One of the fastest selling car accessories in the US at the moment is a simple bumper sticker and it is exclusively bought by Tesla drivers. 

The sticker says, “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy” and reflects how Tesla boss Elon Musk is alienating his core customer base through his increasing right wing rants on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Musk has been increasingly vocal in his support for Donald Trump in recent months and has called for a red wave in the forthcoming US presidential election. He has also reinstated many very questionable X accounts of extreme right sympathisers and climate change deniers.  

Core buyers of Tesla in the US tend to be left leaning, environmentally conscious individuals, who would be Democrat voters. Strategic Vision’s data, published by the Wall Street Journal, recently found that in October 2023 only 15% of Tesla buyers were Democrats compared to 39% in 2022.

Perhaps of even more concern to Tesla is that many businesses are now refusing to buy Tesla vehicles for their fleets, not just in the US but also globally. 

Rossmann a large German retailer with 4,700 branches and 62,000 employees is one of the latest companies to join the Tesla boycott. Raoul Rossmann, son of the company founder is quoted as saying, "Elon Musk makes no secret of his support for Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly described climate change as a hoax. This attitude is in stark contrast to Tesla's mission to contribute to environmental protection through the production of electric cars."

Other companies who have publicly stopped buying or leasing Tesla cars include Sixt Car Rental and German software company SAP. 

At the same time Tesla is also finding that its aging model line-up, questions over long term build quality and plunging used vehicle values are also impacting on global sales. Tesla global sales were down 8.5% and 5% respectively in the first two quarters of this year.