{"id":37079,"date":"2022-11-29T09:03:41","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T14:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=37079"},"modified":"2022-11-29T09:03:41","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T14:03:41","slug":"musk-twitter-negative-for-tesla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=37079","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s Twitter is full of people swearing off Tesla"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Twitter chatter of Ford<\/a> Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley is good vibes only: factory photos, race tracks, corporate boosterism and a lot of retweets of Ford customers gushing about their vehicles. It\u2019s all cars, and it\u2019s all anodyne.<\/p>\n

Elon Musk<\/a>, among Farley\u2019s chief rivals, has taken a decidedly different tack. Since the Tesla<\/a> CEO also became CEO of Twitter at the end of October, he has dismissed or scared away almost 5,000 Twitter employees (and asked some to return), declared that the social media site\u00a0may slide into bankruptcy, alienated many of its advertisers<\/a>, botched a product rollout that allowed brand impostors to proliferate on the site, mocked a US senator, told his followers to vote Republican and invited\u00a0former US President Donald Trump back onto the platform. All the while, he\u2019s tweeted a play-by-play of the saga alongside a steady stream of lewd memes and score-settling burns \u2014 many aimed at his new employees.<\/p>\n

This belligerent and erratic performance in his new role as \u201cchief Twit\u201d\u00a0has raised Musk\u2019s already stratospheric public profile to new heights. If Twitter is a global town square, Musk has transitioned overnight from one of its loudest orators to equal parts mayor and sheriff, with the potential to irritate far beyond the echo chamber of his 118 million followers. For owners and potential buyers of Tesla cars, it has become all but impossible to find neutral ground on the controversies that surround Musk.<\/p>\n

Tesla\u2019s lead in the EV market is unquestionably strong \u2014 particularly in the US, where the carmaker has steadily sold more vehicles over the course of this year. But there are some signs that the lead is starting to slip. Tesla\u2019s\u00a0share of new US EV sales dipped to 64% in the third quarter\u00a0from 75% in year earlier period, according to estimates from Cox Automotive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Part of that can be attributed to more EV options than ever before. US consumers now have about 30 fully electric vehicles<\/a> to choose from, roughly half of which weren\u2019t on the market 12 months ago. \u201cThe competition is getting stiffer,\u201d\u00a0said Rob Pace, founder and CEO of HundredX, a research shop that uses consumer surveys as a fundraising tool.<\/p>\n

But the Tesla brand has also taken a hit from\u00a0Musk\u2019s antics and his protracted Twitter adventure. HundredX has been tracking Tesla since 2019, and in recent months, its research shows a drop in loyalty among Tesla owners. Until May of this year, the company outperformed other automakers, with around 70% of owners saying they were likely to buy from the brand again. That rate has slid below 60%, while the rest of the industry hovers around 65%. The trend is basically the same, HundredX finds, on the question of whether owners would recommend the brand to a friend. Sentiment about Tesla\u2019s quality, reliability, service and brand values have all turned more negative over the past few months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future loyalty data is really, really worrisome if you\u2019re Tesla because it tends to translate into market share six to nine months out,\u201d\u00a0Pace said. \u201cThis would suggest there are storm clouds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Market share is already on the wane as thousands of Tesla owners ditch their cars for EVs from startups with both quiet cars and quiet leaders. In the third quarter, almost one-third of Lucid<\/a> buyers, for example, had owned a Tesla, according to S&P Global Mobility. The story is the same at Polestar<\/a> and Rivian<\/a>, which lured far more former fans from Tesla than any other brand.<\/p>\n

Jason Weixelbaum, a Baltimore-based historian and science writer, swore off Tesla years before he bought his latest car, a Subaru Crosstrek<\/a>, in 2021. But in recent months he\u2019s noticed more of his friends drifting away from the brand, too. \u201cIt used to be that if you wanted to make a certain statement about yourself, you could do it with a Tesla,\u201d\u00a0Weixelbaum said. \u201cMusk has trashed all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Weixelbaum was originally put off by Musk\u2019s juvenile humor, more recently he\u2019s troubled by what appears to be an increase in hate speech on Twitter. Weixelbaum wrote his PhD\u00a0dissertation on American companies\u2019 financial ties to Nazi Germany and fields the occasional death threat on Twitter. \u201cI don\u2019t see how this doesn\u2019t become a huge debacle,\u201d\u00a0he said. \u201cAnd that should trigger some conversations on the board at Tesla.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironically, the #NeverTesla sentiment is most evident on Musk\u2019s new publicity platform, where a steady stream of tweeters are swearing off the brand. Many call out Musk\u2019s erratic management style, often with resolutions to buy a rival EV \u2014\u00a0say, a Chevrolet<\/a> Bolt or a Rivian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMusk has overestimated the American public\u2019s appetite for erratic behavior,\u201d\u00a0said Gaurav Sabnis, an associate professor of marketing at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Sabnis, who lives in Manhattan, had considered upgrading from the family Subaru<\/a> to a Tesla, but nixed the idea after seeing the Twitter drama of late. In particular, his wife was put off by Musk publicly scrapping with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.<\/p>\n

Sabnis points out that more than 80% of car-buying decisions involve women, and Tesla\u2019s customer base is typically affluent, coastal and liberal. \u201cIt\u2019s just locker-room behavior,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd from that perspective, it seems like a horrible marketing decision.”<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s hard to overstate how dominant Tesla is in the EV race. This year through September, the carmaker sold an estimated 391,000 electric vehicles in the US, compared with 41,000 for Ford, the next closest competitor. Every time a Ford Mustang Mach-E<\/a> rolled out of a dealership<\/a> in 2022, some seven Tesla Model Ys took to the road.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, while Musk\u2019s mercurial and public management style is putting off crowds of potential customers, it\u2019s also attracting some. Musk has long cast his company as a contrarian underdog, a foil to Detroit and all things business-as-usual. The occasional lewd meme bolsters that narrative, if for no other reason than it\u2019s something Ford\u2019s Farley wouldn\u2019t dare.<\/p>\n

Tech chronicler Kara Swisher calls it\u00a0\u201csnarketing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t buy this kind of advertising,\u201d she wrote recently on Twitter, \u201cand the crazier the tweeting, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, Musk\u2019s Twitter feed of late doesn\u2019t seem very focused on selling cars<\/a>. And his time spent steering companies other than Tesla was at the crux of a recent lawsuit challenging his Tesla compensation. In a Delaware court on Nov. 16, Musk said his attention to Twitter would wane after \u201can initial burst of activity\u201d\u00a0to reorganize the company; eventually, he would find a new chief executive. Testifying in the same courtroom, Tesla director James Murdoch said Musk had also identified a potential successor for his CEO seat at the car company.<\/p>\n

Tesla investors certainly don\u2019t seem thrilled. The carmaker\u2019s shares have skidded by 48% this year and are wallowing far below analysts\u2019 targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have too much work on my plate, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d\u00a0Musk conceded earlier this month during a video appearance at a conference in Indonesia. \u201cI\u2019m really working at the absolute most amount that I can work from morning until night, seven days a week. So this is not something I\u2019d recommend, frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n

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