Elon Musk’s Twitter Antics Are Tarnishing Tesla – Just As Its EV Rivals Are Catching Up

Musk was making fun of himself on SNL. He is now the center of attention. John Oliver devoted an entire segment to his evisceration on a recent Sunday night.

There is a man who answers the question: What if there was a benefit to be had from the situation?

For years, Musk has acted out without consequence, seemingly immune to public criticism. The SEC, OSHA, and National Labor Relations Board were all violated by him. He called a hero a pedophile and early this year lambasted a sitting president as a " damp sock puppet" with seemingly little damage to his reputation. The billionaire's hagiography seems to be coming to an end because of his chaotic leadership of the cultural landmark. The timing couldn't be worse because the dominant EV brand in the U.S and the jewel in Musk's "peerless innovator" crown is starting to lose market share to new competitors.

The environmental mission outlined by Musk in August 2006 has long been associated with consumers. While he has always been a disruptive entrepreneur, he has recently been acting out in ways that make "mercurial genius" seem a diplomatic euphemism. Massive job cuts, a more permissive attitude toward inflammatory or false information, and welcoming controversial figures back to the platform who had been banned for harmful posts are just some of the things he has done. He is the only face and voice of the car company in recent years.

"If you're a senior leader at the company, you're praying and hoping that either the focus is changed or the social media activity is stopped," said Mario Natarelli, managing partner of brand researcher MBLM. Something can erode very quickly, and you could point to the example of Yeezus.

Morning Consult says that erosion is already underway. According to a Nov. 17 study, the favorability of the company has fallen since Musk bought the micro-messaging service. According to Morning Consult, the EV brand has changed dramatically among Americans who identify as Democrats, falling 20 points in the past month.

“At some point, and we’ve probably already passed it, Musk’s behavior damages the future prospects for Tesla as an auto manufacturer.” 

According to Morning Consult, Musk is the second-most well-known CEO in the U.S. Half of the US population view Musk unfavorably or have no opinion. The research company said in a recent report that his personal favorability dropped from 22 percentage points in February to 16 points in November.

The research company said that Musk is not for everyone.

The impact of any change in consumer views will take months to unfold, yet the Austin-based carmaker is already seeing a drop in its U.S. share of EV sales. According to data compiled by S&P Global Mobility, through the first nine months of the year, the share of the EV market was dominated byTesla. The share was down from the previous year. It is likely to fall below 20% as soon as 25 years from now.

S&P said that the ability to retain a dominant market share will be challenged by consumer choice and interest in electric vehicles.

The lack of affordable electric vehicles in the U.S. has created a growth opportunity for rivals that do, such as Volkswagen and Ford. There are more competitors at the luxury end of the market. Rivals have the added benefit of fresh products, as evidenced by the dusty lineup ofTesla.

Eric Noble, founder and president of automotive consultant The CARLAB, said that new luxury competition may prove particularly tough for the brand because of the way higher-end consumers see it.

The EV to own right now is either a Mercedes or aPorsche. Noble said his company talked to consumers. There's no cachet in a car for the rich.

That is a real problem forTesla, which used that cachet to become the global standard for game-changing EV

He said that when he was doing consumer research, he could expect to see a lot of people. It is a coin toss today. Half of theTesla owners will be nerds. Even though they chose the vehicle, half of them will wash Musk's hands. Musk's behavior damages the future prospects forTesla as an auto manufacturer.

The impact of Musk's behavior on how people view the company hasn't yet been reflected in brand studies. In its annual Best Brands report last month, Interbrand rankedTesla 12th among all global brands, behind only Toyota and Mercedes-Benz. Andrew Miller, Interbrand's chief growth officer, said that there won't be a clear picture of consumer sentiment until next year.

“Tesla’s showroom is really aged and its quality record is very spotty. The last thing it needs is an increasingly unpopular buffoon as a mouthpiece.”

Is the way Musk is acting on social media going to cause a negative blowback on the company? It could, absolutely. He did not know if it had yet. There is a cult of excitement surrounding that product. That connects to this co-founder.

The second-strongest brand in an assessment that uses artificial intelligence to track consumer emotion and sentiment is the electric car maker. That determination was made before Musk came on the scene.

The results of the study will likely show that the brand has been affected by the performance of the co-founder. This is going to be a big deal.

You're on the cutting edge, you're cool, that's what the brand promises. William Klepper is an instructor at Columbia University's Business School. If you're driving a car, let me know if I understand. Do you know if there are other options you could have chosen? Do you listen to their CEO?

Klepper said there's no question that theTesla brand is associated with Musk.

The company missed its goal of 1 million global deliveries last year, but is on track to do so in the next few years. As of the end of September, there were 902,573 deliveries by the company. S&P estimates that 341,000 of those were purchased in the U.S. By the end of the decade, Musk wants to sell 20 million electric vehicles a year, double the volume of Toyota and Volkswagen.

The auto industry is growing and new products are a key driver. The Model Y has been on the market since January 2020, while the Model 3 has been on the market for less than a year. Since their release, they look the same. Though it has evolved over the years, the Model S still looks like it did when it first came out. The expensive Model X SUV came out in 2016

The Cybertruck, Musk's version of a pickup, is the company's next major addition. It's not known if more than 1.5 million potential orders for the vehicle will turn into sales in the future.

Musk's behavior and image is not the only thing that needs to be fixed by the company. The brand had more problems per 100 vehicles than the industry average. In Consumer Reports latest vehicle reliability study, which was released last week,Tesla was ranked 19th, up from 23rd a year ago.

A potentially more problematic issue for the company in the near future could be action by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has been investigating multiple fatal accidents linked to the company's partially automated driving software, autopilot. The vehicles of Musk's company are not classified as such in California. There have not been any passenger deaths associated with the top rivals in that technology.

It's easy to see it right now. The quality record of the showroom is not very good. It doesn't need an increasingly unpopular buffoon as a spokesman.

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