Tesla and its super villain CEO, Elon Musk, have been an internet sensation. In fact, Tesla has been the searched more often on Google than any other car brand in the U.S.
As someone who is responsible for writing about Tesla, I can anecdotally confirm this. Every article covering the Hawthorne, California-based company is swamped with either glowing comments or screeching complaints that we would dare say anything negative about Tesla. You know who you are.
According to InAutoNews, Tesla searches are heaviest on the west coast, but with spikes around other major urban centers like Chicago and the Twin Cities. Washington state leads with the most searches, not necessarily a surprise given the large presence of environmentally conscious and very wealthy tech workers in the Seattle area.
So why has Tesla risen to the top of internet searches? In large part it has to be because the company has become the face of EVs. When we talk about the future of electric cars, we are frequently talking about Tesla. Likewise, in the relatively static world of automakers, it is exciting to see a new company make its debut.
Elon Musk’s connection to other exciting projects, and the fact that he is a CEO that is actually interesting to listen to doesn’t hurt matters either. I mean, I can’t see the CEO of Ford trying to turn a Lotus into an electric submarine.
Unfortunately for Tesla, a series of fires and an NHTSA investigation also contributed to their Internet celebrity. But even if it was a bit of bad press, at least it meant more people heard about the company. No press is bad press, right?
The car companies immediately behind Tesla were Bugatti, MINI, Ford, and Jeep. The fact that Tesla can be mentioned alongside these much more established names in any circumstance is an important sign of Tesla’s growth.
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