Study: Tesla Brand Loyalty Plummets After Musk Backs Trump

According to Reuters, data exclusively provided to Reuters by research firm S&P Global Mobility shows that for many years, Tesla has led other major car brands in the number of returning customers in the United States. However, since last summer when its CEO Elon Musk publicly expressed support for U.S. President Trump, its customer loyalty has declined sharply.

Previously undisclosed data shows that, according to an analysis of vehicle registration data from all 50 U.S. states by S&P Global Mobility, Tesla’s customer loyalty peaked in June 2024, when 73% of Tesla-owning households chose to purchase another Tesla when buying a new car.

Data shows that Tesla’s brand loyalty once led the industry, but began to decline sharply last July, when Musk publicly supported Trump after an assassination attempt targeting the Republican presidential candidate occurred in Pennsylvania, USA.

In January this year, Musk began serving as the head of the U.S. Government Efficiency Department, which aims to cut budgets, and started laying off thousands of government employees. Subsequently, Tesla's brand loyalty dropped to a low of 49.9% in March this year, slightly below the industry average.

According to the latest data from S&P Global Mobility, Tesla's loyalty in the United States rose to 57.4% in May this year, once again surpassing the industry average and comparable to Toyota, but still behind Chevrolet and Ford.

Tom Libby, an analyst at S&P Global Mobility, said it is "unprecedented" to see the leader in customer loyalty fall to the industry average so quickly. He stated, "I have never seen such a rapid decline in such a short period of time."

Some analysts suggest that the timing of the sharp decline in Tesla's brand loyalty indicates that Musk's foray into politics has displeased Tesla's environmentally conscious customer base. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein stated, "If customers lean towards the Democratic Party, they might consider brands other than Tesla."

According to data from S&P Global Mobility, Tesla's global sales are declining, with sales in the United States in the first five months of 2025 down 8% year-on-year. Meanwhile, Tesla's sales in Europe in the first half of this year have dropped 33% year-on-year, and public protests against Elon Musk's political activities are particularly intense in Europe.

Garrett Nelson, an analyst tracking Tesla at CFRA Research, pointed out that Elon Musk's increasing political activities were "very bad timing" for Tesla, as the company was facing intense competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers and other traditional automakers at the time. He also candidly stated that his biggest concern about Tesla was the loss of market share and "how to repair the damage to the brand."

Tesla remains the leader in electric vehicle sales in the United States, but its dominance has gradually weakened as Musk became involved in political affairs last year and shifted Tesla's focus from developing new affordable models to autonomous driving technology.

Tom Libby stated that customer loyalty is a closely watched metric in the automotive industry because acquiring new customers from competitors is "much more expensive" than retaining existing ones.

S&P Global Mobility provides some of the most detailed data on the car purchasing industry. Unlike survey data, it tracks actual vehicle transactions to show how consumers switch between different brands and models. The data shows that from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the third quarter of last year, more than 60% of Tesla owner households chose Tesla again when purchasing their next car. During this period, only one other brand, Ford, had a quarterly loyalty rate exceeding 60%, and that happened only once.

Tesla and Musk have not yet responded to requests for comment on the above report.