Since the acquisition of Twitter, Elon Musk has frequently shared his political and social views, as well as controversial conspiracy theories. This has altered people’s minds about Musk, and many have suggested his statements may harm the Tesla brand.
However, Musk dismissed concerns claiming to be “More popular than ever before” based on his Twitter follower count. Until recently, there’s been little evidence to suggest his behavior has negatively affected Tesla. Bloomberg recently released the results of a thorough survey of 5,000 Tesla Model 3 consumers, most of which highlights Elon.
Amongst the Model 3 owners who sold or replaced their vehicles for another brand reported the top reason for the departure was due to their “disapproval of Elon Musk.”
The top seven vehicle departure explanations for Model 3 owners are as follows:
- Disapproval of Elon Musk | 21.5%
- Worries about the product or service | 18.7%
- Unhappy with Tesla’s brand perception | 17.8%
- Too expensive | 13.1%
- Other | 11.2%
- Tesla didn’t offer the style of vehicle needed | 10.3%
- Switch to a gas vehicle for convenience | 7.5%
On the other hand, the survey found 87% of Model 3 owners are considering a Tesla for their next vehicles. This implies it’s a fairly small percentage of people who are actually walking away from the brand overall. In addition, roughly one in five of those people leaving the brand is because of Musk.
It’s important to note that the rest of the survey is glowing for the Model 3, as most owners appear to be extremely happy with their purchase and how their vehicle maintains its operations.