Few automakers are as closely identified with the companies they manage as Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive. And perhaps none are more productive in airing their political views on social media.
But as Mr. Musk’s public persona has become increasingly right-wing, Tesla appears to be paying a price in sales, particularly to liberal and left-leaning customers who are far more likely to buy battery cars than conservatives, according to analysts and many car owners who responded to 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 people’s minds about their quality and helping to explain why Tesla’s sales have fallen. On Tuesday, the company reported that its global sales in the second quarter fell 4.8 percent from the same period a year ago, after an 8.5 percent decline 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 positive view of Tesla stock. “There are people who swear by it and people who swear by it. No doubt, some of his comments are a real turn off for some people. For a subset, it is enough to buy another brand.”
Tesla and a representative for the company’s board did not respond to requests for comment.
Some of the more than 7,500 people who responded to The Times questionnaire said they were offended by what they perceived as anti-Semitism from Mr Musk, which he denies. Some were upset by the way Mr. Musk has managed Twitter, now called X, since he bought the company in 2022. He fired thousands of employees and removed curbs on content shared on the social media platform. His increasingly friendly relations with former President Donald J. Trump and other conservative figures were also cited as concerns. An overwhelming 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 was planning to buy an electric Volkswagen ID.4 instead of a Tesla.
It is not possible to know what price Tesla has paid for Mr. Musk’s political statements and activities. What is clear is that Tesla, once the dominant seller of electric vehicles worldwide, 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 Model 3 sedan, which haven’t been substantially updated in years, for nearly all of its sales. Other companies are luring buyers by introducing new or updated cars more often.
In China, domestic carmakers such as BYD have gained ground on Tesla by offering more affordable cars with technological features that appeal to Chinese consumers, such as rotating screens. In Europe, BMW, Volkswagen and other domestic brands are doing well by offering cars that are more luxurious or cheaper 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 questionnaire said they were turned off by Mr. Musk’s statements and by their experience with Tesla’s cars and service operations — the company sells and services cars directly, rather than through dealers.
“There was a time when I would have given Musk an organ if he needed one,” said Tim Yocum, an engineering director at a software company. But Mr. Yocum, who lives in Chicago, said he had been having problems with his Tesla Model S and was unhappy with the company’s repair and maintenance services. Mr. Musk’s rightward turn has also upset him.
“Tesla is the only manufacturer in modern times that has unapologetically let its CEO take a tiki torch to its good name,” said Mr. Yocum. “This car will be the last Tesla I own.”
Such comments help illuminate polls that say Tesla’s reputation has suffered recently. The company fell to No. 63 in the 2024 Axios Harris Poll 100, which asked respondents about their views on corporate brands. In 2021, the company was in eighth place.
Mr. Musk has maintained that his public statements and personality 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 me, or are indifferent, do you want the best car or not the best car?”
Mr. Musk still has many passionate admirers. And some said the executive’s public statements would not influence their decision to buy a Tesla. Many people gave him credit for pushing the auto industry to produce electric vehicles, a powerful tool to combat climate change.
“He has led a company that has successfully disrupted a corrupt and lazy auto industry,” said Julian Mehnle, a software engineer who lives in San Francisco. While no fan of Mr. Musk, Mr. Mehnle said: “I am old enough to separate these 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 effect on the world we live in. He is also a strange personality, but I am not marrying him; I’m buying cars from a company he runs brilliantly.”
Most of Tesla’s shareholders remain largely supportive of Mr. Musk. Last month, investors approved a $45 billion compensation plan for him by a wide margin.
Still, car buyers The Times heard from and analysts said Mr. Musk’s political activism had clearly damaged the company’s reputation with left-leaning consumers. And there is little evidence that Mr. Musk’s rightward turn 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 cars, up from 70 percent who said the same last year, according to the Pew Research Center.
“He may be winning over some people who like his positions,” said Greg Silverman, global director of brand economics at Interbrand, a consulting firm that advises clients on marketing strategies. But, he added, the chances that Mr. Musk is attracting more customers rather than driving them away “are very low.”
Interbrand research shows that a CEO or other company representative who offends customers can decrease sales by up to 10 percent, Mr. Silverman.
The concerns of some car owners went beyond Mr. Musk’s political statements. They cited allegations of racial discrimination at Tesla’s factories, or the perception that he has allowed racist content to flourish at X. Tesla has denied that it tolerates discrimination at its factories.
“My mom was seriously debating buying a Tesla,” said Achidi Ndifang, who works in information technology in Baltimore. “As a black person, 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, reported feeling alarmed when Tesla removed the Disney Plus app from some dashboard screens late last year, apparently because Mr. Musk was furious with Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive.
Mr. Morf 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 autonomous 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 perhaps no other current automaker has as loud a megaphone as Mr. Musk, or is more willing to use one.
“If people think that the CEOs of other companies are saints, they are a bit naive in my opinion,” said Jan Leys, a Tesla owner in Zurich. “They just don’t have as big a mouth and/or platform as Elon Musk.”