Tesla Fans Protecting the BEV Maker Will Shrink the Company's Customer Pool

In the early days, Tesla evangelists literally created clubs, most of which are still active today. Any discussion about the BEV maker or Elon Musk was usually restricted to the company's fans, which made it easy for them to bash anyone with a dissonant opinion. Ironically, the issue is that sales expanded. In other words, the discussions now have folks who only want to buy an electric car. Saving the world is not on their list of priorities or, in this case, pretensions. My readers know that no car or automaker will ever have that power.

With the Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla opened up to more regular customers than early adopters. Many among them are people who used to own cars like the Camry and decided to check what all the hype about Tesla was about. Some of them may be thrilled with their cars' performance or by saving carbon emissions, but a good chunk is frustrated with the difficulties they are facing. Most of these people just expect average services, quality, and reliability – none of which made the BEV maker stand out. It is their lack that currently drives a lot of attention.

In a way, it is a similar phenomenon to what Porsche experienced when it presented the Cayenne. The German carmaker needed a high-volume vehicle to remain in the business, and Wendelin Wiedeking came up with an SUV Americans loved. The thing is that it also brought a different set of customers to the brand.

Friends who worked at Porsche dealerships told me that traditional 911 buyers and Cayenne owners were like oil and water. Those driving a 911 would leave their cars at the dealer, ask for some services on top of those recommended, and pay the bill without questions. Cayenne owners would complain about how little the tires lasted, ask if they could do some services at a later date, and would either swap their Cayennes for new ones when the warranty expired or just not return to the dealerships when that happened. The main difference is that traditional Porsche owners do not defend the company online at all costs.

It took a while for regular customers to overtake the number of Tesla apologists in dedicated groups. The former are flooding them with concerns about the range, paint, trim defects, charging costs, and basic doubts. These issues and the arrogant posture of several Tesla fans are getting regular car buyers to say loud and clear that they are not "into this Tesla thing anymore." The surprise is that these manifestations now have plenty of support.

It is a pretty different scenario from when it was enough to label Tesla critics as FUDsters, short sellers, Big Oil advocates, or stupid people who had no idea what they were talking about. The groups now identify those they call "fanboys" and just ignore them. In some discussions, they are even the ones who get mocked. Their association with the brand makes some make fun of Tesla as well, which is not helpful in increasing sales.

Ironically, several Tesla investors backed up this hypothesis by urging the company to start using marketing and advertising to sell its products. They know that word-of-mouth sales – which Tesla incentivized with its referral program – will no longer be enough to push the charts as much as other measures. Fixing quality control would already have massive repercussions. However, they either gave up asking for that or are just repeating the idea that Tesla is still too young and that it will eventually fix that. To have the chance of getting old, it should have already learned.

If Tesla vehicles were not rejected at inspections, the company would not have the extensive inventories it is now trying to clear with heavy discounts. If they did not have to return to Tesla Service Centers shortly after delivery, the BEV maker's service would have a better reputation. That would create a beneficial chain reaction for the brand that only the company and its most fervorous advocates fail to understand.

Advertisements would not fix the company's main issues. If they were successful, they would bring even more regular customers to the ranks of people talking about Tesla. With the BEV maker's current state of affairs, we would see more and more negative discussions involving it – precisely what Tesla fans want to avoid as much as possible.

In such a scenario, the standard answers Tesla advocates use to dismiss criticism would not work as they always have. It would isolate them, as I have been witnessing lately. Accusing others of not knowing how to use them or wanting to stop "the mission" is far from welcoming. What if these others are just willing to buy good and trustworthy vehicles? Either most Tesla customers will fit that description from now on, or the company will not grow 50% per year, as it said it would.

This story is an introduction to the cases that show how Tesla cannot count on its advocates anymore, especially those that always blame other customers for issues the company should solve. I have already selected a few examples. As some of them belong to private groups, I will only report the discussions, not the names of the people involved or the names of their groups. Public conversations are another story. If you happen to stumble upon something that fits what I described, you're more than welcome to share it with my other readers and me.