The disapproval of Elon Musk is the top reason Tesla Model 3 owners are selling their electric vehicles and going for another brand, according to a new survey of 5,000 Model 3 owners.
Since Musk acquired Twitter, the Tesla CEO has started to voice his political and social views more frequently, as well as share controversial conspiracy theories.
This has resulted in a wave of people changing their minds about Musk, especially people on the left side of the American political spectrum. Many have suggested this has a negative impact on Tesla, which is intricately linked to Musk.
Musk has dismissed this concern – claiming to be more popular than ever based on his Twitter follower count (yes, that’s an actual argument he used).
To his defense, there has only been a limited amount of data supporting the view that his behavior is negatively affected Tesla… until now.
Bloomberg has released the result of a thorough survey of 5,000 Tesla Model 3 customers, and a lot of it focused on Musk.
With the sample size, it might be the best look into the minds of Model 3 owners we have seen to date.
Amongst the Model 3 owners who sold or replaced their cars for a vehicle from another brand, the publication asked them what is the top reason, and “disapproval of Elon Musk” was the top answer:
That’s somewhat surprising, but it’s important to put that answer into perspective.
The survey also found that 87% of Model 3 owners are considering a Tesla for their next vehicles. That means it’s a fairly small percentage of people who are actually walking away from Tesla overall, and only about one in five of those people are doing it because of Musk.
The rest of the survey is quite glowing for the Model 3, as most owners appear to be very happy about their purchase and how their cars are holding up.
Electrek’s Take
I knew it had an impact, but I’m honestly surprised it’s the top reason someone would replace their Model 3 for something from another brand.
I thought quality or service would be first, but it’s a close second.
Top comment by Vinc
Looking at the options, I wonder how many of the answers for the third category (negative perception of the brand) should also be somewhat attributed to Musk, since he has positioned himself as the face of Tesla.
If anything, it shows just how happy Tesla owners are with their vehicles, and therefore, Musk was able to quickly climb up the top of the list.
Musk becoming more political is clearly having a negative impact, but it’s overall minimal when compared to the 87% of Model 3 owners still looking at a Tesla for their next vehicle.
In percentage points, it is pretty small. Only 2.7% of Tesla buyers walk away because of Musk, according to this survey. But in Tesla’s world, that’s still 50,000 vehicles per year or a few billion dollars.
Honestly, as long as those people are going with an EV from another brand, I don’t care much. But Tesla shareholders might think differently. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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