Yeah because until Elon decided to go full Nazi and wade into politics directly, Tesla operated sort of on its own in a category that US manufacturers wanted to ignore. There was a vocal but overall small group of people that hated him.

Going full Nazi on the national stage however changed that, and we can see it with the massive change in Tesla sales.

The vehicles didn't change, and at the time the competition was still very mediocre at best. Hell even now most of the competition is not surpassing areas where Tesla excells. US car manufacturers are still stuck in their 20th century mindsets and designing these cars the way they did, just with an EV powertrain and not taking advantage of areas where EVs allow differentiation.

I ditched my Model 3 and after going through a Polestar 3 that I loves, but had A/C issues that still haven't been fixed afrer a year and lawyers involved to get returned as a lemon... ended up with a Honda Prologue. But it's actually a Chevy Blazer with a costume on, and it feels like a big bulky Chevy not a Honda at all. The software despite being Android Automotive like the Polestar, is woefully worse, more buggy, and overall more annoying than anything, and has never received an update of any kind to fix any issues or add new features. It can't be left with climate running while you go into a store, It needs to be manually turned on and off as if you were starting and stopping an engine, there is no phone key so you still need a piece of shit dongle that's exactly the same as every other current GM vehicle (again it's technically a Honda), and the initial setup wanted to shove an OnStar subscription down my throat. It doesn't feel like a brand new EV in any way whatsoever. And it's not just a GM/Chevy thing, I went through Volvo, Kia, Hyundai, and even Mercedes rentals throughout my issues the last year. All of them were similar. None of them felt like they took advantage of being an EV, they just happened to have an EV powertrain. That's the current competition, and it's woefully lacking.

Just take a look at any of the Chinese EV options available everywhere else and the difference is night and day, even if you ignore the massively subsidized prices. The features available on those vehicles blow nearly every US manufacturer out of the water. The only ones that come close are the ones without legacy auto experience, like Lucid and Rivian. They actually have features that leverage the ability to have the vehicle always be "on". And that's an area where Tesla still leads.