lon Musk has long flirted with rightwing politics, and delights in pushing an image of himself as a contrarian showman. Yet in recent months the billionaire’s political allegiances have started to raise a question for Tesla, the company that he built into the world’s largest electric carmaker: just how far can he go before customers start to abandon his products?
“I love my Tesla,” said a senior executive in the television industry. “It’s a brilliant car to drive and I really like it. The brand was always forward looking and something to be proud of.” Trump is not an obvious bedfellow for the boss of the world’s largest electric carmaker. Trump has relentlessly mocked electric cars, although he appeared to change his position last weekend,Michael Tesler, the professor of political science at University of California, Irvine, pointed to polling showing that US Democrats object to Musk much more than Republicans, even though the latter are much less likely to buy electric cars.
Ian Plummer, the Auto Trader commercial director, said: “For most consumers, news stories circling around car brands are irrelevant. They’re simply assessing the cars based on what best suits their needs and budget.”Any reputational effects could also be masked by a broader weakening in car sales caused by slowing economies and higher interest rates, plus.