Honk If You Hate Teslas

"I don't know that we can attribute this [that Tesla in Canada and elsewhere in the world is now faring more poorly than other EV makers] to any one factor."

"I wasn't surprised by this [the steep drop in price of used Teslas in Canada]. We also look at the market in the U.S. and globally, and we saw this trend."

"Overall, EV sales are going down. EV demand is down, so it's hard to conclude what's happening."

Baris Akyrek, vice-president, insights and intelligence, auto-Trader.ca

The price of a used Tesla dropped 21.9 per cent year-over-year, while all other EVs listed on AutoTrader fell 16.3 per cent. Photo by Stephen Llewellyn/The Daily Gleaner/Postmedia files

 

No one need concern themselves that the wealthiest man in the world, reportedly with a fortune between US$350 and US$500 billion is being beggared by ill fortune. The fact is, the 'ill fortune' is of his very own construction. And his wealth may decline marginally, but he will remain a man of immense wealth. His personal idiosyncrasies are such that many people are affronted by what he does and says, as much as what they think he does and says. Such being the ill fortune of the filthy rich and the resentment a combination of wealth and odd behaviour engenders.

 

As for Mr. Musk himself, contemplating a possibly temporary but steep loss in public regard that has extended itself to the vehicles he manufactures, no doubt rejection stings and stings sharply for someone more accustomed to basking in the soft light of admiration for his business acumen, his proclivity for taking risks, and his larger-than-life ambitions. This is a man not content to sit on his piles of cash, but driven to invest in bold new production adventures.

 

Unfortunately for Elon Musk he has also chosen to invest his name, his reputation and his time in the world of politics. And as some interpret it, extreme measures in politics, aligning himself wholeheartedly with the new American Republican President of the United States of America. To whom he volunteered his advice as a businessman whose ventures have made him as wealthy as Croesus through a keen insight and admirable judgement. Both of which he was prepared to offer to Donald J. Trump in streamlining government services and pay-outs for a leaner, more efficient model.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump and White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk deliver remarks next to a Tesla Model S on the South Lawn of the White House on March 11, 2025 in Washington, DC.  Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Tesla electric vehicles now face the public backlash in protests, vandalization and charging stations set afire. This, just as the pace of adoption to EV technology began to ebb, from its previous flow. So that all vehicles in the EV marketplace have experienced an ownership slowdown, but Tesla far more prominently than others. Leading to a glut of used Teslas in Canada, their prices dropping more swiftly than the aggregate of the market, according to Auto-trader.ca Inc.

 

The number of used Teslas in early March listed on AutoTrader rose 12.5 percent on a year-over-year basis even as the number of all other EVs listed on Auto-Trader declined 3.1 percent. The rising used inventory for Tesla appears even starker measured against used internal combustion engine vehicle inventory whose decline was 14.1 percent in the same time period. A used Tesla dropped in price 21.9 percent in that period in comparison to all other EVs that fell 16.3 percent.

 

Edmunds.com Inc., a California-based market research firm, stated that Tesla experienced its "highest-ever share" of trade-ins for new or used cars from dealerships selling other brands. The Tesla-owning population is suddenly eager to divest itself of the vehicles, generally considered, in reaction to the anger felt toward Elon Musk over his government advisory role, to have an unsavoury odour. Tesla owners are also concerned that their Tesla vehicle will become one of the many that are vandalized. No one wants to own something that no one else wants to own.

 

Tesla reported an eight percent decline in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024; its stock has dropped 39 percent to US$244.29. Without doubt, Mr. Musk could never have envisioned the consequences of his decision to be granted special government status under the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency where he is busy dismantling U.S. federal government agencies to slash spending and diversify government services.

 

Nor has he endeared himself to segments of the population with his spontaneous and often ill-thought-out comments, such as posting on his social-media platform X, a meme comparing former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler in 2022. Or in 2023 when he curtailed Ukraine's use of satellite internet service provider Starlink of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of which he is CEO. 

Demonstrators hold anti-Tesla posters during a protest encouraging people to boycott Tesla outside the Tesla Centre Park Royal in London, Britain, March 15, 2025.

Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters