Tesla Sales Crash--And Elon Musk's Politics Might Be to Blame
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is hitting a rough patch, and the numbers don't lie. Sales in Europe collapsed 45% year-over-year in January, with just 9,945 vehicles soldits worst performance in the region in years. In the U.S., Tesla's share of the battery-electric vehicle (BEV) market tumbled from 59% to 45%, while sales in China slipped 15% from last year. All of this is happening while global BEV sales are rising, meaning Tesla isn't just facing a weak marketit's losing ground to competitors.
- The personalization and polarization that come with Elon Musk's increasingly outspoken politics may be alienating Tesla's brand for some buyers, particularly in Europe where consumer sentiment has turned decidedly negative towards the CEO.
- Can Tesla recover by refocusing on its core strengths and rebuilding trust with investors and customers, or will the damage to its reputation from Musk's polarizing rhetoric prove irreversible?