Tesla is the best-selling electric vehicle brand in the US by far. Though EVs comprise just 10 per cent of the new cars sold in the country, Teslas make up about half of those. The company sold just under 655,000 cars in the US in 2023, according to Kelley Blue Book. General Motors, which had the next highest sales volume, sold just under 76,000.
Until recently, Tesla was viewed as a more “liberal” brand, because switching to greener energy sources is critical to combating climate change. But some consumers have cooled on the brand as Musk has adopted increasingly rightwing and conspiratorial positions on his social media platform, X, and pumped more than $250mn into Trump’s campaign.
Since the election Trump has appointed Musk to help run the so-called department of government efficiency, a project to remove $2tn from the federal budget.
Tesla sold just over 471,000 cars in the first three quarters of 2024, a 5 per cent decline compared to the same period a year earlier, as the company’s key products have aged and the market for EVs has become more crowded.
Musk’s image is a factor too — a positive one for some, and a negative for others. In August, car research group Edmunds surveyed vehicle owners who said they planned to buy a car in the next 12 months. Among those considering an EV, 36 per cent said Musk made them less likely to buy a Tesla, 37 per cent said he made them more likely to buy a Tesla and 27 per cent said he did not influence their opinion of the brand. Among all car shoppers, just 2 per cent said they had not heard of Musk.
Loren Repollo in Florida said she is unlikely to buy another Tesla unless Musk’s public persona swings back to promoting environmentalism. Repollo bought her Tesla in December 2021 — her first major purchase as an adult. She wanted an EV and was impressed by Tesla’s driving range. Though she assumed Musk was “out of touch” like other billionaires, she found his behaviour increasingly off-putting after he bought Twitter, which he rebranded as X, and that feeling intensified this summer as he began campaigning for Trump.
“Once he started getting more involved politically, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I need to sell my car,’” she said. “I can’t have any affiliation with him.”
Instead, she bought an “Anti-Elon Tesla Club” bumper sticker for the car, and also one for her mother.
Matthew Hiller is the man behind the bumper sticker. Hiller was considering buying a Tesla until Musk’s rightward shift changed his mind. But he figured there were plenty of Tesla owners who had made a purchase and might want to vent their displeasure. He was already churning out stickers of fish for his Etsy store, Mad Puffer Stickers, so he added his first bumper sticker: “I bought this before Elon went crazy.”
He sold 300 stickers the day after the election, his best sales day ever. He had previously averaged about 50 sales a day. Since November 6 it has been closer to 100 a day.
“People who are buying Tesla now, they know who he is,” he said. “So it’s absolutely going to affect his sales, because traditionally those were always liberal cars. So now what?… I don’t know how he’s going to make a play for his new base.”
Anna Wilk, who lives outside London, said she would have to think hard about whether to buy another Tesla. A self-described “Tesla head”, she has never been a fan of Musk but saw him as separate from the product his company made. She helped persuade several family and friends to buy the cars.
But as someone born in Poland, she is leery of how Musk and Trump might be influenced by their contact with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
“There is huge disconnection on the values,” she said. “I am not sure, once my car lease runs out, what I’m going to do.”
“Mixing politics with business is not a good idea,” she added. “Something always goes wrong.”
Humaira Ahmed and her husband have discussed selling their Tesla, even if it is at a loss. A tech entrepreneur who respected Musk’s record of innovation, Ahmed said she was excited in 2020 to own the first Tesla in her area, Vancouver Island. Now she feels like driving it suggests she shares Musk’s political views, which she does not.
“We really enjoyed it, and we still do, and that’s the hardest part,” she said. “I don’t talk about the car any more. It used to be a source of pride.”
She is not the only Tesla owner who shies away from mentioning her vehicle. Four others declined to be interviewed for this story because they feared consequences for criticising Musk, notably an online backlash.
Written by: Claire Bushey in Chicago
© Financial Times
