Fictional Car Facts About Tesla

In an April 18, 2022 article in the New York Times, reporter Neil Boudette, who covers the automotive sector for the NYT, wrote: “Ford’s chief executive is about to introduce an electric F-150 pickup truck that could determine whether the automaker can survive and thrive in an industry dominated by Tesla.”

But, in point of fact, Boudette, a well-respected reporter on automotive matters, did not write that lead. Some idiotic assistant editor probably did it.

Telsa delivered 936,172 cars in 2021, or around 10.2% of the 9.2 million vehicles that were produced by American car makers in 2021…but the automobile industry is a global market in which approximately 80 million cars were delivered in 2021. Tesla accounted for only 1.2% of the total number of cars delivered in 2021.

Therefore Tesla does not dominate either the global car market or the American market…it’s not even close.

In fact, Tesla isn’t even close to dominating the global electric vehicle market either. Some 6.75 million electric vehicles were delivered in 2021, which means that Tesla’s 936,172 deliveries only represent 13.9%  of the total number of EV deliveries.

While it is true that Tesla sales represented approximately 70% of all U.S. electric vehicle sales in 2021, the “excerpt” (the blurb that appears under the headline in a listing of articles to tease readers into clicking on that article) is nevertheless very misleading for the average readers who never actually delve into the figures.

As a result, readers will come away from this article with the misunderstanding that Telsa is the market leader when in fact it is no such thing.

Why is this important?

It is important because it is another example of the increasing unreliability of what was once called the “mainstream media” or, more derisively, the “lamestream media,” which continually reduces complex conversations into simplistic jingoes that are themselves examples of the elite talking down to the proletariat.

It’s also an example of good public relations. Elon Musk  has managed establish Tesla as an industry-leader through his very clever public posturings to the point where useful idiots parrot Musk’s postures without even realizing that they are doing so.

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