AOC wants to ‘trade in’ her Tesla for union-made electric vehicle amid historic auto workers strike

‘We are actually looking into trading in our car now’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is looking to trade in her Tesla for a union-made electric vehicle (EV).

The New York Democrat was asked why she does not own an electric vehicle made by union workers on CBS’s Face the Nation. “We are actually looking into trading in our car now,” responded Ms Ocasio-Cortez, known informally as AOC. “So we are looking into it and hopefully we will soon.”

Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla and Ms Ocasio-Cortez has sparred several times with him on social media platform X/Twitter, also owned by Mr Musk.

She said she bought her Tesla during the pandemic to commute between her New York City district and Washington DC. However, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said there are now vehicles manufactured by unions that have the required range for the journey.

“Our car was purchased during the pandemic when travel – 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,” she told CBS.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union is currently on a historic strike against three major carmakers and on Friday walked out of all 38 parts-distribution centres operated by General Motors and Jeep and Ram owner Stellantis in 20 states.

UAW boss Shawn Fain said they spared Ford as they were making more progress in talks.

“We are focused on moving the companies at the bargaining table. Right now we think we can get there. Stellantis [the conglomerate that manufactures cars of several brands like Citroen, Fiat and Chrysler] and GM in particular are going to need some serious pushing,” he said.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez previously warned Mr Musk was “testing the waters” to possibly interfere in the 2024 election.

The Tesla chief is also a vocal opponent of unions.

The Democrat also hit out at the Tesla boss after X began removing blue ticks and said the move could pave the way “for major potential harm”.

The congresswoman has also previously claimed Mr Musk had meddled with her account. Ms Ocasio-Cortez complained that following a public argument, her Twitter account had seemingly stopped working properly.