With so much attention on the Tesla brand of late, the Free Press decided to rent a red Tesla for a day this week from a Hertz in Center Line to gauge reaction.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s chainsaw-wielding, government-slashing efforts as a key adviser to President Donald Trump has made the electric vehicle-maker a prime target for those who oppose him. Musk, who pumped millions of dollars into Trump’s election and now oversees the so-called Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, didn’t start Tesla when it formed in 2003, but as CEO he oversaw its rise as the dominant player in the EV space, although that’s faced increasing challenge.
During trips around parts of the metro area, the rented Tesla appeared to draw little notice aside from one possible minor incident.
Staff writer Eric D. Lawrence rented a red Tesla for his work on a story about the reaction to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s activities in the Trump administration.
A driver in a pickup on Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe Woods blasted his horn as he passed the Tesla, which was parked at a meter. A reporter, who was on the sidewalk, couldn’t see any obvious reason for the blast other than the car.
The drive itself was marred by a vehicle with more than 120,000 apparently very rough miles in need of repair and a deep cleaning, that pulled to the left as it drove, seemed to lose its charge a bit too quickly and that came equipped with an air freshener hanging by the driver’s side rear window that might only have enhanced what was hard to describe as anything other than an at times overpowering smell of marijuana. The acceleration, however, was as punchy and immediate as expected.
The inside of the Tesla that staff writer Eric D. Lawrence rented one day this week could have used a deep cleaning.
The inside of the Tesla that staff writer Eric D. Lawrence rented one day this week could have used a deep cleaning.
The car did give the reporter the opportunity to drive to a Meijer at East 13 Mile and Little Mack to charge up (as simple as plugging it in and waiting) and connect with a few fellow Tesla drivers. The location had what appeared to be eight Superchargers, and numerous Teslas pulled in and out during the stop.
Several drivers declined to talk, although one man waiting inside his cousin’s Cybertruck, which he’d been driving, offered that he loved it. The truck, he said, “feels like a spaceship.”
“I don’t care about Elon,” he noted.
Sitting at a Supercharger in her Model Y, Laila Custovic, 28, of Fraser, said she loves the car, although charging it is annoying. She said it’s a short trip to the Meijer from her home, though.
As for Musk, Custovic said she’s “trying to stay out of it because it stresses me out.” She’s focused instead on her own life and her family.
She and her boyfriend got the car in September, and even though people have suggested she take it back, she noted that she’s in a three-year lease.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: I rented Tesla in metro Detroit: Reactions I got driving Musk’s brand
