Californiaand Silicon Valley in particular, has traditionally been the Tesla stronghold. But lately it is ceasing to be so: while Sales of electric cars from other brands are growing, Those of the Californian firm go down.
The fact that there is more and more competition has something to do with it, but analysts conclude that the main reason is the recent Elon Musk’s political turn pro-Donald Trump and towards the more polarized right. And it is that beyond sales, in this state so full of electric Teslas are starting to cause rejection. To such an extent that there are those who are already ashamed to drive with them.
“There are many Tesla owners who don’t want to give Elon any more money”
Annoying your target audience and loyal parishioners is not a good idea. That is precisely what Elon Musk is doing: Tesla’s majority customer base is Democratswell They are the ones who are most inclined to buy an electric car. The Republicans, not so much, even though Musk openly supports the Trumpist candidacy.
The key to Tesla and Musk’s success in California was precisely that avant-garde and disruptive aura of ecological cars that came to save the planet. An image that the South African himself initially sold. But since Twitter, his renamed X, became part of his empire, the discourse has changed a lot.
This is affecting Tesla’s image, and not in a good way. Not just for potential buyers, but for those loyal to the brand. “Tesla was the leader in electric vehicles, the most innovative, represented by a visionary, someone who sought to make the planet healthier. Now people are selling their Teslas, ashamed to even drive them because they are associated with him.“, he points out a Automotive News refiriéndose a Elon Musk Mario Natarelli, of the MBLM brand agency.
Loren McDonald, director of the EVAdoption consultancy in Silicon Valley and owner of a Tesla Model Y, is of the same opinion: “There are many Tesla owners who do not want to give Elon any more money. More and more people are fed up with him.” If they change their car, they will not buy a Tesla.
Tesla is falling while other brands’ electric cars are rising. The cold numbers support this change in trend in California. According to sales data from S&P Global Mobility, collected by Automotive News or InsideEvsIn this state, Tesla registrations fell by 12% between January and July of this year.
The palm goes to the county of Santa Clara, the heart of Silicon Valley, with a 22% decline for TeslaAnd it’s not that fewer electric cars are being sold there, as zero-emission cars (not including PHEVs) have grown by 41%.
Overall, Tesla’s decline has been notable in the so-called technology corridor: the Californian counties where the most cars are sold. This is the case in Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa or San Francisco, where registrations have dropped by 21%.
It is true that Tesla continues to dominate the electric car market in California: in the first half of 2024 it accounted for 56% of the market. But in the same period in 2023, it accounted for 64%. In the US as a whole, too: Tesla accounts for 49.7% of the electric market, but last year it had almost 60%. According to data from Cox Automotive.
In contrast, electric car registrations from other brands are rising in California: Hyundai grew 55% in the first half, Rivian 50% and Ford 24% compared to last year.
Musk is negatively affecting Tesla’s image. And for Tesla, image is much more important.
As far as the market is concerned, analysts point out that this decline may be due to increased competition and the lack of renewal of the firm’s best-sellers, especially the Tesla Model Y. Overall Tesla loyalty hovers around 70% in the USbut new buyers have more to choose from with electric cars with similar features and price to Teslas. Brand loyalty is understood as consumers inclined to buy their cars regardless of how the market behaves.
But above all they consider that His alignment with Donald Trump and his positions are damaging Tesla’s imageThis is somewhat incongruous, since the Republican candidate has promised to end the dictatorship of electric cars or the subsidies that favor them. Subsidies that Tesla has benefited from and continues to benefit from. But also because Kamala Harris’ voters are twice as likely to buy electric cars.
This is how it is detailed the latest CivicScience trends survey. And it also reflects an all-time low for Tesla when it comes to brand loyalty among Democratic buyers: In July, only 18% of those surveyed named it as their favorite brand.This is the lowest rate since the start of this analysis. In January of this year, it was 39%.
When he took over Twitter, Musk, who openly supports Trump, lifted the ban on the then former president for misinformation. He has also done the same with other controversial accounts of a similar nature. In general, his discourse has become harsher on his social network. towards extreme right-wing positions. For example against immigration or giving credibility to electoral conspiracy theories. Also allowing hate speech more than any other platform.
Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 11, 2024
All this taking into account that the data is up to July, prior to Musk’s last chapters. In August, Tesla’s interviewed Donald Trump on Twitter in what was a long exchange of pleasantries. In September, after singer Taylor Swift encouraged people to vote for Kamala Harris, he dedicated an offensive tweet to her that led to #ElonIsCreepy becoming a trending topic.
And in the face of the alleged new shooting attack against Trump, he published a controversial tweet wondering why Biden or Harris have not suffered assassination attempts. A tweet that was eventually deleted after receiving numerous criticisms.
Such gestures may appeal to right-wing voters in the US, but they are not exactly Tesla’s target audience: only 22% of Republicans surveyed by CivicScience declared their loyalty to Tesla.
Although Musk no longer sees electric cars in the same way he did a decade ago, and is betting on turning Tesla into a brand of intelligent robots and robotaxis, his positioning is not exactly a good marketing strategy. And Tesla’s secret has traditionally been to sell itself very well as a brand.
Source: www.motorpasion.com
