Tesla reportedly is getting its CEO back. I’m not sure that’s such a good thing.
For the better part of 2025, Elon Musk has been leading the Trump administration’s DOGE – Department for Government Efficiency – while the business he’s been entrusted with running since 2008 has been breaking down. Tesla profits fell by a whopping 75% in the first quarter of 2025, and its stock price, which approached $430 a share in early January before he busied himself with DOGE, fell to the $220s before seeing a recent rebound.
Musk has committed brand homicide against Tesla. And it’s hard to imagine the brand ever being as revered as it once was.
The homicide has been going on for a while. Call it premeditated if you will.
Musk, the face of the brand, made a conscious decision to get involved in politics here in the United States and elsewhere. To be clear, he’s not the first business leader to be vocal about his political leanings, or in this case, his political beliefs. But because he has been so transparent –his seemingly Nazi salute (twice), his support of far-right leaders in Germany and all over Europe, his accusations of fraud while claiming to have saved the United States $160 billion (without receipts), far short of his $2 trillion estimate – he’s taken a chainsaw to the brand he helped charge and to the people who believed in it.
In the U.S., the people who are most likely to purchase an electric vehicle are Democrats. In 2024, a poll from YouGov-Economist Polls showed that 82% of Republicans would not consider purchasing an EV. The same pollster found that 80% of Democrats rated Musk unfavorably. Those numbers were before Musk took a sabbatical from his CEO responsibilities at a brand that at one time was among the strongest and best of the past 20 years.
Now, Tesla is reeling, here and all over the world.
Protests have become common all over the world (one guy’s form of protest has resulted in more than $100,000 in sales of anti-Musk bumper stickers). Analysts of the company have sounded the alarm. Teslas are not selling, even as other companies’ EV sales are soaring – other brands have responded to the situation, as seen with Polestar’s "Tesla Conquest” promotion and Ford’s Competitive Conquest Bonus Cash inventive. They’re aiding and abetting in the homicide.
Can the brand be saved?
It’s unlikely. To be sure, Musk’s right-wing beliefs may spur some sales from those who seemingly never would have thought about buying an EV before his political actions. But not nearly enough to offset the customers and brand fans who he’s alienated.
Tesla will never be able to be restored as a brand for consumers unless its board of directors quickly removes Musk as CEO. It wouldn’t be unprecedented, as brands like Uber, Volkswagen, Wells Fargo and Papa John’s, decided to part ways with their controversial CEOs when their businesses’ value was at risk.
The brand has a chance if the board acts and removes Musk. They can thank him for his service and wish him the best now that he’s become more focused on public policy.
Tesla’s brand may not die, but it will never come back to the way it was before. It can’t, as long as Elon Musk is in the driver’s seat.
