Tesla’s reputation under pressure: new survey data from two key EV markets
Joy Corkery
Tesla has been making headlines for weeks, not for the right reasons. Alongside the many protests outside its showrooms, the company just announced a 71% drop in net income, suggesting its favourability is at an all-time low. On top of that, Elon Musk just announced he is stepping down from his DOGE responsibilities.
We were curious to see how Tesla’s brand perception amongst consumers is shifting during this time of animosity. In April 2025, we asked over 1,500 people across the US, home of Tesla, and Germany, another huge market for electric vehicles, what their perception of Tesla is today and how this has changed over the last month. The results reveal a stark divide in public opinion.
Tesla’s brand perception is generally negative across both countries: in the US however, the net sentiment (positive perception minus negative perception) is -11%, representing a very mixed reaction from the public. While over a third of Americans (37%) have a negative perception of the brand, representing just under 68 million people, one quarter of people (26%) actually have a positive perception - representing almost 48 million people still in favour of the brand. The scales are tipped slightly out of Tesla’s favour but not by much.
In Germany, the net sentiment is much worse at -51%, with 60% of Germans having a negative perception of the brand. This represents just over 28 million people who view the brand poorly. And fewer than 1 in 10 people have a positive perception of the brand (9%) in Germany, just 4 million people.
When we asked people about their shifting perception of Tesla, interestingly, despite the recent storm of bad press in the US, over half of the Americans we surveyed claimed that their perception of Tesla remained unchanged in the past month (56% or 103 million people). It’s not all a stable picture for Tesla though in their home market - a further 31% (or almost 58 million people) claimed it had worsened from a month ago.
For Germany, there was a clear decline in Tesla sentiment - 58% of respondents say it has worsened from a month ago, representing just over 27 million people in Germany.
Despite all the recent negative noise around Elon Musk and, as a consequence, Tesla, 103 million Americans have an unchanged perception of Tesla. However, a further 58 million people say it has worsened, pointing to an underlying shift in public mood and a huge potential customer drop for the brand.
We saw slight demographic variations across the data.
What could be creating this divide - and how can Tesla fix it?
One key reason could be the fact that the brand is hugely tied to Musk’s public personality. On the back of his political antics, Tesla reported its worst quarter since 2022. However, with rumours that Musk is to stand down from his DOGE position, Tesla shares once again began to rise, albeit slowly.
Tesla has been built around gaining brand loyalty and creating a product which consumers feel represents them. While it is clear it does not represent a good chunk of consumers anymore, Tesla still carries some cultural cachet, even when the headlines are bad. The US audience appears split, not disinterested, but not reactive either, and if Musk does resign from DOGE, this is something the company could potentially bounce back from.
In Germany, the perception is less divided: only 9% of Germans have a positive view of Tesla and 27 million Germans say their perception has worsened in the past month. That’s over half the population of potential future customers being alienated.
Age, income, and education deepen the drop:
The backlash in Germany is broad and deep, and it cuts across generational, economic, and educational lines. Again, Musk’s political position and consumers seeing Tesla and his own personal brand as one seem to be a driving factor here. Tesla sales had already started dropping in Germany thanks to Musk’s recent intervention in the German national election, where he urged voters to support the right-wing party, the AfD. Tesla's sales in Germany were more than 70% lower in February, the month of the election. Sales into April continued to fall in Germany, and it will likely take a lot more than Musk resigning from DOGE for things to change here.
Tesla’s brand is clearly vulnerable. While all brands are somewhat vulnerable, Tesla has to now contend with not only general criticisms of its product but also the cultural and political context brought on by its founder.
In the US, Tesla may be slowly losing its standing - 58 million people (31%) say their perception of the brand has worsened in the past month. Despite those who claim their perception is unchanged (56%), Tesla needs to not become overly optimistic that it can regain strength in the US. This kind of slow erosion often doesn't show up in top-line metrics until it's too late. It’s the kind of shift that can hurt over time, especially if it’s happening in high-value or influential groups.
In Germany, the picture is different. Sentiment is already in the red and is continuing to drop. German consumers have had their trust broken, and, taking what we know about the German market, it will take a whole load of work to regain it. The differences between the US and Germany show how important it is to track perception by market, not just in aggregate. What works in one country might completely backfire in another, especially when a brand’s reputation is closely tied to a public figure.
If you’re only looking at brand health once a quarter or focusing on overall averages, you’ll miss the warning signs. And right now, the warning signs are loud and clear.
Momentum matters. Even if topline sentiment looks steady, shifts in specific groups, like what we have seen in the Tesla data with younger people or the highly educated, can point to bigger problems down the line. These groups are leading the way in terms of technology, social media, and brand loyalty. Their opinions and behaviours can have a significant impact on how brands are perceived and marketed to broader audiences. Their perception needs to be continually and often tracked to quickly pick up on any big problems brands may have.
Of course, demographics only tell part of the story. But when there is a consistent perception drop among certain segments, it usually points to deeper cultural misalignment. Values, expectations, and credibility gaps don’t show up in the average, they show up in these groups. Here is exactly where insights leaders for Tesla and other brands should be looking.
Tesla isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The company isn’t collapsing, but it is slowly bleeding trust, especially in markets where people expect more from brands. The divide between Germany and the US tells us everything: sentiment doesn’t move the same everywhere, and your reputation doesn’t follow a single trendline.
What stands out in the data is how uniquely tied Tesla’s brand is to Elon Musk. Most consumers can name Tesla’s CEO, but far fewer could identify the leaders of its direct competitors. This level of founder association is unusual in the automotive sector and has long been a driver of Tesla’s visibility and growth. But current sentiment trends suggest that this association may now be a liability rather than an asset.
As a result, there’s a growing need for the brand to define itself independently, on the strength of its product, mission, and customer experience, rather than through the persona of its CEO. Doing so requires accurate, high-resolution tracking of brand perception across different markets and demographic segments. Averaged metrics can’t capture these nuances. Tracking brand KPIs and sentiment by region, age group, and audience type isn’t just helpful, it’s essential to understanding risk, measuring brand strength, and informing strategy.
