Whichever your political persuasion, each political majority gets its day in the sun (their time in power)—and eventually the politics pendulum swings and "moves the sunshine" to the political minority. That's the whole ballgame in US politics, usually. But when it comes to the two Tesla vehicles I have owned, I experienced vandalism instead of a pendulum to demonstrate our dysfunctional national dialogue. And apparently other Tesla owners are experiencing the same.
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In October 2015, I parked my Tesla Model S in a regular open lot only to find later that someone had keyed its side. A hastily scrawled note was left behind: "electric cars suck." At the time, this felt like an attack rooted in a pro-oil (or pro-Detroit) and anti-electric vehicle sentiment—a frustration expressed a lot in conservative media between 2008 and 2018, when it came to the change represented by EVs. Tesla wasn't very popular with the Big 3 and other car companies (including several that had just come through bankruptcies), and the brand was still very new. When I eventually sold my Model S, I had fixed the keying injury—but remained fascinated at how that could even happen.
Fast forward to February 2021, and again another keying—this time my Model X falling victim to the same vandalism. Captured by the car's Sentry footage, this time it was a young student (presumably—I was parked in a garage on UT Austin campus) whose face was obscured by a hoodie and mask. They acted the same as the other party several years earlier, but this time for obviously different reasons: their actions driven not by hostility to electric vehicles, but by disdain for Elon Musk and his increasingly-polarizing stances. I only say that because my Model X was then keyed a second time two years later!!
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What fascinates me is not the damage itself—I'd rather understand instead of harboring anger or resentment. No, what fascinates me is how a single car brand has become (in two different political eras) a huge lightning rod for starkly divergent views. It captures something unique about our current cultural moment: the intensity of political identification, and how it attaches itself to products we consume.
Elon Musk's journey—from celebrated green-tech visionary to ultra-conservative political backer and apparent symbol of oligarchy—is certainly not missed by most Americans. His reshaping of Twitter—and spending $288 million in the 2024 Presidential campaign—highlights how quickly public perceptions can swing. Musk's political controversies of the past 4 years and his current DOGE exploits have turned Tesla, a brand once synonymous with progressive innovation, into a complicated cultural symbol simultaneously embraced and rejected by opposite ends of the political spectrum.
And for owners who originally just liked the car? Let's just I might intimately understand how a German Volkswagen bug owner must have felt in late 1945. Brands inevitably carry the weight of human decisions and controversies—yet history shows that even deeply tarnished brands might eventually recover and redefine their identities.
Perhaps in time, Tesla might also find itself clear of history and political crossfire, but I feel that's a long time away. And only possible once Tesla moves on their current CEO.
I may be moving on to try other EVs in the future, but I will always think these were decent cars. It's kind of tragic, the negative effects that their CEO saddled them with.
