NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk’s Car Company must report to investors all the bad things that could happen each year. The latest version lists all possible threats, from costly litigation to out-of-control battery fires and wars and other epidemics.
However, little mention is made in the latest annual update on Fullboa’s entry into Musk’s right-wing politics. Some experts say they are turning off potential customers who don’t share his opinion.
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“It’s Marketing 101: Don’t get involved in politics,” said Robert Pashikov, a brand consultant in New York. “People will stop buying your products.”
It may be too late.
Tesla Sales fell 45% in Europe in January, according to research firm Jato Dynamics. This comes after the company’s first global decline in sales in California, the largest US market, and last year’s report of the company’s first annual decline.
“I don’t even want to drive it,” said John Parnell, the owner of Model 3, a Democrat from Ross, California. “He’s destroying brands in politics.”
Automotive industry analysts say it’s too early to say for sure how much damage Musk is causing Tesla, as many other factors can explain the current trouble. The bestselling vehicle, the Model Y, has announced a new version this year, with potential Tesla buyers holding back their purchases now. And European and Chinese manufacturers are finally catching up to the world’s EV leaders, offering cars with battery life and competitive reliability.
But if anything, it makes Musk’s political comments even more reckless, says car analysts.
“Musk believes he can say anything he wants and doesn’t think Tesla will suffer from any outcome,” said Seth Goldstein, a Morningstar analyst. “Tesla was in the sweet spot. Now there’s competition.”
In January, sales in Germany and France fell 60%, respectively, respectively, exceeding the average decline in the two dozen European countries surveyed. France’s sales fell another 26% in February.
What’s even more worrying was the breakdown of individual Tesla models. Tesla Model 3 sales fell 33% in all European countries, although the car had not been updated and there was no reason for buyers to wait.
“A portion of the population is not satisfied with his views, his political activities,” said Felipe Munoz, a senior Jato analyst who shrugged from the threat of boycotts earlier this year but now has a mindset.
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Many Tesla buyers were once wealthy, green experts and often liberals, and were drawn to Musk’s talk about how his EVs could help save the planet from the destruction of fossil fuels.
There’s no more.
“I was worshiped to the left,” Musk said in an interview with Tucker Carlson on February 18 that his stock was in the middle of a charge of almost 30% of the month. “That’s not the case these days.”
His decision to spend $270 million on Donald Trump’s presidential election and publicly support him was dangerous enough for his business. He then doubled and pursued a massive strategy as head of Trump’s government efficiency team, and spoke with his political revolution and inflammatory stories.
He supports German far-right pro-Lucia’s anti-Islamic party, calling the British prime minister an “evil tyrant” running a “police state,” and recently described the US neighbours and the main market for Tesla, saying “Canada is not a real country.”
The repulsion is intense.
The US Tesla showroom is surrounded by protesters, the vehicle is destroyed, bumper stickers appearing in the car, with the proverb “buying it before Elon got hooked.”
There was an image of a Musk statue hung in Milan, and he was giving a straight salute projected at a Tesla factory on the outskirts of Berlin. In London, a poster at his bus stop illuminated social media on the word “swastistar.” Polish government ministers called for a Tesla boycott.
“I won’t buy Tesla again,” said Jens Fisher, a 50-year-old microscope salesman in Witten, Germany.
Tesla investor Ross Gerber says that Musk was able to marry the world’s best products and the world’s best marketing.
“People want to buy something that makes you feel good. They don’t want to involve politics,” said Gerber, a money manager whose portfolio holds nearly $60 million in Tesla stocks. “It’s even worse when there’s such a divisive problem, whether they fire climate scientists or get help from hungry African children.”
Boycotts have a habit of offending, and Morningstar Goldstein says buying a car is just too big a decision, too expensive, and it’s too expensive to make your target successful anyway.
One Tesla owner, London’s Harry Chasli, has not been moved by repulsion, saying he has no intention of getting rid of his Tesla S.
But if Tesla stocks are any indicator, the company’s outlook is worsening, and Musk’s position in the Trump administration won’t help. As of Friday, it had dropped 37% since inauguration and lost $550 billion in investor wealth.
The AP business writers were made by Pan Pylas from London and David Mchugh of Frankfurt.
