4d ago

Exclusive: Tesla's brand loyalty collapsed after Musk backed Trump, data shows

www.reuters.com

reuters.com

Tesla for years had more repeat U.S. customers than any other major automotive brand but its loyalty has plunged since CEO Elon Musk endorsed President Donald Trump last summer, according to data from research firm S&P Global Mobility shared exclusively with Reuters.

The data, which has not been previously reported, shows Tesla’s customer loyalty peaked in June 2024, when 73% of Tesla-owning households in the market for a new car bought another Tesla, according to an S&P analysis of vehicle-registration data in all 50 states.

That industry-leading brand loyalty rate started to nosedive in July, that data showed, when Musk endorsed Trump following an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on the Republican nominee.

News @lemmy.world

RandAlThor @lemmy.ca

4d ago

Exclusive: Tesla's brand loyalty collapsed after Musk backed Trump, data shows

www.reuters.com /business/autos-transportation/teslas-brand-loyalty-collapsed-after-musk-backed-trump-data-shows-2025-08-04/

Conservative2 @lemmy.today

UnwittingSenior @lemmy.today

4d ago

Exclusive: Tesla's brand loyalty collapsed after Musk backed Trump, data shows

www.reuters.com /business/autos-transportation/teslas-brand-loyalty-collapsed-after-musk-backed-trump-data-shows-2025-08-04/

64 comments

Tesla for years had more repeat U.S. customers than any other major automotive brand but its loyalty has plunged since CEO Elon Musk endorsed President Donald Trump last summer
Uh, let's be clear. It's not just because he endorsed Trump. It's because he had a torrid love affair with Maga and Naziism, tried to overtly buy elections, wrecked the federal government and the lives of tens of thousands of workers, caused death and misery, and was generally an unlikable prick.
- All that, and also Tesla is no longer the best electric car on the market. For a long time they were ahead of the competition, but that was years ago. Today you can get a better car, for less money, AND you don't give a nazi your money. Why would people stick with Tesla?
  
  That's true too. My Hyundai is better than any of the many Teslas I've sat in as a passenger.
  
  They don't even have Lidar.
  
  also Tesla is no longer the best electric car on the market.
  Was it ever?
  I don't remember a year when they didn't have QC problems while over promising and under delivering.
  
  Tesla is no longer the best electric car on the market. For a long time they were ahead of the competition, but that was years ago. Today you can get a better car, for less money
  Sure but people who think critically like that are not brand loyal.
- Wow, those must be some shitty cars if you have to buy another one in that short of a time frame
  
  Not really though. My brother bought a Model 3 when they first came out and loved it so much he traded it in for a Model 3 Performance version a couple years later. Then he bought his wife a Model Y. Some people (with money) buy cars every couple of years.
  Since Elon started doing Nazi salutes and started ripping up the government with DOGE, my brother traded in both cars for an F150 Lightning and a Rivian R1S. He'll never buy a Tesla again as long as Musk is involved.
  I know several people who currently have Teslas but won't buy another. Brand loyalty is absolutely in the shitter.
He backed Trump
He showed up high as Fuck on national TV and gave a Nazi salute.
He openly didn't pay the people he bribed to vote
He headed the department and openly mined private citizen data and shut down services for a lot of people.
Brand loyalty wasn't too good before then, but jesus....
Didn’t think you needed data to come to this conclusion.
- It’s still generally good to back up claims with data rather than your gut. That’s what’s supposed to differentiate you and I from the Magats.
  
  Yeah but it also leads to years-long gaps where it's "just" gut feeling when we knew all along what it was.
  "Scientists discover Trump supporters are narcissistic xenophobic assholes" - yeah we know.
  Then corporate news sewers publish it like "see we're on the side of truth" when MFs if you were on the side of truth you would have published this at the time, not four years later.
- Data always helps, that's why trump fired all the people with backbones.
  
  He fired the statistician that said our employment sucked.
  If we stop testing then there is no bad news. Should be this admins motto.
- Exclusive!
Sold my Tesla, will never buy one again. At one point, admittedly, had a CT reservation - canceled and got a GM EV.
Two friends sold their Tesla's and will never buy one again, got Toyota and Hyundai EVs.
Another friend's Tesla lease is up in September, they're ditching it and never buying Tesla again. Unsure what they'll get next though.
Extended family in another state was going to get a Tesla, they just got another gas guzzler instead.
Fuck Tesla. I hope they collapse enough to really really hurt Elon's pocket, they probably won't, but one can dream.
- Stocks remain disconnected from actual worth. The stock price indicates a company with more sales/profit than frickin Toyota which sold over 10 million vehicles compared to Teslas 2 million.
  Current market cap of Toyota 285Billion, Tesla 996Billion.
  
  The VW Group alone sold 3x the EVs in Europe as Tesla and are valued at 1/20th of Tesla.
- What's the GM EV you got and how do you like it? Thinking about buying another EV soon. Probably would have gotten another Tesla if Elon didn't go full Nazi.
  
  Silverado EV. I honestly like it a lot more than I expected and it has grown on me day by day. It is not Tesla-efficient however, but for everything I use it for it performs fantastic and the maintenance is practically non-existent.
  My errands around town / daily driver is otherwise an older Chevy Bolt which is just fine as well.
Is musk dead yet?
- Yes. According to xAI: "Musk has been killed by violent leftists 5 times this year alone, three of them being by people with very Jewish-sounding last names."
  
  people with very Jewish-sounding last names.
  Luigiberg?
  
  TIL Musk is a cat. Only 4 more to go!
- !iselonmuskdeadyet@lemmy.world
Sounds like he deserves 29 billion in stock grants.
- I hate to be seen as defending the guy since he went full Nazi, but …..
  Y’all have to remember he get paid in stock Options. When the stock tanks he gets nothing. However since it’s gone crazy over the last several years since they were originally granted, he made an obscene amount of money. He need it to keep rising.
  I’d like to see him put his money where his mouth is: let’s see him take the same deal, get paid in options, now that Tesla is tanking. Realistically it was a great car company in a lot of ways and I’d like to see it survive his craziness
Last week I saw a Cybertruck with temporary plates and I was so confused by what type of a person would go out today and buy a Cybertruck. It isn't like they're even on sale or anything.
- I listened to some podcast a while back that explained why so many businesses were purchasing Cybertrucks, and it turns out there are stacked tax incentives, that due to the immense weight of the truck, it can end up getting 50 or 100% written off as a business expense.
  Here is one of the less scummy links I could find.
  
  It almost seems like it was designed specifically to meet these specs.
  Even if a vehicle exceeds 6,000 pounds, it must fall into one of three specific categories to qualify for full Section 179 expensing.
  Passenger Vehicles with Seating for 9 or More
  Example: Mercedes Sprinter Van (typically used as airport shuttles)
  Pickup Trucks with a Cargo Bed of at Least 6 Feet that is separate from the passenger compartment
  Tesla Cybertruck falls into this category!
  Fully Enclosed Vehicles With No Rear Seating
  Example: Amazon delivery vans
Musk = POS Nazi.
Holy fuck! Who knew
I want TSLA to get to the point where it can’t fall. It’s currently $300+ as of this post. Come on, y’all. Why are you still holding TSLA?
- There are theoretical lower limits on the share price, where it can't go much lower. One is the Book Value Per Share, which is the value after all debts are subtractes from all assets, per share. This is the theoretical value per share of the company had to end and all assets were instantly liquidated, with no upside for future revenue at all:
  https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bvps.asp
  The numbers from the most recent quarter show Telsa with a BVPS of $23.98.
  https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TSLA/key-statistics/
  They also show that TSLA has more cash on hand than debt, $36B to $13B, and shows an operating profit. The stock price is not likely to crater until they start losing money on a regular basis, and even then they have a pile of cash they can use to stay afloat.
  Elon may be a moron, but the people who run their financial side seem to know what they are doing.
  
  They could also easily wind down some of their very high capital expenditures to last even longer. It'd mean slowing their growth and shelving some new ideas, things we probably haven't even seen, but that would dramatically change their balance sheet.
  Doing that isn't good for the long term though, it would just cause a stagnation loop leading to further scaling back, but as a temporary measure if cash preservation was important enough, it is an option worth tens of billions over multi year time frame.
  Edit: and by slowing growth I don't mean their car sales are declining so that's not growth, I mean maybe investing less in the AI super computer they are building, or not building a 2nd lithium refinery right away even if the 1st one works out as planned. The kind of things that are good for the future of the company, but you can't just throw money at when things might turn dire and you need to hang onto that cash for security.
- Some investment things like betterment will buy Tesla as part of their automation, and the end user might not even know.
I love it when journalists tell us things that are completely obvious.
Toxic toddler Trump torpedoes Tesla trading trends.
- Truly terrific!
Tesla just needs to update it's logo to better represent it's leadership:
There was a EV show that used to pop up on my youtube that was basically Tesla show. I was wondering what happened to it, looked it up. Their view counts dropped by over half after Musk's Nazi salute.
I rarely see a Tesla where I’m from.
I went to Charlotte to see Modest Mouse in June and I couldn’t even count the Teslas. It really surprised me.
I swear to god everyone driving them appeared to be Indian. Not that it really matters, I just found it interesting.
- Because Indian friends of mine think Elon is a god. Because that specific friend might be mentally retarded from the same drugs that Elon takes.
If you buy a new Tesla, it will get vandalized.
- The thousands of them I see on the road in every country I've visited seem to indicate that not being fully accurate.
What? Noooo…
Hooray!
I bought my Tesla five years ago. I was really happy with the car until Elmo started going fash. Now I'm looking to sell it and I won't buy another one was long as he's around.

64 comments