BEST CARS reader poll with 94,531 participants: Tesla drivers are also turning away from their brand

The readers of auto motor und sport are true experts on automotive topics. Once a year, as part of our major BEST CARS reader poll, we survey them on what they consider the best models in 13 categories – as well as their opinions on numerous other industry topics. 94,531 participants spend an average of over 20 minutes doing so. The results are equally interesting for automakers and us.

The 49th edition of BEST CARS took place during challenging times for the automotive industry, yet delivered some particularly remarkable results. Tesla, at times both a bogeyman and a role model for German automakers, suffered a real thrashing. Given Tesla CEO Elon Musk's high-profile political escapades, a declining image was certainly to be expected – but the image Tesla presents must be classified as spectacularly poor for several reasons.

First, our survey ended on January 15, before Donald Trump's inauguration as US President, after which Elon Musk's political activities significantly increased. Second, we not only surveyed all participants in our survey, but also specifically asked Tesla drivers.

The image criterion "I like the brand" is clearly declining among Tesla drivers, but is perhaps better than expected given current developments.

Nicolas Axtmann, Head of Research & Services at Motor Presse, comments on the downward trend: "The image of car brands is fundamentally an extremely complex and sensitive plant. Painstaking and lengthy brand and image management can be destroyed in a very short time. In any case, the medium-term trend underscores the massive uncertainty in the previously die-hard Tesla community. Currently, only 67 percent of Tesla drivers agree with the criterion "I like the brand." In 2022, that figure was a whopping 84 percent."

"Only 44 percent now vote for 'good looks/styling': a drop of 30 percentage points within four years. And this is in a classic DNA criterion of the brand," Axtmann continued.

This alone shows that the Tesla brand has more problems than its polarizing CEO, Elon Musk. His volatile and aggressive pricing policy for the new car market is not only annoying for Tesla owners due to the potentially high price at the wrong time to buy, it also poses a problem for those who want to part with their Tesla – even if only for image reasons.

Markus Eiberger, Managing Director of Motor Presse-Vermarktung, explains: "Elon Musk's idiosyncratic pricing policy is leading to a veritable landslide in value stability: Since 2022, we have measured a considerable drop of 48 percentage points for the item "high resale value." We only rarely measure such a drop in our image analyses."

Since depreciation is the biggest factor in overall costs, many Tesla drivers may remain loyal to their vehicle against their will. Perhaps this is why you're seeing more and more Teslas sporting stickers, which have been popular in the US for some time now, bearing slogans like: "I bought this car before Elon Musk went crazy."

In line with the negative image trend, Tesla's trend brand rankings are also declining. In 2021, Tesla managed the feat—as the first import brand ever—to climb to number one in the trend rankings. Since then, Tesla's performance has been in rapid decline:

The brand is 33 percentage points below its previous record, and has lost a full 16 points compared to the previous year. The result is 11th place in the trend assessment.