Elon Musk warns
The United Auto Workers (UAW) strike has caught the attention of many politicians.
President Joe Biden recently made history by being the first sitting president to join striking autoworkers on the picket line. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sometimes abbreviated as AOC, also rallied with union workers, telling them, “When the Big Three don’t want to take the value of their workers seriously, then they have given workers no other option but to force them to value their labor.”
During a recent CBS interview, host Margaret Brennan called attention to Ocasio-Cortez’s choice of vehicle.
“You were quoted back in July saying you look forward to buying a union-made electric vehicle, but you currently have a nonunion-made Tesla. UAW already makes some electric vehicles (EVs). So why wasn’t that?” Brennan asked.
Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, replied, “Our car was purchased during the pandemic before a vaccine had come out, so travel between New York and Washington, the safest way that we had determined was an EV. But that was prior to some of the new models coming out on the market that had the range available. But we’re actually looking into trading in our car now. So, we’re looking into it, and hopefully, we will soon.”
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has been at the forefront of America’s transition to electric vehicles.
Tesla was responsible for producing three of the top five best-selling EVs in the country last year.
According to Electrek, the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling EV in the U.S. in 2022. Second place also went to Tesla with the Model 3. The Ford Mustang Mach-E took third place, followed by the Tesla Model S and the Chevrolet Bolt.
The company’s dominance is also recognized by investors. Today, Tesla has a market cap of $790 billion, which is several times bigger than Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F), General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) and Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA) combined.
While Elon Musk’s EV company captivated both consumers and investors, it hasn’t won over Ocasio-Cortez.
Bankrupt In The Fast Lane?
Tesla is not unionized. And Musk foresees dire consequences for Detroit’s automakers because of UAW strike demands.
“They want a 40% pay raise *and* a 32-hour workweek. Sure way to drive GM, Ford and Chrysler bankrupt in the fast lane,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Regarding Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to trade in her Tesla, an X user pointed out that Tesla is the most American-made car.
“So AOC is selling the #1 most American-made car to buy a union car with more foreign parts? Yikes…” the user wrote.
Musk noticed the post and responded with a simple, “Yup.”
According to the American-Made Index by Cars.com, Tesla’s Model Y, Model 3, Model X and Model S rank as the top four most American-made cars on the market, in that order. The website uses a range of factors to determine how American a vehicle is, including the location of final assembly, the percentage of U.S. and Canadian parts, the country of origin for engines and transmissions and U.S. manufacturing employees relative to the automaker’s footprint.