Buy cars Tesla or not? This question is asked in the management boards of some companies in Germany. Baden-Württemberg's energy supplier Badenova, Hamburg's green energy supplier Lichtblick and the Rossmann drugstore chain have already announced that they will not buy new cars of this brand in the future. This was triggered by various statements and actions by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The construction company Viebrockhaus from Lower Saxony has decided to no longer purchase Tesla products. The American manufacturer of electric cars has not yet commented on the boycott. “We do not comment on this matter,” said a spokeswoman for Tesla's only electric car factory in Gruenheide near Berlin.
Musk is polarizing
Tech billionaire Elon Musk polarizes: Recently, on the platform, X supported voting for the AfD, and is also involved in election campaigns in other countries. The new president soon after taking office USA Donald Trump appointed Musk to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is expected to drastically reduce American government spending.
“The actions of Elon Musk, who now more or less holds a government position, made us pay attention to him,” said CEO Badenova before the change of power in the White House.
Hans-Martin Hellebrand criticized the fact that Musk's actions weaken Germany as an investment location. – We will not accept this – he announced. Eleven brand cars Tesla it is still part of Badenova's vehicle fleet and will remain there until the end of the leasing contracts, but that's it. Badenova also says goodbye to posts on the X platform, owned by Elon Musk.
Lichtblick drew attention, among other things, to Musk's repeated encouragement to vote for the AfD. According to its spokeswoman, the Hamburg-based company has not been using Tesla vehicles since the turn of the year and is no longer renewing any leasing contracts. Lichtblick has a large fleet of company vehicles, half of which so far have come from Tesla.
“Inconsistent with company values”
Tesla revolutionized e-mobility in Germany and became a symbol of new ideas, as the CEO of construction company Viebrockhaus, Lars Viebrock, recently explained. – However, we can no longer support the path chosen by Tesla – he noted, adding that Musk's political position is contrary to the company's values.
The Rossmann drugstore chain announced last year that it would not buy any more Tesla vehicles for its fleet due to Musk's support for Donald Trump.
Does the decision to give up goods or services have any chance of success and can it bring any benefits? “In principle, yes,” business ethicist Michael Aßlaender from the Technical University of Dresden told the German Press Agency. Falling sales, for example due to a consumer boycott, would force affected companies to act.
“Mainly PR activity”
However, Michael Aßlaender noted: “Individual decisions by relatively small companies to refrain from purchasing products from certain manufacturers may be good PR, but overall they will have little impact on them.” Tesla is unlikely to be impressed if the regional German company no longer enters into leasing arrangements for its cars.
He also raised another issue: In the case of owner-managed companies, it is relatively easy to express ideological views or political beliefs because it is the owner's beliefs. In the case of corporations, the situation is often different. This is because its board members must sometimes represent a diverse group of shareholders.
Miles-Mobilty, a car sharing company, reported that demand for Tesla cars is stable. “We have not observed any changes in their use in recent days or weeks,” it said. Its vehicle fleet includes approximately 380 Tesla cars. When asked whether new cars of this brand would be added, the answer was that this was not currently planned.
(DPA/like)
The article comes from the website Deutsche Welle.