I Am Not OK With Elon Musk, But I also love my Tesla - Does Owning a Tesla Make Me Complicit? Is There A Middle Line Where the Man Can Be Separate From the Vehicle?

As America continues down the path of division politics, Elon Musk’s new role in the Trump administration has clearly harmed the Tesla brand. This presents an interesting turning point in America’s path on the road to battery-electric vehicle adoption. On one hand, Tesla’s products made up more than 65% of the EVs purchased by Americans prior to his active involvement in politics. No individual in history has done more to set BEVs on the path to widespread adoption than Mr. Musk. On the flip side, he is now risking harm to the brand that leads the charge. 

Shoppers and Owners Are In Dismay Over Mr. Musk’s Role In American Politics
We feel that a post in a large and popular online club dedicated to Tesla automobiles captures the sentiment of owners and shoppers best. Here’s what Top Contributor SR wrote this week. We won't use the person's name so that their privacy is protected: 

I am not OK with this…but I also love my Tesla. Does that make me complicit? There’s so much talk about boycotts and swearing off Tesla. Is there a middle ground where the man can be separated from the product? Where is the line?

Member DH echoed this sentiment, saying:

I love my Model S, but his actions are forcing me away from Tesla. Nobody should have the power to control the information like he is doing. He has become a Bond villain.

Owners and Former Fans Are starting to Abandon Tesla
For other owners and shoppers, the debate is now over. GN posted:

I just had this conversation the last couple of days with my wife and two different Tesla owner friends. My wife and I have been Tesla owners since 2018. My other two friends have been Tesla owners for years, too. Long story short, the final conclusion is that we all love the products, but not what Elon has been doing for the past 3 weeks. And we don’t feel like to keep giving him the money. Our current Tesla would very well be our last one.

There is evidence that Tesla owners and shoppers have been putting their money where their mouth is for many months now. Consider that Tesla finished the year with less than 50% U.S. market share in 2024. That is a big departure from the massive 65% market share Tesla commanded in 2022 in America in the BEV segment. 

Now, with the first month of 2025 behind us, outlets are starting to report that Musk’s political action may be badly damaging Tesla.

Here are a few headlines with supporting source links:
Fortune - Tesla Sales Are Cratering In California…
Reuters - Tesla's California car registrations down 12% in 2024
Barron's - Tesla Stock Is Falling. California Might Be Turning Against Elon Musk
Bloomberg - Tesla Sales Decline in California With Model 3 Plunging 36%

Elon Musk’s Politics May Hurt the Brand Even Outside of the U.S. Market
As bad as the news is for Tesla in America, the political ramifications of Elon Musk's political actions have now jumped the border wall. The New York Times reports this week, Tesla’s European Sales Drop in January After Musk Disrupts Politics There. The sales drops in other markets seem dire. Just today, the folks from Electrek - stalwart Tesla supporters from the beginning - opted to run a story with the headline - Tesla sales dropped 60% in Germany.  This leads us to our next section.

Elon Musk’s Actions Are Driving Lifelong Electric Vehicle Media Supporters Against Tesla
The fact that Electrek seems to have gone anti-Tesla is not something I was the first to notice. Referring to Electrek’s founder, Fred Lambert, one commenter under an Electrek post wrote, “Fred is in between the permanent Kubler-Ross stages of grief: Denial and Anger. His continuous Musk rage posts are both comedic and embarrassing.”

In addition to Electrek moving in a different direction on Tesla coverage, some electric vehicle advocacy media members have made a conscious decision to simply stop covering the brand. We asked one electric vehicle content creator we've been following for over a decade to tell us what changes might be seen at her outlet, Transport Evolved. Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield provided this statement, which we have provided unedited and in its entirety:

Tesla isn’t the only option anymore. A wider range of vehicle types and price points mean customers can opt for competitors that are just as clean, green, smart, and practical, without the stigma of destructive authoritarianism, so-called “Roman salutes”, or political ideologies. Those that choose Tesla today are sending a clear message to all Americans. They are tacitly agreeing with a majority of shareholders to condone Tesla and the recent administration’s, of which Elon Musk is an active participant, behavior. From white supremacy to the potentially illegal use of American’s private information, our choices as consumers have consequences.

A handful of passionate EV content creators we spoke with have opted not to step forward and provide a comment on this subject. It’s hard to blame them. It’s scary to go on the record condemning the leader of the largest and most successful battery-electric vehicle manufacturer in history. Who knows how this could affect their access to media test vehicles, and whether the company’s PR team will be responsive to their future requests for comment or clarification? The thing is, Tesla doesn’t doesn’t supply media members with test vehicles, and the PR department went missing so long ago we forgot the decade. For quite some time, I personally have wondered why the automotive media would support a car company that doesn’t support them. After all, there are a lot of car companies with great green vehicle products to cover. Which is what Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield said in her quote. 

It would be easy to point at the USAID and salute events and say those are the things Elon Musk is doing to drive Tesla shoppers away. However, fully ten months ago, before Elon Musk was locking computers inside government buildings, CleanTechnica penned a story titled, Market Pressures On Tesla Mount As Attitudes About Musk Sink. That story says the decline began in 2022 when Elon Musk purchased the company then called Twitter, now called X. Not to be outdone by this prescient article, we can also point back to our own coverage of Elon Musk and Tesla. In 2013, I wrote a story titled Meet the all-male team over at Tesla. We’re not saying, “I told you so,” but…

What do you think? Is Elon Musk’s involvement in politics going to drive Tesla’s sales volume into a further decline?

Have you yourself turned away from this brand in favor of another EV brand for your personal purchase?
 

John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools. 

Image shows empty Tesla showroom taken by John Goreham.