Will Elon Musk’s Politics Impact Tesla Sales?

As Tesla expands its lineup and cuts prices, it’s likely to get bigger and more dominant. And its CEO more vocal. But will that blunt Tesla brand acceptance?

Because Musk is a megaphone for conservative and libertarian ideas, that makes him a magnet for media scrutiny. And little of that is positive.

For example a recent Wall Street Journal piece claims he has “embraced Trumpian Ways” and “his provocations risk turning off his customers at Tesla.”

And recently a slew of articles have attacked Musk —for example this report from NBC — for his stance on DEI or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. And he was condemned for, and later apologized for, an anti-Semitic post in November.

Tesla Reddit forums are rife with comments about Musk’s politics and how this could dampen future Tesla sales. And Musk doesn’t help his cause when he tweets, seemingly inexplicably, bawdy images like this.

Criticism against Musk, in turn, often triggers pushback from the hordes of Musk boosters and Tesla peeps on X, who are not always the most tactful Musk proponents.

And the Tesla CEO in an interview with the BBC last year said, “Have I shot myself in the foot with tweets multiple times? Yes. I think I should not tweet after 3am.”

But will all of Musk’s impetuous utterances and recent negative coverage in the media actually impact Tesla sales?

“Elon Musk isn’t helping his case for expanding the market for electric vehicles,” Sam Fiorani, Vice President Global Vehicle Forecasting at Chester Springs, Pennsylvania-based AutoForecast Solutions LLC, told me.

Fiorani may be right. But right now it’s likely only a tiny slice — those who take special umbrage at his remarks — of potential Tesla customers.

Tesla sales actually increased in the fourth quarter after a round of price cuts. Sales jumped to 484,500 cars sold from 435,000 in the third quarter. That marks an even bigger increase over the 405,000 cars in the fourth quarter of last year. And with over 1.8 million vehicles sold for the full year, Tesla could overtake the likes of Mercedes Benz in 2024, according to the New York Times.

I live in Los Angeles, one of the most liberal cities in America. When I go to my local Whole Foods the parking lot looks like a Tesla dealership. I’m guessing all those Model Y owners don’t care — or know — what Musk says on X or what journalists say.

They buy the car for practical reasons.

Musk — for better or worse — is in the mold of Henry Ford or Howard Hughes, as many observers (including commenters in the WSJ article cited above) have stated. That is, he doesn’t care what people think. And critics only stiffen his resolve.

More broadly, Musk’s politics have little effect on the average American car buyer. For instance, his political views are not going to convince conservatives wedded to gas cars to switch to Teslas. Most EV holdouts want to stay with gas cars because they believe EVs are too expensive and fall short on driving range, according to a Yahoo Finance/Ipsos survey published in October of last year.

“In the larger EV market, buyers will transition from ICE vehicles to EVs slowly,” Fiorani said.

While “running a business and touting your political beliefs will not work in your favor,” Fiorani said, “the current transition will be slow, with or without the political rhetoric,” he added.

I would add that Tesla is not your typical business. And the styling, quality, safety, price and technological leadership of its cars will decide its fate not politics.