Tesla for Sale: Buyer’s Remorse Sinks In for Elon Musk’s E.V.-Owning Critics

 

Tesla for Sale: Buyer’s Remorse Sinks In for Elon Musk’s E.V.-Owning Critics

 

The backlash against the electric vehicle company has intensified as the billionaire ally of President Trump exerts his power over the federal government.

 

Neil Vigdor

By Neil Vigdor

March 3, 2025

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/business/tesla-boycott-elon-musk.html

 

When Jennifer Trebb first pulled into her driveway two years ago with her sleek Tesla Model Y, it was — as she put it — “kind of like a ‘Back to the Future’ moment.”

 

She was helping the environment, she said, but driving a Tesla also had cachet. “It was definitely a little bit of a cool moment to have something that was innovative and different,” she said.

 

But Ms. Trebb recently made a U-turn, joining the ranks of Tesla owners in the United States and overseas — some well known, including the singer Sheryl Crow — who are selling their vehicles because the values and politics of the company’s billionaire founder Elon Musk are alienating them, they say. His role in the Trump administration, exerting his power over the federal government, has exacerbated that tension.

 

The buyer’s remorse is playing out at a volatile moment for Tesla, as stocks dropped by double digits in the last week, wiping out most of a post-election surge for Mr. Musk’s company. A recent report showed plummeting sales in Europe, and the company faces increased competition from other E.V. makers eating away at its market share. Recent protests outside Tesla showrooms in the United States and some notable cases of vehicle owners being harassed have also made headlines.

 

Ms. Trebb, 54, a family therapist and a Democrat, said she had decided to trade in her Tesla for a gas-powered Mercedes, accepting $32,000 of the Tesla’s original $55,880 value, despite having only 10,000 miles on it. Her decision, she said, was cemented during a recent trip to the supermarket.

 

“Two weeks ago, I was called a Nazi,” she said, “in the parking lot at Kroger,” adding an expletive. “I came home and told my husband, ‘That’s it. I’m done.’”

 

A number of defectors from the Tesla brand said that a deal-breaker was when Mr. Musk extended his arm diagonally upward, palm facing down while speaking at an inauguration event for Mr. Trump, a gesture that resembled a salute used in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.

 

“I’m sort of embarrassed to be seen in that car now,” said Ms. Trebb, who got a bumper sticker that said, “I bought this before Elon went crazy,” one that has gained popularity.

 

Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

 

With its futuristic curves and eco-friendly mantra, Tesla has in the past decade gone from curiosity to celebrity status symbol to ubiquity. In 2015 the company said it sold 50,000 cars globally. In 2019, that number jumped to 367,500 vehicles, and in 2021 it was nearly one million. Teslas were populating Instagram feeds of the wealthy and appearing in pop culture. There was Jaden Smith riding in the back of a pink Model X with its falcon wing doors open in a music video. Marvel’s Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., had a Tesla Roadster in his car collection, and Mr. Musk even made a cameo in the “Iron Man” franchise.

 

In more recent years, as Mr. Musk became more widely known, he has drawn criticism for his sweeping cuts to federal agencies as part of the Trump administration, his support of the far-right AfD party in Germany and his views on Covid lockdowns. But Tesla sales were resilient and climbed each year, helped along by what market researchers describe as a loyalty to the brand among customers.

 

Most recently, monthly U.S. sales have seesawed between 50,000 and 60,000 after years of explosive growth. In 2024, Tesla reported the first annual-sales drop in its history.

 

Erin Keating, an executive analyst at Cox Automotive, a research firm, said it was too early to tell what kind of role public attitudes toward Mr. Musk might play on Tesla sales or the value of used models.

 

Still, it is not only liberals who are conflicted about owning one of the E.V.s that helped make Mr. Musk the richest person in the world.

 

Dr. Kumait Jaroje, 40, a Republican from Worcester, Mass., used his $113,000 gold Cybertruck to advertise his cosmetic medical practice in an eye-catching way, placing a decal with contact information on its side. But he recently began to experience so much backlash that he was forced to remove the information from his car.

 

“It got really, really bad after the inauguration,” Dr. Jaroje said.

 

An obscene bumper sticker with the word “Nazi” recently appeared on the truck while it was in his driveway.

 

A few days later, Dr. Jaroje, a Syrian immigrant, said that he received threatening phone messages at his practice, prompting him to file a police report. His practice also received an influx of negative reviews online, he said.

 

Dr. Jaroje said he contacted Tesla about trading in the Cybertruck, to no avail, and said he planned to sell it.

 

Swapping a Tesla for another electrical vehicle is not the logistical challenge it once was for a number of new models.

 

“A lot of the manufacturers have started adopting the Tesla power infrastructure,” Ms. Keating said.

 

Of the 20 used-car models with the largest drop in value for the year ending in January, Tesla accounted for four of them, according to Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, an online car search site. Two models placed at the top of the list, the Model 3 (27.1 percent) and Model Y (21.9 percent).

 

Electric vehicles normally depreciate faster than other used cars, Mr. Brauer said, because buyers are more focused on value than prestige or branding, but he said it was still a surprise to see the Model Y second on the list.

 

Shares of Tesla dropped about 13 percent during the last week of February, further bringing the company’s market value under $1 trillion. The shares closed at $284.65 on Monday, the lowest since Nov. 5, Election Day. That was down more than 40 percent from a peak of $479.86 at the close on Dec. 17.

 

The slide followed a disappointing sales report for the company in Europe: The number of new car registrations of Teslas dropped 50 percent in January from a year earlier, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. The drop far outpaced the 5.9 percent decline in electric vehicle registrations overall in the same period, the association’s tallies showed.

 

Paul Unwin, 67, a writer and director who lives in London, said that he paid an early-termination fee of about 500 British pounds in December to get out of the three-year lease on his Tesla Model Y several months early in protest of Mr. Musk.

 

“I called the lease company, and said, ‘I want you to take the car back,’” Mr. Unwin said.

 

His neighbors took notice when he replaced his Tesla with the Polestar 3, also an electric vehicle, he said.

 

“People said, ‘I’m glad you got rid of that car,’” Mr. Unwin said, adding that he did not regret paying to get out of his lease. “I would have paid twice that.”

 

Alex Cole-Hamilton, a member of Scottish Parliament and of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, declared on social media in February that he had also sold his Tesla of five years.

 

“With Musk’s daily outrages, his butchery of respectful public discourse,” Mr. Cole-Hamilton wrote, “I could drive it no longer.”

 

In the United States, perhaps the most notable rebuke of the car brand was lodged by Ms. Crow, the singer-songwriter, who posted an Instagram video in February showing her waving goodbye as her electric vehicle was driven away on a flatbed truck.

 

The actress Octavia Spencer and the musician Kacey Musgraves were among the celebrities who commented messages of support for the decision.

 

Still, Teslas are by far the most popular electric vehicles in the United States.

 

With interest from the State Department, which has planned a $400 million purchase of armored Cybertrucks, and local governments, including Teslas for Baltimore’s city fleet, Seattle-area public transit and the Las Vegas police, the market for Mr. Musk’s vehicles is not withering.

 

In discussions on a Facebook group for Tesla Model 3 and Model Y owners, with 93,000 members, members sometimes declare that they have purchased a car in support of Elon or because of his public persona.

 

In an appearance with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, mocked Ms. Crow’s protest.

 

“I think she means well, but if she ever had a clever thought, it died alone and afraid,” Mr. Kennedy said.

 

Mr. Hannity, who recently had Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump on his show, told Mr. Kennedy in response: “I have friends that own Teslas, and if they’re going to have a boycott and try to harm Elon Musk for exposing waste, fraud, abuse and corruption, you know what, I think I’m going to really look into a Tesla.”

 

He continued: “I think that’s going to be my next car.”

 

Jack Ewing and Michael Levenson contributed reporting.

 

Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics. More about Neil Vigdor