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Scott Galloway criticised Elon Musk’s political involvement, claiming it led to “one of the greatest brand destructions” for Tesla, which dropped drastically in reputation and sales in Europe. Musk’s alignment with Republicans alienated EV customers.
Scott Galloway, a popular US marketing professor and entrepreneur has said that Elon Musk’s venture into the US government to implement job and spending cuts was “one of the greatest brand destructions” ever.
On a popular podcast called Pivot, hosted by him, he said that Musk aligned himself with the wrong people and alienated Tesla’s customer base. Tesla was one of his most important holdings but Musk’s new allies – the Republicans – were not fans of electric vehicles. “He’s alienated the wrong people,” Galloway said. “Three-quarters of Republicans would never consider buying an EV. So he’s cosied up to the people who aren’t in EVs.”
Galloway cited a poll which showed Tesla had fallen from the eighth-most reputable brand in 2021 to 95th.
Subsequently, he pointed out figures that showed Tesla’s sales were down 59% in France, 81% in Sweden, 74% in the Netherlands, 66% in Denmark, 50% in Switzerland and 33% in Portugal, after Musk tried to step into European politics in recent months.
Europe had been a lucrative EV market, but after his meddling, he started losing customer base there as well. Moreover, Tesla’s competitor BYD, outsold the former for the first time in Europe, per a report from Jato Dynamics, that supplies automotive industry intelligence.
“This has arguably been one of the greatest brand destructions,” Galloway said to Kara Swisher, his fellow host and veteran tech journalist. “Tesla was a great brand”, he also added, “He’s alienated his core demographic.”
By the end of April, Tesla reported a 71% dip in profits, and Musk said he would finally pull away from his DOGE role in the government, after a call with Tesla investors. He said his work getting the government’s “financial house in order is mostly done” and hence his “time allocation to Doge will drop significantly”.
Elon Musk’s super political action committee donated $200m to help elect Trump. He not only financially supported the campaign but also introduced Trump to his universe of younger men who looked up to him.
He then took up a key role in a second Trump administration which became DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency, which he continued despite opinion polling suggested strong disapproval of his work.
A nonpartisan research group, the Partnership for Public Service, estimated that DOGE’s goal of about $160bn in cuts were on track to cost roughly $135bn.
