Ask HN: Why do people hate Tesla?

Shorting stock is a financial game that you can play if you can afford it. It might be related to disliking Elon Musk because of his some of his business practices are shady. Personally, I think he's mostly a con man but that view isn't widely held here on HN. If someone doesn't like his business practice and thinks it might fail, shorting the stock could be profitable.

Shorting Tesla stock has no correlation to hating Tesla. Personally, I don't hate the company, but I don't think I'll ever buy one (even though I could, in cash), because I don't need or want all the high tech. Give me a long range basic car, with roll down windows, manual locks, no self driving and I'll be very happy.

From a business standpoint it is tricky.

The car industry is a lot more competitive than space launches. Tesla is up against Toyota, GM, Honda, Tata, Ford, ...