Regarding Arthur Saginian’s letter (May 4): If not for revenue from selling emissions credits, Tesla would have posted a loss last quarter. The Tesla boycott is only part of the picture. Electric vehicles from other U.S. automakers, Europe, South Korea and China are reasonable alternatives, while Tesla’s lineup is starting to feel dated. The Cybertruck, once hyped, has seen lackluster sales.
Although the U.S. government can restrict the entry of foreign EVs into our market, it can’t stop them from capturing market share abroad. Combined with boycotts both here and overseas, this puts real pressure on Tesla.
Elon Musk influenced my decision to bypass Tesla when I recently bought a car, but so did the price and the features that mattered most to me. I didn’t feel like I was “cutting off my nose to spite my face” by boycotting Tesla. I’m very happy with my non-plug-in hybrid — and best of all, no charging anxiety.
Mr. Musk is arguably the most brilliant engineer of our era, and Tesla still has the potential to overcome its problems if it can deliver compelling models and fulfill its promises of full self-driving vehicles and robotics. But the company lags in autonomous driving, with Waymo and Amazon’s Zoox leading the way.
Tesla’s challenges go beyond any boycott. A core tenet of capitalism is consumer choice — and Tesla no longer has the road to itself.
Philip Wasserman
Stevenson Ranch
