[RahulNagaraj]

According to a report, the number of people considering purchasing a Tesla is shrinking, with the main reason being attributed to its CEO, Elon Musk and his polarising persona.



Based on a survey by Caliber - a market intelligence firm, the "consideration score" for Tesla fell to 31% in February 2024, compared to 70% in November 2021. The survey also states that Tesla's consideration score fell by 8 percentage points at the start of the year alone. According to Caliber, there is a strong association between Tesla's reputation and that of Musk for the score. The same survey also stated that Tesla's reputational downfall has helped other brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, which sell both ICE and EV models, to improve during the same period.

Shahar, Silbershatz, CEO of Caliber, mentioned how 83% of Americans connect Musk with Tesla. "It's very likely that Musk himself is contributing to the reputational downfall," he said.

Reports also suggest that Elon Musk's political views and public statements are weighing on Tesla's brand image and demand.

Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Analyst at Cox Automotive, stated, "The EV slowdown is shaping up to be a Tesla slowdown." Reports state that new car registration for Teslas in California (the brand's biggest market in the US) witnessed the first drop in over three years during the fourth quarter of 2023 - despite an increase in overall EV sales.

Brand Finance, a brand valuation consultancy, found that Tesla's reputation fell in 2023 across multiple countries, including the United States, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom & Australia. Only in China and Germany did Tesla's reputation remain intact.

Source: Reuters

Link to Team-BHP news

[GTO]

That's the thing with founders who are the face of their companies. When things are good, they are good. E.g. Mallya & Kingfisher, Steve Jobs & Apple. But when things go bad, it affects the company badly. There are many Indian car companies which intentionally avoid the "herofication" of any single top executive. If someone is getting a bit too famous for comfort, the communications department will start restricting his interviews & press coverage.

Tesla has the longest list of fanboys who used to defend Tesla & Elon Musk to no end. But Musk's image has drastically deteriorated after his Twitter shenanigans. Forget the money he directly lost on the Twitter deal, the collateral damage (e.g. to Tesla) and the reputational loss are far higher.

Musk is a genius. But all geniuses sometimes goof up. Twitter was a colossal mistake. A lot of potential customers for big-ticket Teslas are put off by the politics & the trolling. Handling a community isn't easy .

[DIY410]

Musk has done humans a service by buying twitter. The trust in western news media is at all time low. Everyone who has a financial interest to make profits, at the expense of the unsuspecting public hates Musk.

Pharmaceutical, Defense, Auto, Oil companies, Plane manufacturers, Airline, News corporations, Politician's all hate Musk because he is allowing discussions on vaccines, medicines, wars, government and corporate policy discussion on Twitter.

The news corporations are nothing but the arm of the highest Ad buyer and Asset management firms like Blackrock, Statestreet, Vanguard that have their finger dipped in every company out there. Once you see it like how Elon has seen it, you can't unsee it.

Twitter itself competes with traditional news media and news always breaks first on twitter. All the lies and news spin is community noted.

So of course you will hear negative articles on Elon.

Current US government filed a case against SpaceX for not hiring refugees and Asylum seekers. But the US law prevents SpaceX from hiring foreigners because SpaceX is a national security sensitive company. Only US citizens and green card holders are cleared to work in such sensitive companies and unless specifically cleared, foreigners are not allowed.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-ho...-of-elon-musk/

[SKC-auto]

The logic is Simple.

"Woke" people love EVs, solar, batteries.
"Grifters" love ICEs, don't believe in climate change.
May be Elon Musk wanted to sell EVs, solar and batteries to "Grifters".
Elon Musk goes against "Woke" people, supports certain country in war, asks another country at war to surrender, criticizes democrats but cannot say a thing about grifters favourite boys (Xi, Putin or Trump).
"Grifters" still don't buy EVs, solar and batteries.
"Woke" hate Elon, they have a choice now.

Offcourse, there are lot many people who are non Woke, non Grifters who just buy cars based on their needs.

[SmartCat]

I smell a rat. I think these people might be working in the reverse here:

Goal: Negative article on Elon Musk. Great for eyeballs and very likely to go viral the world over. And if we suggest that it is because of his right wing commentary, we make 50%+ of our readers extremely happy.

Opportunity: Tesla sales are momentarily down. Doesn't matter that if we zoom out the chart, the sales trend is up.

Modus Operandi: Let's pull up a random non-consequential metric callled 'consideration score' and see if we can get a low percentage for a month (not last 12 months average, just one month will do). Work with this metric, compare with others and pump out an article.

Obviously, no need ask the survey participants why they would not consider buying a Tesla. After all, they might say "hey, Ford/Rivian/GM/Mercedes/Audi/BMW/Chinese etc all have launched new models and I find them interesting for now". If they say that, it will surely mess up our Goal. Instead, take a few statements from random "industry experts" who will convey to the readers that Tesla sales slump is because of Elon Musk's tweets.

Basically, Elon Musk will continue to tweet as usual. But Tesla sales will continue to hit new highs as EV segment grows. This consideration score for Tesla will trend slowly downwards and stabilize at a particular level, but that mostly depends on number of competitors for a price range (and not political leanings or meme tweeting by Musk)

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

I smell a rat. I think these people might be working in the reverse here:

Tell me you didn't read the article without telling me you didn't read the article The very second paragraph talks about Tesla posting strong sales growth last year. And they have quoted a potential EV buyer's reason for not choosing Tesla.

Maybe Elon's unhinged tweets and remarks combined with shoddy QA (https://jalopnik.com/teslas-quality-...g-d-1851369990) and false advertising of its FSD is actually contributing to people being put off from buying a Tesla? Or maybe it is much easier to just yell "conspiracy theory" at anything that we don't like.

[PZK]

Elon needs to understand that he doesn't have to fight all the fights. Leave some of them for rest of humanity.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Maybe Elon's unhinged tweets and remarks combined with shoddy QA (https://jalopnik.com/teslas-quality-...g-d-1851369990) and false advertising of its FSD is actually contributing to people being put off from buying a Tesla?

Exactly my point. Just a bunch of "maybes" strung together. This is just a speculative/non-serious report. To figure out why there was a dip in quarterly sales, serious analysts would try to decode mgmt presentation or interviews post-results.

And to find out if Elon's tweets are the cause for dip in sales, this is the right way to do a survey and come to a conclusion:

1) Survey sample should only contain individuals who would not consider buying Tesla
2) Questionnaire should contain 10 or 15 different reasons, one of which should include Elon Musk's political leanings or tweets.
3) Tally the results and see how many votes the above factor gets.

If anybody truly believes that Elon Musk's reputation is pushing statistically significant percentage of customers away, then they are essentially saying that Tesla is going to see falling or flat sales in USA forever. But since that is unlikely, question to believers in this unconventional theory. How will you explain the quarter or year in the near future when Tesla sales or revenues hits new highs?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

According to a report, the number of people considering purchasing a Tesla is shrinking, with the main reason being attributed to its CEO, Elon Musk and his polarising persona.

I have been saying this for years. No Tesla for me. I will walk before I buy anything that has Musk’s hands on it?

Musk is the poster boy advertisement on why it is very dangerous for single individuals to become this influential.

I have met the man some years ago whilst I was at Stanford. Not impressed. One of the problems is Stanford is now full of kids who no other ambitions than to become the new Musk and make the world a better place. Nothing wrong with ambition and noble causes. However, these kids might have well lived on a different planet. None of them had any clue, about the more mundane problems on this planet. Or even closer to home, Palo Alto. E.g. the position of black people, poor people, educational issues.

Musk, no doubt, is a genius and he singlehanded pushed the EV agenda and challenged the big car power houses. And no doubt the Tesla, from a technology point of view is an excellent product.

But as a human being, beyond being an engineer he is a total nut case as far as I am concerned.

Jeroen

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Exactly my point. Just a bunch of "maybes" strung together. This is just a speculative/non-serious report. To figure out why there was a dip in quarterly sales, serious analysts would try to decode mgmt presentation or interviews post-results.

Those are not maybe's but actual factors that are impacting Tesla's sales.

New car registrations for Teslas in California- their biggest market in the U.S. - posted their first drop in over three years in the fourth quarter of 2023 even as EV sales rose overall.
At least five analysts cut Tesla's target price last month, saying the automaker could post disappointing first-quarter delivery results. Tesla shares are down nearly 30% year to date.

Overall electric vehicle sales in the U.S. are forecast to increase 15% in the first quarter of this year, according to estimates by researcher Cox Automotive. Tesla sales are projected to increase by 3%.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

However, these kids might have well lived on a different planet. None of them had any clue, about the more mundane problems on this planet. Or even closer to home, Palo Alto. E.g. the position of black people, poor people, educational issues.

And this is quite evident from Musk's issues with the labor unions in EU.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I have been saying this for years. No Tesla for me. I will walk before I buy anything that has Musk’s hands on it?

Musk is the poster boy advertisement on why it is very dangerous for single individuals to become this influential.

But as a human being, beyond being an engineer he is a total nut case as far as I am concerned.

From the article,
"A modest but growing number of EV shoppers are increasingly put off by Elon Musk's behavior and politics and are now finding viable alternatives to Tesla in the marketplace," Ed Kim, president of California-based consultancy AutoPacific said.

That group includes Jonny Page, a London-based consultant who works with climate-focused startups and will purchase an EV this summer. It will not be a Tesla.

Page, 36, said his decision is partly because of concerns over Tesla safety but mostly about Musk's "unhinged" behavior. "I don't want to put a single penny in that man's pockets," Page said.

In 2023 I asked a fellow parent why they chose the Cupra Born instead of a Tesla Model 3/Y. He replied, "We don't like Elon Musk.". I don't think I have posted this before because it was afterall one person's view and I can't really prove much with it. However, Caliber's study seems to indicate that one person isn't alone. There's more people and it is growing. Is it significant? Surely not, but which car company wants to even loose even ONE car sale because of a potty mouthed CEO? Tesla I guess.

The EV industry is facing headwinds and is entering a phase of slowing rate of growth/demand. Competition has caught up with Tesla. In this challenging scenario, is Elon Musk the best person to head Tesla? That's the question in the minds of investors.

I'm sure Elon Musk will be banned in a few hours if he joined TBHP and started posting. The manchild doesn't know how to have a meaningful debate respectfully.
Most recent sample: Musk responded in typical style on X, calling Ross Gerber an “idiot” who “can’t even tell he’s an idiot”.

I don't come from a place where such language and bullying is accepted and worse still, celebrated. It is just a matter of time before the Tesla board decides to do something about his unhinged behavior. I guess they can afford to let it go as long as he brings in the money. If he ends up being the reason for not making enough money, that's when someone will bell the cat.

[goacom]

There are several problems with Tesla. Yes, there is the issue of Elon and his support for right wing conspiracy theories. I know several friends (I live in the US) who will no longer consider a Tesla for this reason.

I dont like some of Elon's ideology. However, I recently purchased a 2023 Model S to replace my old 2014 Model S. There are of course several improvements such as the increase in its range from 230miles to over 400miles which really dramatically improves the ease of driving long distances. Charging speed is also much higher now as is its overall performance.

However, there are also some terrible downgrades. It has no stalks for the turn indicators. It does not have a proper horn button either, or proper wiper controls. All of these controls are now in the form of tiny buttons on the steering wheel. It may look cool, but if I have to look away from the road to press the horn or to activate a turn signal, I consider it to be dangerous. This is simply cost cutting being marketed as cool technology (thank goodness they got the regular steering wheel back). Besides that, the car has had a lot of QC issues. For now, it is covered by a warranty, so it is ok ... but one has to wonder. Other issues such as its full reliance on camera vision and removal of parking sensors and even rain sensors has resulted in a degraded experience as the camera based systems continue to be very buggy.

So why did I buy this car? It is simple - Tesla's supercharging network that makes long distance trips a piece of cake. I was also able to get unlimited free charging for several years as part of their promotion for the early adopters. However, as this network opens up to other manufacturers, the need to buy a Tesla decreases. I doubt whether my next EV will be a Tesla.

Thanks to Elon's distractions with Twitter or whatever, Tesla seems to be falling behind the competition. Instead of focusing on its low cost car (Model 2?), it spent a lot of valuable resources on the Cybertruck which is going to be a relatively low volume product. Its transition to the 4860 battery cell has been painful and slow. They are behind in introducing new chemistries that would increase the energy density and charging rate of these batteries. Its charging voltage is at 375V, while companies like Hyundai/Kia, VW/Audi, Mercedes and BMW are already transitioning to 800V. This limits charging rates and overall efficiency.

All in all, it seems like Elon has become more of an impediment to Tesla's growth. Tesla is no longer the technological leader it once was. Add Elon's megalomaniac personality traits and the dangers of extreme power in the hands of one man, it just makes the decision to not buy a Tesla easier for many folks. Dont get me wrong, Tesla is and will continue to be a major player in the EV space and Elon does deserve credit for this.

[Thilak29]

This man runs bunch of successful companies all at once. He is talented but equally controversial, it's given. It's like saying, people dislike coffee for its bitterness but like its aroma, caffeine effects! Sorry all three come together and its unique package put together.

[Vishal.R]

Whenever a certain section of COMMERCIAL media targets someone, it actually helps.

There is a reason why We prefer sources like Team-BHP over commercial media, here We get actual experience and also is not an echo chamber, while ALL commercial media organizations are either supporting one side or another, so difficult to get correct side.

This article is just another example. This is just a way to threaten or scare other business persons to divert their resources to certain side of "THE DIVIDE", and Elon Musk has already calculated all impact of his leaning.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

The logic is Simple.

"Woke" people love EVs, solar, batteries.
"Grifters" love ICEs, don't believe in climate change.
May be Elon Musk wanted to sell EVs, solar and batteries to "Grifters".
Elon Musk goes against "Woke" people, supports certain country in war, asks another country at war to surrender, criticizes democrats but cannot say a thing about grifters favourite boys (Xi, Putin or Trump).
"Grifters" still don't buy EVs, solar and batteries.
"Woke" hate Elon, they have a choice now.

Offcourse, there are lot many people who are non Woke, non Grifters who just buy cars based on their needs.

You painted quite a picture of U.S. electorate demographic divide. Yes, Elon Musk indeed displeased democrats/liberals by warming up to Grifter-in-Chief who is itching to get back into White House again, so that he can pardon himself and pull a Putin this time.

Elon maybe a genius but he's an eccentric man and his popularity took nosedive after conclusion of twitter deal. There probably isn't a person he interacted with but not annoyed him/her.