German drugstore chain Rossmann said that Elon Musk's support for Donald Trump, the Republican candidate who calls climate change a hoax, goes against Tesla's mission—and it wants out.
I haven't broken through the paywall, can someone explain why a drugstore chain is being quoted? Do German drugstores sell cars or run deliveries or something?
The chain has a fleet of 800 vehicles, 34 of which are teslas. It seems as though they were going to replace the others with teslas over time, but due to Elon, they decided not to.
They also say they will maintain the teslas they do have, so as to be environmentally responsible.
I'm afraid there isn't that much meat to the story... Here I'll give you the quotes relating to Rossmann, the rest is padding or embedding context if we want to be charitable.
“Elon Musk makes no secret of his support for Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly described climate change as a hoax—this attitude is in stark contrast to Tesla’s mission to contribute to environmental protection through the production of electric cars,” Raoul Rossmann, Rossmann’s spokesman for the management, said in a statement.
Thirty-four of Rossmann’s 800 vehicles are Teslas, the company’s spokesperson told Fortune. The company plans to continue using those vehicles for “sustainability and resource conservation.”
Rossmann is the first major business to cite Musk’s political stance as a reason to halt future Tesla purchases. Other European companies have dropped orders from Tesla for different reasons.