I have two girls; never mentioned Elon, Tesla, nor CT to them.

Both think it looks ugly.

No need to influence most people, IMO. Vehicles are shaped the way they are because the designs have broad appeal in general (familiarity? proportions? trends?). Most of us would find a normal, well-tailored black suit to be appealing and be baffled by avant garde, high fasion men's clothing.

Why should anyone be surprised that a completely novel design isn't appealing to most?

That's just good parenting. :)

I suspect you're right. :) I think it's ghastly and poorly engineered/ designed.

14yo probably influenced -me- more than the other direction, though. That one has strong opinions.

This is the same 14yo who when she was younger would delightedly point out every Tesla (then, mostly model S's) she saw on the road. Probably still responding to both aesthetics and politics but it was interesting to see the shift.

Gonna let you in on a little secret:

Every parent influences their children. It's called parenting.

Eh, even a 11 year old kid can see this thing is what a 5 year old kid thinks is "cool".