Norway is one of the most important markets for electric vehicles in the world. On account of aggressive support in the form of incentives from the government, the country enjoys the world’s highest market share of new EVs sold at 88.9 percent. The electric cars that Norwegians have traditionally liked best are Teslas; the top two best-selling vehicles there last year were the Model Y and Model 3. But now, a competitor in the country is using Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s own notoriety against him in a new ad.
Kia of Norway recently poked fun at the always-controversial Musk with a now-deleted post on Instagram. The post featured an image of the brand’s affordable EV3 model with a bumper sticker that reads “I BOUGHT THIS AFTER ELON MUSK WENT CRAZY.” The line is a clever twist on the popular “I BOUGHT THIS BEFORE ELON MUSK WENT CRAZY” stickers that have become popular with Tesla owners who disagree with Musk’s recent behavior and want the rest of the world to know it.
The Blowback
Despite Kia’s post being deleted, it did make its way across the Internet to Musk’s eyes and provoked a reaction. Noted journalist-yet-Tesla-shareholder Sawyer Merritt posted the ad on Twitter/X with the comment, “Bad look @Kia to have your official Instagram account in Norway posting stuff like this.” Musk responded to Merritt’s post with, “They really did that?”
At the time of this writing, Merritt’s post has nearly 8,000 comments and 63,000 Likes. Of course, many of the comments are by Tesla loyalists and fans of Elon Musk who are not happy with another automaker taking a public shot at the man they revere. That said, you can also find comments from people who have a sense of humor and appreciate a well-timed poke for fun.
TopSpeed’s Take
Tesla is taking a ton of shrapnel right now from attacks meant for its CEO, Elon Musk. This ad from Kia of Norway is a relatively minor one, though, when considering the massive beating Tesla’s reputation, sales, and stock price are taking just for being associated with Musk. It may be unfair because Musk is only one person and there are thousands who work at Tesla designing, building, and selling electric vehicles, but like Jobs was to Apple, Musk is to Tesla. The two are practically synonymous.
There’s also a rich history of automakers jabbing at each other through the medium of advertising. The billboard wars between Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW are well-documented examples.
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