Elon Musk’s toxic behavior is seriously starting to affect Tesla’s bottom line, experts say.
According to a recent survey by corporate reputation management platform Caliber, as first reported by Reuters, the carmaker’s reputation is plunging in part due to Musk’s off-putting and problematic behavior, putting off potential buyers.
The slide is happening in real time. The values for Tesla’s “consideration” and “trust and like” scores put together by Caliber have fallen eight percent from January — while those of German automakers including Mercedes, BMW and Audi rose during the same period.
n other words, Tesla’s sluggish sales aren’t just the result of rising interest rates, a surge in competing offerings, and a slowing overall demand for EVs.
“It’s very likely that Musk himself is contributing to the reputational downfall,” Caliber CEO Shahar Silbershatz told Reuters.
Musk has increasingly used his substantial platform to further an extreme right-wing agenda, making outright racist statements and furthering ludicrous conspiracy theories.
There are plenty of reasons that Musk is dragging the reputation of his EV maker down with his own. Other car and marketing experts Reuters spoke with also corroborated Silbershatz’s conclusion.
“It is hard enough to win sales without getting into politics,” Northwestern University marketing professor Tim Calkins told the news agency.
