2024-08-08 00:16:45
Rossmann does not want to buy any more Tesla cars for its fleet. It is not the first company to separate from Tesla. However, the reasoning is new.
The drugstore chain Rossmann is stopping the purchase of vehicles from the US electric car manufacturer Tesla for its own fleet. The reason for this is the “incompatibility between the statements of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the values that Tesla represents with its products,” the company wrote in a statement.
“Elon Musk makes no secret of his support for Donald Trump,” said management spokesman Raoul Roßmann, explaining the decision according to the statement. “Trump has repeatedly called climate change a hoax – this attitude is in stark contrast to Tesla’s mission to contribute to environmental protection through the production of electric cars.” In 2018, Musk wrote on X (then Twitter) that Tesla was helping to reduce the risk of “catastrophic climate change affecting all species on Earth.”
Rossmann will continue to use the Tesla vehicles it has already purchased “for reasons of sustainability and resource conservation.” “However, the company will rely on alternative manufacturers and models for future vehicle orders.” Of the 800 vehicles in the Rossmann fleet, 34 are Tesla cars, the company told “Manager Magazin.”
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However, the three companies were primarily concerned with economic reasons. Tesla’s prices were too volatile and caused the residual value of the fleet cars to fall. In addition, the workshop costs were too high. Musk’s attitude, however, probably played no role.
The Wall Street Journal reported in mid-July that Musk wanted to donate $45 million a month to America PAC. Read more about it here. The organization was newly founded to support the presidential campaign of Republican candidate Donald Trump, the report said. In a message on his online platform X a week later, Musk called the report “ridiculous.” He did make some donations to the America PAC organization, but at a “much lower amount” than reported.
Musk had formally expressed his support for Trump’s presidential candidacy before the report was published. Musk released his statement of support shortly after the attempted assassination of Trump during a campaign rally in July.
Musk justified his donations to America PAC with the group’s “key values”. It supports a “meritocracy and individual freedom”. The term “meritocracy” refers to a form of society or government in which the elite are determined based on their achievements. “Republicans are predominantly, but not entirely, on the side of merit and freedom,” Musk wrote.
According to the Wall Street Journal, America PAC’s donors also include the co-founder of the data analysis company Palantir, Joe Lonsdale, and the crypto investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.
Although individual campaign donations in the United States are limited to $3,300 per person, the campaign finance system allows for larger donations to political organizations that in turn support candidates directly or indirectly.