Few auto executives are as closely identified with the companies they manage as Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive. And probably no one is more prolific in broadcasting their political views on social media.
But as Mr. Musk’s public persona drifts further to the right, Tesla appears to be taking a toll on sales, especially to liberal and left-leaning customers who are far more likely to buy battery cars than conservatives, analysts said. and many car owners who answered a questionnaire on the New York Times website about whether his behavior affected their views of Tesla.
His image as an erratic, impulsive manager appears to have rubbed off on the cars, raising doubts in some minds about their quality and helping to explain why Tesla’s sales have fallen. On Tuesday, the company said its global sales in the second quarter fell 4.8 percent from the same period a year earlier, after falling 8.5 percent in the first three months of the year.
“Musk is a real lightning rod,” said Ben Rose, president of Battle Road Research, which has a generally bullish view on Tesla stock. “There are people who curse him and people who curse him. No doubt, some of his comments are a real turn off for some people. For a subset, enough to buy another brand.”
Tesla and a spokesman for the company’s board did not respond to requests for comment.
Some of the more than 7,500 people who responded to a Times questionnaire said they were offended by what they perceived as anti-Semitism from Mr. Musk, which he denies. Some have been troubled by the way Mr Musk has run Twitter, now called X, since he bought the company in 2022. He has laid off thousands of employees and removed safeguards on content shared on the social networking platform. His increasingly friendly relations with former President Donald J. Trump and other conservative figures were also cited as concerns. The vast majority of readers who responded to the questionnaire were critical of Mr. Musk.
“You’re basically driving around a giant red MAGA hat,” said Aaron Shepherd, a product designer at Microsoft in Seattle, who said he planned to buy an electric Volkswagen ID.4 instead of a Tesla.
It is impossible to know what price Tesla has paid for Mr. Musk’s political statements and activities. What is clear is that Tesla, once the world’s dominant seller of electric vehicles, has lost market share in many countries for a variety of reasons. Chief among them is the company’s reliance on the Model Y sport utility vehicle and the Model 3 sedan, which haven’t been substantially updated in years, for nearly all of its sales. Other companies entice buyers by introducing new or updated cars more frequently.
In China, domestic automakers such as BYD have gained ground on Tesla by offering more affordable cars with features aimed at Chinese consumers, such as karaoke. In Europe, BMW, Volkswagen and other local brands are doing well by offering more luxury or cheaper cars than Tesla. And in the United States, Hyundai-Kia, Ford Motor and General Motors have boosted sales by offering a growing selection of models.
Times readers who responded to the online survey said they were put off by Mr. Musk’s statements and their experience with Tesla cars and service — the company sells and services cars directly, not through dealers.
“There is a time when I would give Musk an instrument if he needed it,” said Tim Yocum, director of engineering at a software company. But Mr. Yocum, who lives in Chicago, said he had experienced problems with the Tesla Model S and was not satisfied with the company’s repair and maintenance services. Mr. Musk’s shift to the right has also unsettled him.
“Tesla is the only manufacturer in the modern era that has unapologetically let its CEO play on its good name,” Mr. Yocum said. “This car will be the last Tesla I own.”
Such comments help illuminate investigations that say Tesla’s reputation has suffered recently. The company slipped to 63rd place in the 2024 Axios Harris Poll 100, which asked respondents about their views of corporate brands. In 2021, the company was in eighth place.
Mr. Musk has maintained that his public statements and face do not affect Tesla’s sales. “We make the best cars,” he said at the Times’ DealBook Summit in November. “Whether you hate me, like you or are indifferent, do you want the best car or not the best car?
Mr. Musk still has many passionate fans. And some said the executive’s public statements won’t influence their decision to buy a Tesla. Many people have given him credit for pushing the auto industry to produce electric vehicles, a powerful tool in the fight against climate change.
“He has led a company that has successfully disrupted a corrupt, lazy auto industry,” said Julian Mehnle, a software engineer who lives in San Francisco. While not a fan of Mr. Musk, Mr. Mehnle said, “I’m old enough to separate those concerns from my choice of consumer products.”
Robert Dean, an architect who lives in Redding, Conn., echoed those sentiments: “Musk is a giant, disruptive talent with a transformative and positive impact on the world we live in. He is also a strange personality, but I am not to marry him; I buy cars from a company that is run brilliantly.”
Most of Tesla’s shareholders remain largely supportive of Mr. Musk. Last month, investors overwhelmingly approved a $45 billion compensation plan for him.
But car buyers The Times spoke to and analysts said Mr. Musk’s political activity had clearly damaged the company’s reputation among left-leaning consumers. And there is little evidence that Mr. Musk’s shift to the right has attracted more conservatives to buy Teslas. In fact, 77 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters said this year they were not interested in battery-powered cars, up from 70 percent who said the same last year, according to the Pew Research Center.
“He might be winning over some people who like his pitches,” said Greg Silverman, global director of brand finance at Interbrand, a consulting firm that advises clients on marketing strategies. But, he added, the chances of Mr. Musk attracting more customers rather than driving them away “are very low.”
Interbrand research shows that a CEO or representative of another company who insults customers can reduce sales by as much as 10 percent, Mr. Silverman said.
The concerns of some car owners went beyond Mr. Musk’s political statements. They cited accusations of racial discrimination at Tesla factories or the perception that it allowed racist content to flourish at X. Tesla has denied that it tolerates discrimination at its factories.
“My mother was seriously debating buying a Tesla,” said Achidi Ndifang, who works in information technology in Baltimore. “As a black man, I felt it would be an insult to my mother to drive a Tesla.”
Derek Morf, a high school math teacher in Verona, NJ, who owns a Tesla, said he was concerned when Tesla removed the Disney Plus app from some dashboard screens late last year, apparently because Mr. Musk was angry with Robert A. Iger, CEO of Disney.
Mr. Morph didn’t care much for the Disney app, which he barely used. But, he said, he found it troubling “that the vehicle I bought could change characteristics in an instant simply because one man had so much control.”
Such concerns could be a liability for Tesla as it pours resources into self-driving technology. Mr Musk has promised to unveil a self-driving taxi on August 8. Technology cannot succeed without consumer trust.
Many Times readers pointed out that other car companies also had baggage. Volkswagen had an emissions scandal a few years ago. Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor, held and propagated anti-Semitic views. A decade ago, GM sold cars with faulty ignition switches that were blamed for more than 100 deaths.
Established car companies still sell gasoline cars that emit greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Tesla only sells electric cars.
But probably no other auto industry executive has as loud a megaphone as Mr. Musk, or is more willing to use it.
“If people think that the CEOs of other companies are saints, they are a bit naive in my opinion,” said Jan Leys, owner of Tesla in Zurich. “They just don’t have as big a mouth and/or platform as Elon Musk.”
