The jury is still out on whether Tesla can meet its lofty goals, but the automaker deserves credit for a paradigm-rattling marketing campaign. In unveiling its Model 3, Tesla emphasized the need for an aggressive response to climate change.
At the beginning of a press event in late March, Tesla head Elon Musk presented a line graph that shows how global carbon dioxide levels have soared to dangerous levels. He went on to argue that electric vehicles are an important means of curtailing automotive emissions — and that the lower-priced Model 3 would lead the shift away from the internal combustion engine.
This is the modern equivalent of the marketing campaign for the original Volkswagen Beetle, which challenged the biggest sacred cows of the post-war American auto industry, such as its worship of planned obsolescence. (Go here for a discussion of VW.)
The sheer audacity of the Model 3’s launch is one of those rare threshold events which is worthy of major media coverage. That’s exactly what it received. However, Salon columnist Phil Plait (2016) pointed out, “What I haven’t seen as much buzz about, though (aside from a mention here or there) is how Musk started off his presentation.” Plait praised Musk for discussing the potentially dire impacts of climate change — and what needs to be done to prevent them from happening.
The Washington Post was among the major media outlets that addressed the climate change angle to the story. Reporter Chris Mooney explored the question: If Tesla meets its ambitious goal of producing 500,000 electric vehicles per year, how would that impact emissions from automobiles (Mooney, 2016)? Short answer: That number of vehicles represents a small fraction of the planet’s automotive carbon footprint but the Model 3 could push larger automakers to switch to electric.
Automotive sites mostly tended to downplay or ignore the climate change aspect of Tesla’s marketing. Despite posting the most number of articles on the Model 3 launch, Automotive News was the worse offender. Its coverage focused narrowly upon product details and corporate strategy (Colias, 2016; Greimel, 2016; Lienert, 2016; Stewart, 2016; Truett, 2016; Undercoffier, 2016; Walsworth, 2016).
Another topic that has received much more constrained attention among automotive news sites is what is propelling Tesla’s extraordinarily large number of deposits for a car that has yet to go into production. Could it be that there is pent-up demand for what Musk calls “sustainable transport?”
This is yet another example of groupthink. The industry and its supporting media don’t think the public cares much about public policy issues such as climate change. Tesla has challenged that notion head on and thus far has been rewarded for it.
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RE:SOURCES
- Colias, Mike; 2016. “Chevy Bolt will have a big head start on Tesla’s Model 3. But will it matter?” Automotive News. Subscription required. Posted April 4.
- Greimel, Hans; 2016. “Ghosn welcomes rush of Tesla Model 3 preorders.” Automotive News. Subscription required. Posted April 5.
- Lienert, Paul; 2016. “Tesla says Model 3 orders reach 276,000, reports say.” Automotive News. Subscription required. Posted April 3.
- Mooney, Chris; 2016. “Tesla’s Model 3 orders are through the roof. Here’s what that means for the planet.” The Washington Post. Posted April 6.
- Plait, Phi; 2016. “Tesla, Elon Musk, and Climate Change.” Slate. Posted April 2.
- Stewart, Ben; 2016. “First ride in the Tesla Model 3.” Automotive News. Subscription required. Posted April 1.
- Truett, Richard; 2016. “Tesla Model 3 fervor has flavors of Apple.” Automotive News. Subscription required. Posted April 5.
- Undercoffier, David; 2016. “Tesla unveils cheaper Model 3 as advance order reach 198,000.” Automotive News. Subscription required. Posted April 1.
- Walsworth, Jack; 2016. “Bobbed noses, cronuts, minisubs and fetal Maseratis: Tesla’s Model 3 and what people are saying.” Automotive News. Subscription required. Posted April 2.
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