31% of Tesla Owners in Netherlands Consider Selling Their Cars Because of Elon Musk

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Elon Musk has gone from dabbling in far right-wing conspiracy theories and concepts to doing what seems to be a full-on Nazi salute — twice. It appears this has harm Tesla’s gross sales in California, one among its most vital markets, significantly, and Tesla actually had fewer automotive sales in 2024 than in 2023 globally and BYD sold considerably more BEVs in the 4th quarter than Tesla to take the BEV crown. Nonetheless, Musk has been doubling down, gobbling up increasingly more conspiracy theories on X, and virtually appearing like a sticker on Donald Trump’s sizable bum — together with all through the vacations.

Some Tesla followers who discover Musk’s conduct abhorrent and dangerous nonetheless avidly help the corporate due to all the nice it does and the entire good folks working there (and usually additionally due to monetary stakes they’ve within the firm, as many are nonetheless hesitant to promote their TSLA inventory). Nevertheless, with every spherical of extremism, extra Tesla followers, homeowners, and shareholders are saying sufficient is sufficient.

Within the Netherlands, a reasonably righteous nation that leans left on the political scale, civil service pension fund ABP — one of many greatest pension funds on the earth — just lately determined to sell its stake in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). On the finish of 2023, it had €782 million value of Tesla shares. Many Dutch Tesla homeowners discover themselves in an analogous “I can’t take any more of this” boat.

A current survey by EenVandaag received responses from 1000’s of EV homeowners and lessees, together with 432 individuals who owned or leased a Tesla. “Of those, 31 percent are either contemplating selling their car or have already done so,” the survey discovered. In whole, 40% of homeowners felt embarrassed to personal the model in spite of everything that had occurred. Clearly, that is one thing that occurred after falling in love with Tesla vehicles, the Tesla model, and doubtlessly even Elon Musk. It’s a critical turnaround. Briefly, we’re not simply seeing aversion to Tesla from individuals who personal different vehicles — we’re seeing it from an enormous portion of Tesla homeowners. That’s not an excellent factor for future gross sales, even when these homeowners determine in the long run to not promote their Teslas.

“The dissatisfaction stems largely from Musk’s recent actions, including his involvement in European politics, his role in spreading and allowing misinformation on the platform X (formerly Twitter), and his position in President Donald Trump’s administration following substantial financial contributions to Trump’s campaign,” NL Times writes.

“Musk’s leadership of X has also led to a decline in platform users. Nearly half (46 percent) of X users surveyed said they have recently left or are considering leaving the platform, citing it as a ‘toxic, hate-driven medium’ rife with conspiracy theories and misinformation.”

2024 is over. Gross sales weren’t nice, however they have been almost on the degree of 2023 for Tesla, which continues to be a really excessive degree. The corporate virtually reached 2 million gross sales. Will all of those political issues hit exhausting sufficient that Tesla will proceed to say no, and 2023 could have been its peak, or was 2024 only a blip in proceed long-term progress and success? What number of potential patrons are literally going to not purchase a Tesla due to Elon Musk, and what number of will particularly purchase a Tesla due to Elon Musk? These are among the greatest questions for the EV business in 2025. Not solely do they have an effect on Tesla and Tesla inventory (presumably), however additionally they have an effect on the gross sales of EVs from different manufacturers and the general EV business narrative.

The Netherlands is a reasonably distinctive place. I lived there for five months and have been a fan of the nation for many years. It’s been one of the vital attention-grabbing EV markets to observe. I’m curious to see if the sentiment discovered on this survey quantities to a lot by way of Tesla’s precise gross sales tendencies within the nation (or if it’s extra speak than motion), and I’m additionally curious to see how a lot these sorts of emotions and actions lengthen to different nations — corresponding to Germany, France, and Scandinavian nations. We’ll see….