Mar. 19, 2025, 8:52 am ET
The continued backlash against Tesla faced intense escalation in March, as protests, vandalism, and boycotts by a growing number of owners of Tesla vehicles took hold. This is due to Elon Musk’s support of a Trump administration and controversial role in the DOGE organization. As the level of aggression and financial hit escalates, Tesla is now having sales declines and stock price drops and increasingly likely to face a chilling long-term impact based on the anger of their owners and customers.
The vendor location in 2025 has stretched expansively, hitting various parts of California and Texas, in the United States, culminating in Berlin Germany. It’s an intense and diverse backlash with high-level speakers from both Tesla and Trump administration weighing in. Consumer discarding of Tesla vehicles are driving stiff and distinct consumer communications and defamations against the CEO.
A now famously frustrated Tesla consumer David Andreone said “I have never in my life bought or leased a car for political reasons. Now I feel like I want to get rid of one for political reasons. I’m just kind of shocked and appalled at what he’s doing. I felt like I had to do something.” According to The New York Times
Equally unnerved and dismayed, Tesla owner Dan Bateman stated “My original statement was that I’m doing my small part toward ending climate change. There wouldn’t be electric cars on the road without Elon and it seems like he’s turned his back on that. I feel like I’ve been betrayed. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Bateman added a judgemental “judge doubts.” Tesla stock has dropped significantly by more than 26.0 %.
Elon Musk recently spoke of this and he attributed the lack of support from liberals as “hardly any people,” claiming that the backlash against Tesla vehicles lacked “popular support”. But although he downplayed the protests of owning a Tesla, many are still upset.
Despite backlash and protests Trump has shown support of Musk, buying a Tesla in public to show his approval.
The brand reputation of Tesla will surely be impacted in the short term by Elon Musk’s political opinions. Customers are diversifying their ride options with a huge uptick in EVs that will only continue to increase. A new announcement of a low-cost EV by Tesla is in the near future but even this may not be enough to save the brand image and customer confidence
In a series of protests, protesters in California blew up a Cybertruck outside of Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, gunshots were fired at a Tesla showroom in Texas. Molotov cocktails were also used to damage Teslas with supercharger stations destroyed with the resulting backlash resulting in a serious blow to Tesla.
Brent Wollenberg, an EV expert explained how severe the impact on Tesla will be if it can’t pull out of the negative spirals of boycotts and unnerved buyers. “With 20 brands all rushing to pour into the EV market-It feels like a free-for-all” Wollenberg stated in an article on TheTrueWays.com, “only the best brand companies with customer trust and wallet reliability will rise to the top.”
Elon Musk said “Damaging the property of others, aka vandalism, is not free speech.” He made this statement in response to reports of physical damage done to Tesla facilities and vehicles by unrestributributable groups.
The pushback and weaker results show for all to see that buying and consuming may no longer be a private or policy-neutral transaction.
