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posted by martyb on Friday March 15 2019, @11:06PM   Printer-friendly
from the Y? dept.

The Model Y will be a test of Tesla's popularity

Tesla announced at the end of February that it was finally ready to make and sell the long-awaited $35,000 Model 3, an affordable electric car that was part of Musk's original "master plan" for the company, published in 2006. Closing most of the company's stores and switching to a completely online sales model was how Musk was able to finally achieve this goal, and it also allowed Tesla to lower the price on its other cars.

Normally, that might be seen as a good thing. But many customers who purchased Teslas before the price drops felt jilted. One of the most vocal critics was comedian Chris Titus, who complained to his 125,000 Twitter followers on March 2nd about how his wife bought a Tesla two days before the prices dropped. "@elonmusk lost a loyal customer," Titus wrote. "[T]he people that supported you, praised you and cared about you [sic] dream got boned."

Anger about the price cuts bubbled up in China, too, which is the world's largest market for electric cars. After Tesla cut prices on all of its models there, a number of owners protested at the company's store in the Hunan province capital city of Changsha. The upset owners wrapped the store in a banner that apparently translated to "don't buy now, buy tomorrow at a discount."

[...] [There] is some data backing up the apparent change in sentiment around Tesla. In an Axios-Harris poll of 18,228 adults conducted between November and January, Tesla's ranking slid across a number of categories. It dropped from being the 14th most trusted company out of 100 to 46th. The company's "character" ranking fell from 7th to 57th, and its "ethics" ranking slid from 5th to 56th.

See also: Did Ford just tease an electric Mustang as Tesla debuts Model Y?
Tesla's Model Y sales goals 'aggressive,' analyst says


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  • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday March 16 2019, @06:39AM

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Saturday March 16 2019, @06:39AM (#815334) Homepage Journal

    (cont) Another Smart Quote. "80% of life is showing up." Woody Allen saying, in a way, almost the same thing Ivanka said. I show up. And when I can't, my staff fill in for me. Maybe you don't have a Social Media manager, maybe you don't have lawyers that are good with Social Media. But, what about doing it yourself? I see very very few tweets from you, very very few Subs from you (that get Approved). If I was giving out the Participation Trophies -- sorry, none for you!

    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Total Score:   2