Tesla owners love their EVs but are souring on Musk

Tesla homeowners nonetheless love their automobiles, however they’re souring on CEO Elon Musk, a brand new survey finds.

Bloomberg just lately rebooted a survey of 5,000 Tesla homeowners it first polled in 2019, and whereas all the outcomes are price studying by means of intimately for Tesla followers, some traits stand out that relate to the market at massive.

Requested the identical questions, these homeowners had loads of detrimental issues to say about Musk whereas retaining constructive emotions about their automobiles.

A majority of householders agreed that Musk’s latest public statements had harmed Tesla’s repute, and that the billionaire’s acquisition of Twitter (which he just lately renamed X) was a distraction from his duties at Tesla. Musk, in keeping with the survey, is the main motive homeowners stroll away from Tesla. Not the autos.

The Tesla Mannequin 3 acquired “near-universal reward” in keeping with Bloomberg. A majority of householders additionally mentioned they had been “happy” with their automobiles’ reliability, indicating that the Mannequin 3 has held up nicely because the earlier survey in 2019.

Musk has in fact been on the core of a number of the most controversial moments for Tesla, from its IPO in 2010 to his “going-private” tweet in 2018, to beyond-possible product plans which have included the Cybertruck, Roadster, and Semi on a decent timeline.

Respondents had been already conscious of many of those controversies when Bloomberg performed the primary survey in 2019, but the image that survey created of the Tesla CEO was extra constructive than in 2023.

Why some Tesla homeowners stroll away from the model (from 2023 Bloomberg Tesla proprietor survey)

One change is that Musk has grow to be extra overtly political, and extra vocal about any right-leaning political positions. A majority of respondents agreed that Musk ought to keep out of politics. Views of him had been worse amongst those that observe his public statements carefully, and even worse amongst Democrats, in keeping with Bloomberg. Those that voted for Donald Trump had extra constructive views of Musk, though even that contingent wasn’t obsessed with Musk’s Twitter buy.

Dislike of Musk would not appear to be sufficient to dissuade most Tesla homeowners from returning to the model, although. Practically 75% of Mannequin 3 homeowners surveyed who plan to purchase a brand new automobile within the subsequent two years mentioned they had been contemplating one other Tesla. Simply over 50% mentioned the Cybertruck topped their lists.

Tesla Mannequin 3 at Supercharger

Mannequin 3 homeowners fascinated with buying a non-Tesla automobile within the subsequent two years are usually contemplating different EVs, the survey discovered. The Rivian R1S and R1T had been the more than likely to be thought-about, adopted the Ford F-150 Lightning and Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6.