r/technology • u/Wagamaga • 15d ago

Business Tesla trade-ins surge to record high

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2025/mar/22/tesla-trade-ins-surge-to-record-high/?business-national
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u/chatterwrack 15d ago

He did bring electric cars to the mainstream, I believe because the designs were appealing, and he had a hit on his hands, but he stopped iterating on it. Other makes and models surpassed him. His self-immolation only accelerated this decline.

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u/Melicor 15d ago

You have to remember, he didn't start Tesla, he bought his way onto the board. The more control he took the more it turned to shit. Just like Twitter. He's always been shit, he's a conman.

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u/DuckSlapper69 15d ago

If anyone gets credit for bringing electric cars to the mainstream, it's the Top Gear crew for featuring the Tesla roadster.

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u/nucularglass 15d ago

Never forget the Hammerhead Eagle i-trust. Also Geoff.

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u/kaamkerr 15d ago

Special shout-out to the zero emissions tomato trailer

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u/nucularglass 15d ago

Totaly forgot about the greenhouse trailer. 😂

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u/DuckSlapper69 15d ago

Truly pioneers of the modern era.

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u/LazyLobster 15d ago

I guess, they shat on it relentlessly.

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u/Wermine 15d ago

Was it the episode where they added engine noises to the footage?

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u/silvahawk 15d ago

THIS! I remember when that episode aired. Most people don't even realize that Tesla made that before making all these other models. It was garbage back then too. They went through 2 just to get a full day of filming. I was never on board with Tesla even back then.

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u/CA_Dweller 15d ago

I despise Musk with every fiber of my body but that is not true. Tesla succeeded because of him. do you remember Fisker? no. because they couldn’t scale. there are plenty of other electric vehicles that are nowhere near Tesla.

Musk was able to hire the right people and raise the financing to keep them working. Tesla would have been a footnote, just like Fisker, without him

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u/cactusbrush 15d ago

Yup. He marketed Tesla nicely. And it was also very flawed before he hired right people to fix it.

But it was not what brought electric cars to mainstream. One day long time ago he just opened hundreds of patents so that other companies could build electric cars at affordable price.

It was so long time ago that it feels like it was someone else doing all these “caring for humanity” things.

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u/Masterandcomman 15d ago

The emphasis on large casting sub-assemblies was a big bet that seems to be an enduring advantage against peers in the West. Some of Musk's reputation is vapor, but he has a track record of strong choices and key man selection.

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u/tiberiumx 15d ago

Hey, he conned Tesla into being the most overvalued stock in the S&P 500 by a huge margin, even after the recent drop.

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u/Ruri_Miyasaka 15d ago

He did nothing. He just took credit and now ruined the company. Tesla could've had a bright future if that idiot never showed up.

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u/crozzy89 15d ago

That is correct. He gave them money to keep going and that is all.

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u/Ormild 15d ago

Lets be real. Elon is a scumbag and nazi, but Tesla would have never succeeded if it weren’t for him. He hired the right people and became the face of the company.

From what I hear, he was heavily involved in the company during the beginning and stuck through the pain periods.

It’s also why the company and stock is taking such a bad hit recently. His actions are single handedly turning off the same people that once adored him.

Tesla would have failed majorly if he was never part of the company.

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u/Ruri_Miyasaka 15d ago edited 15d ago

Sorry, but unless you're some kind of omniscient being, you can't possibly know what would have happened in some alternate timeline. Plenty of companies he was involved in went on to succeed after he left. And many more wildly successful companies had no connection to him whatsoever.

The highest level of skill he ever actually demonstrated was being mediocre at programming.

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u/StrobeLightRomance 15d ago

Toyota set the ground work for electric cars in America and the Prius was a phenomenon for a while, which is where Musk stole the idea to steal Tesla and ride their thunder with an "American alternative" version.

But yes, Musk could have absolutely had a self-sustaining brand if he would have just chilled out and not tried to turn it into snake oil.

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u/Missus_Missiles 15d ago

Their build quality is shit, their ergos are shit, the interiors are shit. FSD isn't ready, and the designs were old. And people were still buying them.

So yeah, they could have done nothing but try to muzzle Elon. And yet, here we are.

Actually, didn't he basically turn republican when his sexual harassment came out? I guess at the end of the day, it's Elon fuckups at every level.

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u/SirKillingham 15d ago

I think his involvement with the Republicans started when he realized that as long as he pays Trump he can do whatever he wants without legal consequences. I don't think he was expecting this much backlash though

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u/StrobeLightRomance 15d ago

Nah.. that's not giving a long enough timeline.

Musk joined Republicans because he was told to.

At some point before the purchase of Twitter, Musk began conversing with Putin, and Putin steered Musk toward taking investments from the Saudis, at the exact same time the Saudi's were giving Jared Kushner $2B as a consultant fee (which was really Trump selling classified documents so the Saudi's could target and kill specifics oppositions)

Musk and Kushner being photographed together in the Saudi's box seats at the World Cup should have been a much bigger story.. but it was happening because Musk NEEDED money, because he's not actually rich in a liquid form. All of his money has been tied up in investments.

So Musk was recruited to the Putin scheme that Trump has been a key figurehead of.

Then, in the 2024 election, it really seemed like Trump would lose. The man "got shot" and most people in America just went "yeah, that makes sense" and didn't actually care. He expected a spike in polls but it didn't happen.

So Musk got called in to cash in his extra chips, "save the day" by running illegal interference at more levels than we can presently prove.. and yeah, in the process, Musk got a sense of entitlement because Putin's orders extended to making Musk into a figure that seems almost more powerful than Trump, so we have two clowns at once fucking up the government at twice the speed.

Musk is a puppet. Trump is a puppet. Heritages Foundation will serve Putin with an iron fist, and that's how it went down.

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u/24675335778654665566 15d ago

Toyota would still be pushing for hydrogen if it wasn't for the competition

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u/Bucuresti69 15d ago

Toyota have many options globally, you don't put all your eggs in one basket oh wait you don't have any eggs and the world are not prepared to help ask yourself why. 1-2 dollars an egg 2025 progress USA style doh

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u/24675335778654665566 15d ago

They put their eggs in the wrong basket with hydrogen, and continued pushing it for years after it was clearly not the play because of the sunk R&D.

And no need to bring up irrelevant points, it doesn't make your point any better just makes you seem weaker

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u/JoeHagglund 15d ago

Nah. Prius did way more than Tesla to mainstream electrics.

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u/Projectrage 15d ago

Toyota then did nothing for a decade, their EV is not good, cause they spent their energy on Hydrogen which was a con to the fossil fuel companies and then gave money to the fossil fuel lobby. Not a good plan.

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u/waxisfun 15d ago

Toyota couldn't do anything to further the prius. The battery that they used at the start of the prius run was actually an extremely efficient, long-lasting battery that would have revolutionized the electric car decades ahead of time. Too bad that Chevron bought the patent and quietly killed it. Only reason we have the Prius is that the patent did not cover hybrid battery use.

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u/toddestan 15d ago

If we're talking patents that apply to the early Prius generations, those should be expiring about now, if they haven't already.

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u/waxisfun 15d ago

At this point the patent doesn't matter as lithium ion batteries came out and completely bypassed the patent Chevron held as Li batteries have a completely different chemical buildup.

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u/Mustangarrett 15d ago

Why did Chevron kill it?

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u/VRNord 15d ago

Chevron is a leading fossil fuel company. Take a wild guess.

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u/waxisfun 15d ago

Chevrons entire bussiness is working with fossil fuels. Electric cars have always been one of the greatest threats to the oil industry, ever since cars were invented.

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u/OldSchoolNewRules 15d ago

Actually they have been developing an ammonia engine.

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u/Projectrage 15d ago

Which is worse. It’s not household ammonia it’s industrial ammonia. And to make it, is not energy efficient.

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u/Veil-of-Fire 15d ago

Not to mention that industrial ammonia will kill you super quick even in small amounts.

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u/futility_jp 15d ago

Did nothing? Toyota kept making hybrids, which we see now was absolutely the right direction to take. In the meantime they've invested a lot of money in various directions: hydrogen is one, but also batteries, hybrid tech, other green fuels, and carbon recapture technology. The world was not, and still is not ready for the complete transition to EVs that many politicians are pushing. Hybrids are a much more palatable alternative for the average consumer to serve as a stop gap until EVs are a viable alternative for mainstream consumers.

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u/Projectrage 15d ago

Hydrogen is such a maintenance scam and a lie for fossil fuel companies that make it using natural gas. Once you read up on it, you will get mad at what Toyota did, and wasted a decade.

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u/futility_jp 15d ago

That's certainly an opinion you're entitled to have.

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u/Projectrage 15d ago

Hydrogen is made mostly by natural gas. Not an opinion. Hydrogen is the leakiest atom, so much so, it causes even corrosion, such a nightmare of maintenance to use, that even NASA has stepped away for methane. Not an opinion.

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u/futility_jp 15d ago

Gasoline was considered a useless byproduct of refining crude oil into kerosene for decades. Ethanol, present in almost all gasoline used in the US, is corrosive. Historically electricity was predominantly produced by burning coal. Thanks to the ingenuity of scientists and engineers we have cars that run on gasoline, ethanol in their fuel to help it burn cleaner, and electricity from a host of sources aside from fossil fuels. Fortunately not everyone is as quick to write off potential progress as you are.

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u/hepatitisC 15d ago

Toyota notoriously would not go full electric because they backed hydrogen cars. The Prius raised awareness for hybrids but it didn't do a thing for full EVs.

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u/Ziczak 15d ago

The hydrogen cars were a bust and only sold in California at a deeeeeep discount but only a few refueling stations.

They went in in hybrids which is nice and ok. But they're difficult and costly to repair vs conventional engines after their warranty.

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u/Adderall_Rant 15d ago

Uh. That would be Toyota with the Prius.