Brand safety lessons from Elon Musk's Tesla

Technology / analysis

Is aversion to Elon Musk's politics behind Tesla EVs falling sharply out of favour in New Zealand?

26th Feb 25, 1:29pm by David Chaston

The new Tesla Model Y and Elon Musk's salute

By David Chaston & Juha Saarinen

As most readers will know, Tesla is seeing sales declines in many global regions. There are now strong suggestions that Tesla sales are suffering because of buyers' aversion to Elon Musk's politics.

Musk, who has taken on a powerful unelected role within the Trump administration, cutting government spending based on unclear authority, has also been a vocal supporter of Germany's far-right, anti-immigrant and pro-Russian Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.

Signs are now that the very public endorsement of the far right by Musk is hurting his brands, Tesla in particular. The declines in some countries have been sharp. Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association suggest Tesla sales have dropped by 45% in the European Union.

It is worth noting that demand for EVs in Europe remains strong, up 37%, due to upcoming stringent tailpipe rules. Tesla however, isn't benefiting from the demand.

Now it appears Musk's toxic politics contagion may have spread to New Zealand Tesla sales, data from the Motor Vehicle Association suggests.

	Tesla						All
	Model 3	Model S	Model X	Model Y	Totals	share	EVs
						%
2016	0		0		0
2017	128		116		244	45	546
2018	108		146		254	33	763
2019	357	56	89		502	27	1,881
2020	511	27	55		593	39	1,533
2021	3,283	4	3		3,290	48	6,817
2022	2,781			4,226	7,007	45	15,672
2023	971			3,936	4,907	23	21,085
2024	461			826	1,287	20	6,374
2025/J/F	40			78	118	11	1,109

The global decline has also hit Tesla's share price hard:

Tesla is one of Musk's few publicly traded enterprises. He prefers to operate the rest of his empire in the shadows of private businesses, unaffected by real investor reactions. Musk has expressed a wish to privatise Tesla too.

The pushback against Musk is not only manifested against buying his cars, but it is also strongly politically tinted and quite fierce, like this Twitter/X post.

Social network Twitter-X is another Musk property, and it too has faced a backlash as the platform has tilted towards the far right with extremist views no longer being moderated. There have been reports that Musk has used his political power to threaten Twitter-X advertisers who have abandoned the platform due to the content on it not being compatible with their brands.

Whether or not a similar strategy would shore up flagging Tesla sales is unclear at this stage.

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59 Comments

by delboy | 26th Feb 25, 1:42pm 1740530538

Or it could be that Tesla vehicles are much more expensive and simply not as good as the Chinese EVs.

I’d have a BYD over a Tesla any day.

by Tui12 | 26th Feb 25, 1:46pm 1740530789

BYD over Tesla no. BYD is a tacky af EV with a feeling of cheapness. I’d have a Nissan leaf over a BYD.

by Juha Saarinen | 26th Feb 25, 1:55pm 1740531340

Having driven a BYD Seal, I can assure you there's no feeling of cheapness. Quite the opposite.

by UruKiwi | 26th Feb 25, 4:09pm 1740539368

That model costs $62k. Doble the cost of (the now defunct) Nissan Leaf.

by Juha Saarinen | 26th Feb 25, 4:11pm 1740539507

Sure, but they're not directly comparable cars.

by Polish | 26th Feb 25, 7:24pm 1740551064

The tech in the Nissan is nowhere near the BYD, it was cheap for a reason. You're basically comparing the latest Android smartphone with an old Windows smartphone.

by RookieInvestor | 26th Feb 25, 1:50pm 1740531021

BYD are a very nice looking car, nice to ride in too, millions of them in china.

I'm fairly sure BYD copied a lot from Tesla, since Elon had a Tesla manufacturing plant in Shanghai and has a lot of open source engineering, this is what i heard from people in China anyway.

Why would Elon make Tesla easy for BYD to copy?

Similar to how Koreans like Apple more than Samsung, I think Tesla has that desirable value in China

by Citizen Smith | 26th Feb 25, 2:13pm 1740532405

I suggest you google BYD blade battery, last time I looked Tesla, Toyota and Kia where using them.

by RookieInvestor | 26th Feb 25, 2:56pm 1740534975

I'm sure it works both ways, it doesn't change that BYD have copied a lot from Tesla, after all that's what the Chinese are best at.

by xingmowang | 26th Feb 25, 3:44pm 1740537862

was in the British Museum and notice English are best at stealing and robbing from others and display their loot without feel a slice of shame.

by RookieInvestor | 26th Feb 25, 3:59pm 1740538757

Mastering reverse engineering is not something to be ashamed of.

by AN Other | 26th Feb 25, 4:03pm 1740539004

James Acaster has highlighted this in his awkwardly humourous way:

James Acaster On The Absurdity Of The British Empire - YouTube

by Citizen Smith | 26th Feb 25, 5:30pm 1740544240

Whats to copy BYD have better battery tech. They also manufacture a $10'000 yaris sized car with a proper range of 300 kms.

by Polish | 26th Feb 25, 7:27pm 1740551260

Toyota even pulled a BYD apart and were very impressed, lots of smart design that makes them cheap to manufacture.

by RookieInvestor | 26th Feb 25, 1:52pm 1740531167

Elon - " Ooooh nooo bad publicity, my company stock is dropping in price, I might have to buy it back at a discount"

Look what happened after he smoked with Joe Rogan on his podcast, board say Elon is not fit to run the company, share price drops. did the company struggle after that?

Side note, TSLA stock price looks suspiciously similar to BTC, I wonder if Tesla owns BTC? rhetorical question, they do.

15 Oct 2024 — Elon Musk's Tesla, one of the biggest corporate owners of bitcoin (BTC), transferred nearly all $760 million of the cryptocurrency it owns to unknown wallets.

I think Elon has proven to be VERY smart, including manipulating companies and stock prices.

Who knows what this man is up to.

by Baywatch | 26th Feb 25, 1:55pm 1740531309

Half of Elon's wealth is held in Tesla, what's he up too....? Looking after his 13 children..sarc

by Brocky | 26th Feb 25, 2:06pm 1740532007

Is that still true? Didn't some activist judge nuke his compensation package?

Good on him for liking kids. He has enough FU money for it.

by mfd | 26th Feb 25, 3:58pm 1740538700

No, the payment was blocked because the correct processes weren't followed.

Then, the processes were followed correctly and the payment was made. This was quite upsetting for Musk though - I believe he moved the company HQ from Delaware to Texas to reduce scrutiny.

by Brocky | 26th Feb 25, 6:35pm 1740548118

This is disinformation. The Tesla shareholders re-approved it but the activist judge re-denied it. It's presently in appeal with the Delaware supreme court.

Can't really blame him for not wanting to do business in Delaware anymore.

by profile | 26th Feb 25, 7:07pm 1740550061

Are you going woke and swapped out the term bullshit for disinformation?

Delaware.

"Even Hunter Biden helps make the case for the Chancery’s apparent cronyism. In 2018, the president’s beleaguered and scandal-prone son was upset that his business dealings with Chinese energy company CEFC were going awry — so he threatened to sue.

“I will bring suit in the Chancery Court in Delaware — which as you know is my home state and I am privileged to have worked with and know every judge in the chancery court,” he wrote in a March 14, 2018 email found on his abandoned laptop first revealed by The Post.

Shawe said Biden’s message “sums up” the court’s reputation.

“He says, ‘If you cross me, I’ll take you to Chancery Court and I know everybody and therefore they’re gonna rule how I tell them,'”

https://nypost.com/2022/07/21/inside-the-shadowy-delaware-court-set-to-…

by Brocky | 26th Feb 25, 8:48pm 1740556099

The comment guidelines say not to swear :p

by Nismokid | 26th Feb 25, 7:57pm 1740553058

Yeah wonder if Elon will buy Tesla shares... just waiting for that sweet spot

by PineTreez | 26th Feb 25, 1:58pm 1740531496

The harsh reality is that if Musk crashed the demand for Tesla (vechicles and/or shares) by 99% he would still personally be an exceedingly rich person, so from that perspective he doesn't need to give a damn... and maybe that is starting to show.

Personally I think Trump is vile and I can't understand anyone aligning themselves with him, regardless of their political views or aspirations. Trump is stacking appointed positions with people who have public profiles, whether from TV or various online sources... celebrity and self promotion chosen ahead of expertise in their appointed responsibilities. It's bizarre, but it also reflects Trumps deep narcisism and his need to surround himself with people who are just as posessed with the public gaze as he is.

Anyway, I digress a bit.

VW was basically a car from Hitlers Germany, yet people have bought it happily for decades without any associated taint from Nazism. It seems odd that Tesla buyers would be any different, however we are in an overtly 'woke' world, where it seems a very vocal crowd is always on the lookout for something to be offended by.

Anyway, I drive a Tesla. Love it. Best car I've ever had. If anything happened to it to necessitate a replacement I'd still first and foremost look to Tesla. They've had the longest in the game to learn from their mistakes wrt EV tech, and have put their designs through many, many iterations.

by Brocky | 26th Feb 25, 2:03pm 1740531827

The mistake that many of the people that suffer from Elon Derangement Syndrome make is that Elon is primarily motivated by money or wealth.

by Citizen Smith | 26th Feb 25, 2:07pm 1740532074

How bad can sales be if Elon can afford to give close to $300 million dollars to the Republican Party to help win them the 2024 election.

by Pragmatist | 26th Feb 25, 2:11pm 1740532261

This should be good, TDS/EDS incoming!

by Brocky | 26th Feb 25, 2:36pm 1740533815

There has been a lot of comments recently about not feeling compelled to subscribe to what seems to be an increasingly unbalanced political blog. I think this article is a good example.

If you are going to highlight a significant drop in premium EV sales in NZ without mentioning things like the removal of the Clean Car Discount Scheme, in order to push a certain political narrative, it reflects very poorly on the standard of journalism here.

Undoubtably those sucked in by the "nazi" hoax will be rushing out to buy Volkswagen EV's instead.

by AN Other | 26th Feb 25, 5:50pm 1740545403

Before WW2, the Volkwagen car was a scam created by the Nazi Party to take money off the public without ever delivering cars.

After WW2, it was a product to get the German economy back on its feet, arranged by the poms (primarily Major Ivan Hirst). Any effort to say that buying VWs supports fascism is, to put it mildly, inaccurate.

P.S. Don't buy a VW BEV. For the money, they are crap.

by Murray Falconer | 26th Feb 25, 8:13pm 1740554016

Yes, was thinking it could be titled, "I don't understand causation". Look at the value add (alternative reasons provided) by comments vs the article.

One cheap shot after another, "twitter-X", no it's X (formally known as twitter if you want to clarify), the shadow world of private business (just like most business owners - public listed are a very small percentage of all businesses), and on and on it goes. Maybe the competition just caught up on the first movers as often happens.

No problem with the site not playing with a straight bat, but I don't want to pay for it while it also it claims to be independent (when it isn't in my opinion).

by nickb | 26th Feb 25, 2:44pm 1740534296

It’s entirely possible that a sales drop in cars is due to “his politics”, or rather, the reaction to them.

If he was rabidly left wing, nobody would even use that phrase, they’d likely say something like “his values”.

Left wing people (with lots of money) are certainly prone to conflating completely unrelated issues, and manufacturing non sequitors of vast complexity, so you may be right. Intentional damage, personalising issues and harassment are certainly a big part of their playbook, and they are completely beside themselves in the States at present. Victims of their own hyperbole.

Another part, I think is that the electric car market is losing its “mojo” is part of this as well, along with brand boredom. Model 3, and Model Y are unattractive cars- maybe slightly improved with a re-model recently. They evoke none of the excitement of ludicrous mode or a Model S Plaid.

I agree with one of the authors in comments, that the BYD Seal is really quite a beautiful car, so there are other better looking alternatives out there to Tesla. And BYD are battery industry leaders, as previously commented on.

Lastly, some perfectly fine electric car businesses, like Fisker have already disappeared, not due to “his politics” as far as I know.

But hey, now I think of it, his name does sound a bit German, so best he went broke in case he even considered being opposed to illegal mass migration, sanctioned by the State.

by E46 | 26th Feb 25, 4:29pm 1740540550

Gunna take a lot to pry me from my fleet of shitboxes.

by Crazylekiwi | 26th Feb 25, 2:51pm 1740534706

This is poor journalism and unlike Interest. Sales for Tesla in NZ have been on the decline since access to cheap "Sustainability" loans of 5yr at 0% became much harder to get from banks in 2023. This is due to most peoples houses not going up in real terms and the same for cashflow which results in less ability to put the car on the house. Couple that with removal of the EV rebate and then add on RUC's and you have a less compelling case for TCO when depreciation is taken into account.

In NZ, Tesla's are currently very much for those with plenty of disposable cash and wanting the latest tech. That's a small demographic within NZ as those with all the money tend to be older and prefer the comfort and familiarity of traditional OEM's.

Tesla ruined Model 3 sales in NZ by introducing a car without an indicator stalk. For a country with squillions of roundabouts that makes them very awkward to drive and hit the right button when trying to exit a roundabout with a wheel that is turned. In fact, that can be quite dangerous as the driver has to look down at the wheel at a crucial time.

Model Y sales are very impacted by the imminent arrival of the refreshed version. Thankfully, they haven't deleted the indicator stalk on this one and it will sell a lot of units for 2 quarters with pent up demand. After that it will be interesting to see if they can keep the volume selling Y going at a high runrate.

Elon has definitely put some people off, but he's been doing that for 15 years. You either like him for the incredible change he is creating in the world or loathe him for some of his personal views and actions.

Regardless of how you feel about the man, he has created 6 x multibillion companies and made a heap of shareholders Tesla millionaires. I'm one of those and am thankful for his relentless drive in pursuit of making meaningful change for the world. It will be fascinating to see how history remembers Elon Musk in decades to come.

by Juha Saarinen | 26th Feb 25, 2:57pm 1740535068

The indicator issue on the Model 3 might be resolved soon.

by nickb | 26th Feb 25, 2:58pm 1740535121

Very thoughtful and insightful comments. And regarding history and legacy, many people will look back with chagrin and concern about the main proponents of culture wars, and advocates for censorship, and wonder why they didn’t do more to stop it. It’s anti-enlightenment.

by the Joneses | 26th Feb 25, 4:15pm 1740539733

What has he changed for the better in the world?

Tesla? There are a few electric cars around now. They really aren't that much better for the environment than ICE. Not like mass transit, which Elon specifically fights against. It was actually the founders of Tesla who developed most of the new technology needed (cooled batteries), and set the product roadmap. Musk came along and got rid of them and then went along with the original plan. Till of course the Semi and Cybertruck, those were clearly Musk ideas. His main gift to Tesla is the lying to investors to pump the stock to stratospheric levels (tesla bots, self driving, roadster). Elisabeth Holmes eat your heart out.

SpaceX? So there is a lot of LEO satellites whizzing around now. The effects on the environment and other space operations of increasing satellite count by 50x is still to be seen. Good for internet for warzones and farmers I guess? I use fiber. When is starship getting into orbit? How many starships has he blown up so far? Nasa would have never ever gotten away with so much failure. I heard they will need like 20 refuelling launches in space just to get to the moon. Nasa reused things too, it was called the space shuttle. Why is a Mars colony a good idea, if even possible?

Boring company? Made a short, tiny unsafe tunnel in Las Vegas, with full time taxi drivers required (because self driving cant be trusted to go through a tunnel/car park situation even on private property). Not quite the 'wormhole' promised.

Neuralink? Cruel experiments with inserting chips in monkey's brains seems to be the only output so far. What is he doing with that again?

xAI? OK, this company is as good as its multiple competitors I have heard. Doing the same thing.

Twitter? Well he managed to reduce its revenue by 80% in a very short time period. I guess he was fully in control of this company himself? Telling advertisers to go f**k themselves, and litigating against them didn't seem to work out in the long run. Who new?

by FOTC | 26th Feb 25, 8:21pm 1740554511

Instead of writing all of that you might as well have just said you don't like the guy and be done with it. Your bias is obvious, no point in pretending otherwise.

by Escander | 27th Feb 25, 10:30am 1740605454

Our media isn't compromised is it!

Guess there is still some USAID money left to spend.

by Scotty114 | 26th Feb 25, 9:25pm 1740558305

You don't need to look at the driver's wheel to indicate any more than you need to look at the brake pedal to brake.

by unaha-closp | 26th Feb 25, 3:03pm 1740535386

Musk has unilateral access to US Govt systems approved by an EO.

Every little back room deal, every contract, everything - this is now open to Musk.

If knowledge is power, Musk is off the charts right now.

by Citizen Smith | 26th Feb 25, 3:10pm 1740535807

Money talks, now might be a good time to pick up a used model 3, driving an EV will save you around 70% on your fuel costs compared to driving a fuel-fed car.

by rastus1 | 26th Feb 25, 3:12pm 1740535959

As someone who has quite a number of 'greenie' fans I can attest that they have gone from being fanboys to loathing him. They will not touch tesla now, of the group two are EV owners, both hardcore green.

by profile | 26th Feb 25, 3:41pm 1740537675

Those "far-right", "pro Russia", "anti-immigrant" policies.

https://www.afd.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-04-12_afd-grundsatzp…

by Zwifter | 26th Feb 25, 4:00pm 1740538816

EV's have a limited market so sooner or later there will be market saturation. Pretty much nobody I know drives one and I wouldn't even look at one. Uptake is going to slow dramatically unless there is some sort of massive financial incentive to switch and that's now gone. I would expect a slow return to ICE after people get sick of EV's.

by Juha Saarinen | 26th Feb 25, 4:13pm 1740539588

I'm quite sick of petrol prices hitting $3 per litre or more at times.

by RookieInvestor | 26th Feb 25, 4:44pm 1740541474

You must be buying in a remote place, $2.5 is the most I've seen for a year or more.

by E46 | 26th Feb 25, 4:58pm 1740542326

$3.09 for 95 at the closest one to me at the moment.

by mark_a | 26th Feb 25, 6:12pm 1740546720

Must be BP! Sharks those guys

by E46 | 26th Feb 25, 11:07pm 1740564444

Caltex.

by Pragmatist | 26th Feb 25, 5:18pm 1740543495

The gaspy website says the cheapest 91 in the country is $2.487, and the cheapest 5 stations are all in Canterbury. The average is $2.701 and that's down 7.48cents in the last 28 days.

by Brocky | 26th Feb 25, 6:39pm 1740548385

About $1.65 here on the Gold Coast.

You're welcome.

by Pragmatist | 26th Feb 25, 6:43pm 1740548615

25c/kwh, or free at work. Much nicer to drive too.

by Brocky | 26th Feb 25, 7:04pm 1740549861

I'll upgrade to EV eventually and use all that solar on my roof for something.

by meh | 26th Feb 25, 7:03pm 1740549812

Do EV's solve this problem or is it a structural market flaw?

We can't supply enough electricity for normal operations yet we keep demanding to add more demand.

Something's broken.

by AN Other | 26th Feb 25, 4:08pm 1740539286

That MVA table of Tesla sales is odd. The Model S came well before the Model X and while they weren't sold officially in NZ until Tesla set up shop, quite a few were imported privately before 2017.

by Pragmatist | 26th Feb 25, 5:04pm 1740542688

Yep, this table looks like new cars sold by Tesla only. There were 507 Model 3s registered in NZ in 2024, 461 new, 46 used.

63 model s,

17 model x,

829 model y, 3 were used.

by Polish | 26th Feb 25, 7:33pm 1740551595

I disliked Elon long before it was a big thing, I've already made significant "anything but a Tesla" decisions. His politics just make me dislike him more.

I feel like I'm trying to say I hated Coldplay before it was cool to hate Coldplay...

by HistoryRepeats | 26th Feb 25, 11:31pm 1740565889

Funny how Musk was such a media darling and greenie hero before he bought Twitter.

Since then the far-left mainstream media have (in global lockstep, as usual) embarked on a wall-to-wall hate campaign. Last year I noticed that whenever his name came up in casual conversation, most people would say "Oh yeah I used to like Elon Musk, but I don't really any more". You ask why, and they usually say "Well, ummm...he RUINED Twitter!". This often coming from people who weren't even on Twitter, and knew almost nothing about it. And of course since the US elections they have another excuse to hate him. People don't seem to realise that they're simply parroting what they've read in the media.

Regarding his EV market share falling, if DC is correct and people are really refusing to buy his products because they have been conditioned not to like him personally, then that suggests a profound lack of self-awareness (being polite here).

As other commenters have mentioned, there are several other more plausible factors, especially in NZ. The major one is clearly increased competition, especially from Chinese manufacturers (with generous help from their government). And in fact, Musk has always expressed approval when new competitors appear on the market, as his philosophy involves a fair amount of idealism about helping save the planet, ensure the survival of the human race, etc.

Not saying I'm a fan boy, but some people really need to grow up and judge others by their actions, rather than launching rants based on their own petty emotions.

by nktokyo | 27th Feb 25, 7:44am 1740595491

I won't buy a Tesla because of Musk's political shenanigans and I will be in the market for an EV this year.

It's kind of hard to track all of my buying choices and see who benefits but this fella is such an utter f**wit, even my limited attention to the news cycle is sick of him.

by linklater01 | 27th Feb 25, 9:12am 1740600727

Schadenfreude is a very base emotion, but if Tesla were to go bust, I would be delighted. Indeed, if the entire Musk empire were to crumble as in Shelley's Ozymandias that would give me even more pleasure.

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.