Yep. Especially when one of the brands is Tesla.
replyOnce Elon put himself at the epicenter of American political life, Tesla stopped being treated as a brand, and more a placeholder for Elon himself.
Waymo has excellent branding and first to market advantage in defining how self-driving is perceived by users. But, the alternative being Elon's Tesla further widens the perception gap.
I think the Tesla brand and the Elon brand have always been attached at the hip. This was fine when the Elon brand was "eccentric founder who likes memes, wants to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and plans to launch a Mars colony." It only became a marketing problem when he went down the right wing rabbit hole and started sieg heiling on stage.
replyHe has proven to be untrustworthy much longer than his trip down the right wing rabbit hole. For me, it started when he through out the accusation of pedophilia against the cave diver trying to rescue students. And since then it's become clear that he will say whatever he wants without regard for reality in any meaninful way. Whether it was promising FSD over a decade ago, which he still hasn't delivered, lying about video game proficiency, or even his non-sensical statements about twitter technology after he acquired the company, it's clear that he's entered the realm where consequences don't really matter to him and he will say or do whatever he wants. There is no trust to be found there.
reply