While the electric vehicle (EV) market continues to grow, Tesla remains unique in having brand fortunes tightly tied to its head honcho and not-a-founder. Years ago, Elon Musk’s personal brand was mostly positive, with many comparing him to Marvel hero Tony Stark/Iron Man as a wunderkind scientist, engineer, and business genius, the man who not only saves us from climate change, but gets us to Mars. The Musk hype gave the then-nascent Tesla a supercharged boost.
However, as time passed, Musk’s reputation continued to take hits as his (likely) drug-addled missteps tarnished his comparisons to Iron Man. And as Musk’s personal brand fortunes went, so have Tesla’s.
More recently, Musk’s political interloping as Trump’s right-hand ghoul at the helm of the dodgy DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) has led to protests outside his car company’s showrooms and even Tesla vandalism. Tesla’s sales have nosedived, especially overseas, despite an increase in overall EV sales. All this has happened while Tesla’s highly anticipated (and extraordinarily late) Cybertruck ended up being a dud, a poorly designed vehicle that can’t do truck things, like towing, off-roading, or not snapping in half.
