Why Do Tesla Owner’s Feel Like They Are Part of a Cult?
Since, Collision Pros became a certified collision repair shop for Tesla, The staff has noticed that the Tesla customer are different. Their loyalty and love for all things Tesla are almost cultish.
The majority of Tesla owners are extremely understanding, when it comes to any issues Tesla has. They understand that there may be recalls and parts back order issues with a new company. Even though it’s inconvenient for the most part they roll with the punches.
There are several reasons for such a deep seeded loyalty. First, this is a great car. There may be some small stuff here and there, but there are few real big issues with Tesla. Second, Tesla really cares about their reputation and customer’s satisfaction. If Tesla has an issue, they’ll take care of it and the customers know that. Lastly, there is a crazy attachment to all things Elon Musk. But why Elon? To understand Elon Musk, loyalty, you have to know his history.
Elon started his first software company right out of college. In 1999, with his brother, he built and sold Zip2 to Compaq for $307 million and $34 million in stock options.
The same year, he and his brother started a new company they called Xcom which eventually became PayPal. In 2002 PayPal sold to Ebay for a healthy $1.2 billion. Making Elon Musk a billionaire. That would be enough to relax for most of us, but not for Musk.
Immediately Elon Musk started his third company SpaceX. with the plan of building spacecraft for commercial space travel. In 2008, NASA awarded SpaceX the contract to handle cargo transport for the International Space Station. They planned for them to transport astronaut in the future. Hoping to eventually replace NASA’s own space shuttle missions.
In late March 2018, SpaceX received permission from the U.S. government to launch a fleet of satellites into orbit to provide Internet service. Ideally, the system would make broadband service more available for people in rural areas, while also increasing the competition in larger populated markets.
You would think that SpaceX would be enough to keep most people busy, but at the same time as SpaceX is just getting started, Musk starts Tesla in 2003. Tesla has goals to make a high quality battery operated car available for the masses. In 2017 Tesla announced that they had surpassed General Motors as the most valuable car company in America.
In August 2016, in Musk’s effort to promote and advance sustainable energy for the masses, a $2.6 billion deal was made to combine Tesla and a SolarCity Corp., a company Musk had helped his cousins start in 2006.
Most recently, in 2017, Elon launched “The Boring Company,” a company devoted to boring and building tunnels in order to reduce street traffic.
So, this is clearly a smart guy who runs some giant companies, but why are people so crazy about all things Elon Musk? In my opinion, it’s because he does what we all wish what we could do. While we go to work, trying to pay our bills, Elon is continuously rolling the dice and building amazing companies seemingly with no fear of failure.
In an interview with Joe Rogan, Elon is asked, “How do you decide what projects you will work on?” To that Elon answers, “I chose the projects that will have the most impact on the world.” To me, that’s it right there. That’s why people love him. He not only builds cool stuff with seemingly no fear, but he spends his days changing the world. Who else goes to work with that as their goal? Virtually no one. This guy is hero worthy. If there is a cult following of Elon Musk, I too am a believer.
