been posting about it online. If you think about it, neither is doing anything out of the ordinary: who doesn’t like showing off or bragging to friends and strangers about their shiny something-new, whether it’s a cool car, a nice bike, or something even more trivial, like a brand new handbag, a pair of shoes or a new dog?
What these two have in common is the fact that they’re drawing the ire of the Tesla community. Brag as much as you want online, but not about an EV that is not Tesla, or you’re worthy of dying the most painful death. Or so these two have been told—something Mike Levine, Ford North America product communications manager, knows about, since he too has been getting death threats.
Rodriguez says his ordeal started when someone posted about his positive Mach-E reviews on the private Facebook group Tesla Owners Worldwide. That’s when the death threats started coming in, and the majority of them seemed justified only by the fact that he dared review positively another EV. If there’s such a thing as justifying a death threat.
On his social media, Rodriguez says he’s usually not thin-skinned, but once you start getting private messages from people saying “I know how your Tesla looks like. If I see it…,” you start to worry that maybe these are not just empty words. Both he and Craft-Miller have been reporting these users, but there is is something to be said about this kind of ill will that lives within an otherwise very supportive community.
For Rodriguez, it’s a sign that maybe he should ditch the Tesla already.
“Part of me wants to get rid of my Tesla just not to have the association,” he tells the publication. “But folks are commenting and saying disgusting things. ‘You let big oil buy you?’ and ‘How much are people paying you?’ If that's what's associated with being a Tesla owner, why do I want to be part of that group? It's not cool.”
Had this been an isolated incident, it would have hardly registered with anyone, let alone on the news. And, while it’s not a widespread phenomenon (or, as Rodriguez himself says, “not ALL Tesla owners are like that”), it does seem to occur frequently, with renewed intensity.
According to analyst and Autoline After Hours host John McElroy, this is due to the Tesla fanatics’ conviction that “they’re on a messianic mission to save the planet: anyone who is not with them is against them.” Others believe it is good ol’-fashioned auto rivalry brought into the age of the internet and, because of it, made thousands of times worse. It’s a sign of the times, if you will, with the only upside being that it shows Tesla is about to get some real competition soon—if it hasn’t already.
So sorry to hear this. Horrifying. I hope you reported those.
— Mike Levine (@mrlevine) April 3, 2021
Giving test drives to my people. My boy that has a 2018 Tesla Model S P100D drove the Mach-E. Here’s his review. #mache #MustangMachE #Ford pic.twitter.com/UiN8g7OviV
— Sergio Rodriguez (@LyftGyft) March 21, 2021
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