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Donald Trump was just re-elected president of the United States, and perhaps one of his highest-profile supporters throughout his campaign was Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
A week after his re-election, Trump handed Musk the reins to a newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The department will not be a government agency; instead, it will work from the outside to provide guidance to the White House. What influence Musk and the DOGE will hold over the government is still unknown, but they have said they plan to provide transparency over how government agencies spend their money and where they can save.
In early November, Musk was sued in a proposed class-action lawsuit for his $1 million a day giveaway, which gave money to people who registered to vote in key swing states for the Republican Party. The class-action suit takes issue with the way the prize money was drawn, which some claim was not random.
Musk's alignment with Trump seems to be putting some current and prospective Tesla owners offside, even in Australia.
The comments on that story alone shared similar mixed views on Musk's support of Trump.
"I really wanted to buy a Tesla as the next family vehicle, until I realised I could not bring myself to provide someone like Elon Musk with any type of financial support," said one Drive reader.
"I would agree with the sentiments of this sticker, but for a reason other than his support of Trump. It is his purchase and changing of Twitter/X to allow the worst kinds of comments and disinformation to thrive that is his biggest issue for me," said another.
But, have Tesla's sales really been impacted by Musk's outward political views?
Despite Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y holding the number one and two spots on the FCAI VFACTS electric vehicle sales charts for numerous years, 2024 has been a particularly tough year for the automaker in the Australian market.
Tesla sales have declined for seven months despite dramatic price cuts to the whole range. Data published by the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia lists 1464 Tesla vehicles as delivered in October 2024, down 26.4 per cent from the same month the year prior.
September 2024 was the worst month in the seven-month slump, with a 48.8 per cent drop in deliveries compared to September 2023.
Globally, Tesla deliveries are down 2.3 per cent year-to-date, though they recorded a 6.4 per cent increase in the third quarter of 2024 (July to September).
Additionally, the brand was voted one of the least trustworthy car brands in Australia for 2023 according to data from Roy Morgan, an Australian market research company.
Every two months, 2000 Australians are surveyed by Roy Morgan to find out where major brands sit on the trust and distrust ladder.
Annually, Roy Morgan collects 25,000 of these unique Australian opinions and, based on its automotive statistics for 2023, Toyota was Australia's most trusted car brand, while Tesla placed first on the list of least-trusted car makers.
Roy Morgan spokesperson Allen Wei told Drive that Tesla's poor ranking was likely due to Musk's media presence.
"Toyota has built a reservoir of trust over many years based on the brand's reliability and good quality. Tesla, on the other hand, has experienced heightened levels of distrust over the last 12 months due to a strong negative perception of Elon Musk," Wei told Drive.
But what about in the United States, where customers are more in touch with local politics and the majority of voters supported Trump?
US publication Investor's Business Daily reports that Tesla's US profits have been fluctuating throughout the year – but most recently rose nine per cent in the third quarter. However, the business as a whole is still suffering a loss compared to previous years due to a decline in the price of the cars themselves.
While Tesla sales are on the decline in the US, perhaps the most telling sign that customers are reconsidering buying a Tesla is a decline in Tesla's share of the electric car market, which fell below the 50 per cent mark for the first time in Q2 of 2024.
However, competition is certainly heating up in the electric space, from Tesla being one of the only competitors to a blossoming range of rivals from most of the major international manufacturers, as well as a boom in Chinese brands branching out into the Western world.
Whether Musk's move to sponsor the Trump campaign will affect Tesla sales will likely become more clear over the coming months.
Even then, there are bigger factors at play, like an increase in choice for prospective electric car buyers.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
