Elon Musk didn’t drive away Tesla buyers, at least before his latest big blunder
A new survey shows that Elon Musk isn’t driving away Tesla buyers with his Twitter drama, but that was right before his latest and biggest blunder.
Ever since his acquisition of Twitter, Elon Musk seems to be getting into a controversy after the next.
There have been some serious concerns about his drama negatively affecting Tesla’s sales.
This summer, a survey of 5,000 Tesla owners showed that the number reason owners were walking away from the brand was “disapproval of Musk”.
It added to the frustration of Tesla fans and shareholders after the CEO started to not only spend less time on the electric automaker but also seemed to affect it negatively purely on reputation.
But now Heatmap posted a new independent survey of 1,000 Americans that shows that Musk still has a positive impact on Tesla buyers and it is improving:
In the weeks leading up to Elon Musk’s latest round of controversies, 27% percent of Americans who reported wanting to buy an EV in the future said that the billionaire’s behavior made them less likely to pick a Tesla, down from 36% who said the same in February. On the other hand, 35% of prospective EV buyers said that Musk had made them more likely to purchase a Tesla — a reversal of the results from the last time Heatmap took Americans’ temperature on the controversial CEO, when more people were put off by Musk’s behavior than swayed by him.
You are likely going to see a lot of reporting on this survey today:
But the most important thing to note is that the survey was conducted right before Musk’s latest and biggest blunder: agreeing with an antisemite tweet, which led to an advertiser exodus and a lot of negative media attention.
If the survey were conducted a week later, the result would likely be very different.
Electrek’s Take
The sentiment on Elon is likely changing fast depending on how big his latest controversy is, and I think the timing of that survey is very convenient for him.
I hope his fans won’t use it to try to disprove the clear negative impact he has had on the Tesla brand lately.
The previous survey of 5,000 Tesla owners is likely much more representative of the impact on the brand. As you can see on the new survey, “no impact” is still the biggest answer, but Tesla owners are more likely to follow the situation more closely, and more of them are now saying that they wont be buying another Tesla.
It’s a problem.
Tesla has so far been enjoying extremely strong customer loyalty, and the most recent survey shows show Elon has negatively affected that even if not so much in the wider population, at least until the latest controversy.
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Fancy German-made mid-drives are often considered the premier option for electric bikes, offering higher precision engineering and an overall more sophisticated experience. But they’ve also been quite pricey, at least until Ride1Up began running an incredible sale on its normally $2,195 Prodigy XC electric mountain bike, marked down to just $1,295.
I reviewed the urban version of this bike back when it was at full price, and it was a great buy even at its MSRP. But now with this killer Black Friday price, this is a deal that is unlikely to ever be seen again.
The Class 3 electric bicycle can hit speeds of up to 28 mph (45 km/h), and comes with all the benefits of that nice Brose TF Sprinter mid-drive motor. That means you get the smooth and refined torque sensor-based pedal assist, the color screen, and the higher-end ride quality.
Other nice components found on the bike include the Maxxis Forekaster off-road tires, the Tektro quad-piston hydraulic disc brakes, and the 120mm-travel air suspension fork.
At this price, Ride1Up is almost certainly selling the bike at below cost, meaning you’re getting it for less than it costs the company to build these highly-acclaimed e-bikes.
Why would they do that? Because this is the previous generation of the bike, which was eclipsed by the second-generation Prodigy V2. But hey, if this bike was good enough when it came out a year before the V2 (and it was), then it still a great bike today. For those who don’t need the nicest and newest version of a piece of tech, this is an incredible steal of a deal.
Ride1Up is all but certain to be moving these Prodigy XCs at such a low price to clear up shelf space in their warehouse, so when these are gone, they’re gone for good. And this isn’t only a Black Friday price – the company has been moving these bikes for several months at this crazy sale price. That further underscores that this is a clear-out-the-previous-version sale that will be gone for good when the bikes are gone.
At this price, there’s simply no other German-made mid-drive e-bike out there with the bang-for-buck offered by the $1,295 Prodigy XC right now, that’s for sure.
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Working oil pumps against a sunset sky.
Imaginima | E+ | Getty Images
Higher fuel prices could be in the cards if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his tariff threats on Canada, according to industry experts, who are skeptical on whether the new levies will ever be implemented.
Trump on Monday pledged to implement additional tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico on day one of his presidency, according to his posts on social media platform Truth Social. He said he would sign an executive order on Jan. 20 imposing a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico, a move that may breach the terms of a regional free trade agreement.
Goldman Sachs’ Co-Head of Global Commodities Research Daan Struyven said that if a 25% levy hit Canadian crude exports to the U.S. “that could, in theory, lead to some pretty significant consequences for three groups.”
U.S. refiners who rely on Canadian oil barrels could face lower profit margins, and consumers may potentially face higher prices, surmised Struyven. Lastly, Canadian producers may suffer revenue losses if they are unable to reroute their barrels that would have otherwise gone to the U.S.
America’s imports of Canadian crude oil hit a record of 4.3 million barrels per day in July 2024 after the expansion of Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
If we were to see a 25% tariff on Canadian energy exports, I think it could have some very significant ramifications for trade flows.
Daan Struyven
Goldman Sachs
Additionally, refiners in the Midwest, which are more adapted to process Canada’s heavy sour crude rather than the low sulfur sweet crude produced domestically, could also have problems switching should the Canadian imports be interrupted, Struyven told journalists at an online conference.
“If we were to see a 25% tariff on Canadian energy exports, I think it could have some very significant ramifications for trade flows,” Struyven said.
Mexico and especially Canada have “notable tightly integrated linkages” with the U.S. when it comes to the oil, natural gas and auto industries, Citigroup wrote in a note following Trump’s announcements this week.
“Absent carve-outs, this would increase costs for U.S. refiners and U.S. consumers,” said the bank’s research team led by Energy Strategist Eric Lee.
However, Goldman highlighted that it is unlikely that the tariffs will be implemented as announced, on the premise that the Trump administration is focused on reducing energy costs.
Trump cannot allow inflation to get out of control in the 15 months before the midterm election season, Viktor Shvets, global strategist at Macquarie Capital, told CNBC. Shvets believes that tariffs are used as a negotiating tool to achieve certain objectives such as strengthening the border.
“I do not believe for a second that there will be a massive increase in overall tariffs because that will represent a tax on U.S. domestic manufacturers. That will also represent a tax on U.S. exporters,” said Shvets.
Canada’s trade bodies have shared their concerns, too.
“As Canadians, we need to be eyes-wide-open on the President-elect’s promise for across-the-board tariffs,” the CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Lisa Baiton, reportedly said.
Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta which accounts for the largest production of crude in Canada, said that the Trump administration has “valid concerns related to illegal activities at our shared border,” and urged the federal government to resolve said issues immediately to avoid any “unnecessary tariffs” on Canadian exports.
On today’s fact-checking episode of Quick Charge, we’ve got a showdown brewing between California Governor Gavin Newsom and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, an updated 650 hp Kia EV6 GT that’s ready to take on the world, and some sweet deals on battery-powered goodies.
We’ve also got new electric buses at UCLA that are powered by inductive current in the road itself, and a massive new solar project on a site more famous for coal than clean. All this and a little bit of fact-checking on some fresh musky nonsense – enjoy!
Today’s episode is sponsored by BLUETTI, a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems. For a limited time, save up to 52% during BLUETTI’s exclusive Black Friday sale, now through November 28, and be sure to use promo code BLUETTI5OFF for 5% off all power stations site wide. Learn more at this link.
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Read more: E-quipment highlight | Palfinger FLS 25 eDRIVE truck mounted forklift.
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