What Tesla's massive image problem means for the world's transition to EVs

Yahoo

02-04-2025

Following its founding by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003, Tesla became the world's leading electric vehicle brand in less than a decade. In the company's early years, including after investor Elon Musk became CEO in 2008, it put out a few hundred or a few thousand cars a year. But by 2015, Tesla made the best-selling electric car model worldwide — a title Tesla has now held for seven of the last 10 years. In 2023, the company delivered 1.8 million cars and controlled about 20 percent of the world's EV market.
But Tesla's status as the Kleenex of EVs is now in question. After Musk's full-throated endorsement of President Donald Trump, his Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration, and his efforts to dismantle the United States government under the auspices of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, Tesla is facing an organized protest movement, fading sales around the world, and a tumbling stock market valuation. As the company's image suffers, EV market experts are watching closely to see whether the fallout from Musk's far-right activities will affect the broader e-mobility transition.
Transportation is the second-largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions, behind power generation, and is responsible for about 15 percent of the world's emissions. The U.S. contributes the biggest share of transportation emissions by far, and 'light-duty vehicles' (including personal cars and trucks) are responsible for around 57 percent of transportation emissions in the U.S. Most of these emissions come from burning gasoline, and electric vehicles, which can run on renewable energy, have the potential to significantly reduce the sector's carbon footprint. A recent independent analysis suggests that Tesla's cars prevented between 10.2 million and 14.4 million metric tons of carbon in 2023 — about the same impact as 3,000 to 4,000 wind turbines running for a year.
The transformation of Tesla cars from a symbol of green progress to an embodiment of authoritarianism has been widespread and fast-moving.
In the U.S., the brand's fall from grace has mirrored Musk's gutting of essential government agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In Europe, public ire has focused on Musk's Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration and his backing of far-right political parties in Germany, Italy, and the UK.
In mid-February, the 'Tesla Takedown' protest movement began organizing demonstrations at Tesla showrooms across the U.S. and Europe. A decentralized campaign originally launched by actor Alex Winter and sociologist Joan Donovan, Tesla Takedown has organized protests around the world — including hundreds in a single Saturday for its recent 'Global Day of Action.' The movement's advocates suggest that tanking Tesla's stock price (and therefore also Musk's net worth) is a viable means of reducing the political power of the man who is currently running a chainsaw through American institutions.
Most of the organized opposition to Tesla has been peaceful, but vandals torched Tesla cars and chargers in France, Germany, Massachusetts, Nevada, Missouri, and other states last month. The Trump administration has called attacks on Tesla products 'domestic terrorism.' Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department will seek a 20 year prison sentence for one man accused of vandalizing a Tesla dealership.
As protests have gained steam, Tesla's global sales have plummeted. Tesla announced on Wednesday that its worldwide sales in the first quarter of 2025 were down 13 percent from the same period in 2024. The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association reported that Tesla sales across the continent dropped in January and February by 43 percent compared to a year prior. Australia's Electric Vehicle Council found that Tesla sales in the country were down 35 percent in the four months following Trump's election victory compared with the year before. The country that has seen the biggest recent drop in Tesla sales is Germany, where sales fell by 76 percent year-over-year in February, according to the country's road traffic agency.
Stateside, Tesla's sales losses compared to a year ago haven't been quite as dramatic — in part because sales had already begun to drop last year. But backlash against Musk appears to be having an effect — registrations of new Teslas were down 11 percent across the U.S. in January compared to a year before. And in California the number of Tesla owners trading in their cars jumped nearly 250 percent in March, compared to the same month last year.
Meanwhile, Tesla's stock price has also taken a hit. On March 10, Tesla stock dropped 15 percent, marking the brand's biggest single-day loss in five years. As of the end of March, the company's stock price was down 32 percent from the beginning of the year and 44 percent since mid-December. Even insiders like Tesla chair Robyn Denholm and board member James Murdoch have recently dumped millions of dollars worth of stock. This week, 27 lawmakers in New York penned a letter to the state comptroller requesting that Tesla stock be removed from the state's biggest public pension fund. Unfortunately for Tesla workers, the backlash aimed at Musk may take its toll on them, as many have long accepted salaries below industry norms in exchange for stock options.
Tesla has been steeped in controversy since before Musk's interventions in the American government — and even before he bought and rapidly transformed Twitter in 2022.
While EVs may be better for the planet than their gas-burning counterparts, they also fuel lithium extraction and require tremendous energy to manufacture. And Tesla has faced criticism for years for its apparent disregard for the well-being of its labor force — from miners in the Global South facing human rights abuses to factory workers in the U.S. and Europe who've documented hazardous conditions and hostile, racist work environments. Musk is also starkly anti-union: Tesla is the only major auto brand whose workers are not represented by any union in the U.S., and its refusal to negotiate with workers in Sweden resulted in a mechanics strike that has been dragging on since October 2023.
Tesla has also had negative impacts on the local environments it operates in. Its factories have racked up huge fines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for emitting toxic chemicals. The expansion of a Tesla factory in Germany was opposed unsuccessfully by local residents and climate activists who said it threatened local drinking water resources.
Tesla dissolved its public relations department in 2020, and its investor relations department didn't respond to Grist's request for comment for this article.
If Musk's participation in the Trump administration continues to hurt Tesla's brand, what will the impact be on the broader EV market? Industry analysts at S&P Global Mobility predict global EV sales will grow by nearly 30 percent this year despite uncertain market conditions. And even as European Tesla sales dropped 43 percent in the first two months of this year, overall EV sales increased 31 percent during the same period.
Still, not all experts are optimistic. Murtuza Ali, a senior analyst at the market research firm Counterpoint Research, told Grist that 'some consumers may be unwilling to switch' from Tesla to other brands, especially given 'Tesla's key attraction — an expansive charging network, which other automakers cannot replicate overnight.'
But others in the industry suggest that the EV market is now robust enough that Tesla's continued decline won't dampen growing EV adoption. 'The EV market has gotten so much stronger in the past year that buyers can find a good alternative should they decide not to buy a Tesla,' said Will Roberts, automotive research lead at the EV market analysis firm Rho Motion.
Steffen Schaefer, head of future cities and mobility at AFRY Management Consulting, who has worked with automakers, utility companies, and charge point operators on EV charging projects, agreed. 'If Tesla would go down, it would not be the end of the e-mobility movement,' he said. 'The industry is now solid enough that it's going to continue.'
Meanwhile, Tesla's competitors are not missing their chance to profit from its demise. In February, the Norway division of the South Korean automaker Kia posted an ad on one of its social media pages showing a Kia EV with a bumper sticker on it reading 'I bought this after Elon went crazy' — a play on stickers adopted by Tesla owners protesting that they bought their cars 'before Elon went crazy.' (Kia headquarters quickly clarified that it hadn't approved the ad.)
Swedish EV maker Polestar went a step further and offered a $5,000 'conquest bonus' toward a lease of the Polestar 3 to current Tesla owners in the U.S. who are willing to make the switch. Polestar initially offered the deal for one week in February — but after its head of U.S. sales reported above-average orders during that period, the brand extended the promotion through the end of March.
This story was originally published by Grist with the headline What Tesla's massive image problem means for the world's transition to EVs on Apr 2, 2025.