[Aditya]

Electrek can confirm that Tesla has dissolved its PR department — technically becoming the first automaker who doesn’t talk to the press.

If you’re a reporter who isn’t getting a response from Tesla, don’t take it personally, because it’s due to the automaker having dissolved its PR team.

The move has been confirmed to Electrek at the highest level at Tesla with the source saying, “We no longer have a PR Team.”

Keely Sulprizio, the last person known to officially be in charge of PR/communications at Tesla, left the automaker in December of last year to join Impossible Foods. Following her departure, virtually every other member of Tesla’s PR team either left or moved to other positions at Tesla.

Tesla still seems to have a few PR managers in European and Asian markets, but the core global team working out of the US has been dissolved. There are obviously still people arranging test-drive promotions for YouTubers but their role isn’t in a traditional public relations capacity.

a new first in the industry for Tesla!

In the past, CEO Elon Musk has had some harsh comments for the press, which he believes treats Tesla unfairly.

So if they are not being fair, why would Tesla have “relations” with them? So, no public/press relations department?

Tesla receives more press than any other automaker and the team always seemed understaffed.

It literally was one-tenth of the size of a PR team for an automaker of Tesla’s size and probably 20 times smaller than the PR teams at most major automakers.

Yet they managed to correct a lot of misinformation in the press and create some great blog posts and PR content over the years, all while working under the pressure of a boss who infamously often becomes enraged by bad coverage.

Now it seems that the only “official” response that the press can get from the company is from Elon directly — mostly on Twitter.
This is a problem, mainly because Elon simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to answer even just 1% of inquires, but also because he seems to be almost exclusively responding to fans who are lavishing praise on him via Twitter and almost never challenge his views.

Ignoring the press, and thus the public and customers, which is basically what is happening without a PR department, is only adding to something that most Tesla owners would probably agree was already one of Tesla’s biggest weaknesses: communication

Source

[turbo]

Seems like they have out-sourced their PR department to the fanboys, who seem to work without pay, and dont even take leaves. They're the only ones I would say that are taking their job a little too seriously. (related thread https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...esla-musk.html (Why are people fanatical about Tesla / Musk?) )

[WhiteSierra]

Looks like Tesla is afraid of YouTubers like Rich Rebuilds and others. I think they do not want to get into controversies anymore, and they did not want anyone to ask them these questions (right to repair on own cars, not honoring gift as promised even after successful referrals) to them through their PR, which would unnecessarily malign their reputation.

That's the reason they quoted this.

If you’re a reporter who isn’t getting a response from Tesla, don’t take it personally, because it’s due to the automaker having dissolved its PR team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVNVwqgYrAA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PWlkAZCojg

[lonetraveller89]

"Tesla has dissolved its PR department — technically becoming the first automaker who doesn’t talk to the press."

Well, that's a clever PR move. Let's be honest here, where they're at right now, they don't really need it. But I'd bet my future Model X that this PR department will silently rise again when the EV market gets busy. The ball is in their court right now and they can hit it wherever they want.

Also, every manufacturer has a fanboy base. And there's always going to be some rotten apples in every bunch. The larger the bunch, the more rotten apples you're going to see. But that doesn't mean they're all equally rotten. I'd rather commend Telsa or Tata for their large bunches.

First post on Team-BHP : check

[greenhorn]

I am sure they still have a PR strategy. Just that this will be executed by their marketing teams and Third party media management agencies, while Musk will run media releases Trump style as a one man show on twitter. He probably got fed up being challenged and managed and babysat by his PR team that either they quit or he must have shut them down.

[WhiteSierra]

They're clearly pushing the fact that the narrative is set by them, and it's going to be one way communication only.
This sets a dangerous precedent as one isn't willing to accept or even acknowledge criticism.

I agree on this. Tesla isn't ready to accept criticism , this is not a political party, this is a Multi national car company, they should be more open to suggestions and criticism and take them to make their products and services better.

[Aditya]

Mod Note: Please stick to the topic. No further off-topic posts will be permitted.

[landcruiser123]

I just like to look at it from 2 angles:
1. Tesla wants to be different - Elon will regularly keep pulling these crazy moves to ensure that he stays in the relevant in the news
2. Elon is a demigod and whatever he sells will be blindly accepted

Once the competitors catch up, he'll be up to new tricks.

[SreeT]

In the past, CEO Elon Musk has had some harsh comments for the press, which he believes treats Tesla unfairly.

LOL. I wonder why: https://jalopnik.com/tesla-model-y-o...-to-1844999285



Quote from the above article:

I’ve reached out to Tesla for comment, but, seeing as how they never respond to press inquiries anymore, I’m not going to counsel breath-holding for anybody.

Take this from an engineer, the best thing you can do for the environment currently is to keep using your car rather than buy a new electric car.

[FourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by SreeT

Quote from the above article:

Take this from an engineer, the best thing you can do for the environment currently is to keep using your car rather than buy a new electric car.

I would agree, but add a caveat : keep using your car as long as it is relatively new and well maintained, especially when it comes to the entire functioning of the engine and the emissions control system. At the end of your old car's efficient service life, it is best if it is scrapped, rather than sold on to someone else, where economics will play a part in its upkeep leading to heightened emissions at the end of its life.

There are many articles - scholarly and otherwise - available online which argue both points of view ... one example of each is below.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...e-ecofriendly/

https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/I...car-or-new-car

Cheers,

FourWheelDrift

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

I just like to look at it from 2 angles:
1. Tesla wants to be different - Elon will regularly keep pulling these crazy moves to ensure that he stays in the relevant in the news
2. Elon is a demigod and whatever he sells will be blindly accepted

Once the competitors catch up, he'll be up to new tricks.

If you think people are buying a car worth $50k because Elon is a demi god, perhaps he should sell more than just cars.

Model 3 is the fastest car in its class, is the EV with most range per $ spent, the car with one of the best semi autonomous driving system irrespective of the class, the car with cheapest running costs and overall costs in its class and 2 classes below, the car with the best fast charging network, all Tesla's were top IIHS safety pick in the year they were assessed, the only EV maker with a reliability record, all for a company which is merely a decade old and people buy Tesla's because Elon is a demi god. Ever wondered that he might be a demi god because of the vehicles his company built when no one believed an EV could be built which could give an ICE car a run for its money?

[SreeT]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

If you think people are buying a car worth $50k because Elon is a demi god, perhaps he should sell more than just cars.

Model 3 is the fastest car in its class, is the EV with most range per $ spent, the car with one of the best semi autonomous driving system irrespective of the class, the car with cheapest running costs and overall costs in its class and 2 classes below, the car with the best fast charging network, all Tesla's were top IIHS safety pick in the year they were assessed, the only EV maker with a reliability record, all for a company which is merely a decade old and people buy Tesla's because Elon is a demi god. Ever wondered that he might be a demi god because of the vehicles his company built when no one believed an EV could be built which could give an ICE car a run for its money?

^This is the actual PR department, free of cost, present everywhere.

I never know of a proper new car that has an extensive known faults list like this: https://insideevs.com/features/37788...guide/4446335/

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

If you think people are buying a car worth $50k because Elon is a demi god, perhaps he should sell more than just cars.

Model 3 is the fastest car in its class, is the EV with most range per $ spent, the car with one of the best semi autonomous driving system....

Originally Posted by SreeT

^This is the actual PR department, free of cost, present everywhere.

Haha, point proved. Elon doesn't need a PR when he has millions of fans who'll post these messages. And internet search engines pick up everything using text mining.

@extreme_torque: If you though I was mocking Elon, far from it. I'm a huge fan of Musk and (Steve) Jobs who's genius is unparalleled. Just look at the number of pre-bookings cyber truck got and the number of people standing overnight outside an Apple store to get their hands on the 1st iPhone. A samsung S10 is as good. But do you see hundreds of people waiting overnight to buy an S10? If VW or Toyota launch an electric car which is as good as Tesla Model 3, I'm willing to bet there won't be a frenzy of excitement.

[HKap]

Tesla's PR is done by fanboys and Elon himself. Some of his crazy tweets may not be as crazily done as he would have us believe. He's amazing at engineering and taking his ideas/products to the masses. People are lining up to buy Teslas even though they come with questionable build quality. I like the engineering in their cars, I just wish they fixed their build quality. Recently the roof of a brand new model Y flew off on a highway in California (I believe the owner was driving home after taking delivery).

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Haha, point proved. Elon doesn't need a PR when he has millions of fans who'll post these messages. And internet search engines pick up everything using text mining.

Point proved how? People are voting with their wallet and buying Tesla's even with these so called issues while you argue how they are buying a $50k USD car because Elon is a demi god. Do you think cars from legacy makers who have been building cars for almost a century do not have issues? There is no denying there are issues but misaligned panels can be aligned after the fact, paint can be corrected but you cannot break IIHS scoring system for safety if you didnt fundamentally engineer a car properly, after the fact.

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

@extreme_torque: If you though I was mocking Elon, far from it. I'm a huge fan of Musk and (Steve) Jobs who's genius is unparalleled. Just look at the number of pre-bookings cyber truck got and the number of people standing overnight outside an Apple store to get their hands on the 1st iPhone. A samsung S10 is as good. But do you see hundreds of people waiting overnight to buy an S10? If VW or Toyota launch an electric car which is as good as Tesla Model 3, I'm willing to bet there won't be a frenzy of excitement.

A Galaxy S10 is not the same as an iPhone for one - its run off the shelf software (Android), it uses off the shelf SOC (Qualcomm). Their own efforts have been below par - Exynos SOC's or their software TouchWiz UI on top and even now their software experience is below par as it ages. My 256GB iPhone XS Max runs as fast as it did on day 1 almost two years back with more than 180GB of data in it already. If the product isnt as good as its marketing it wont work, people dont buy $50k USD cars just because they like someone if the product itself isnt good. Tesla doesnt even market their cars. What I have seen about Tesla and my own research has been so good that I am actually invested in the company long term and I will buy one as soon as Vitamin M permits. For all the so called build quality issues, the Model 3 I drove had soft plastics all around, even area where my Lexus RX has cheap hard plastics. They are not a typical car company, they arent out to operate like legacy makers anyway - read up the engineering genius Octovalve is or even something as basic as aircon vent in a Model 3. I also ask have you ever touched, felt or sat in one or perhaps driven one? If not then I am not sure why I should take you seriously just because you have read a few articles on the web. Peace out.