Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk gestures while introducing the newly unveiled all-electric … [+]
Tesla stock is down 46% from its December 2024 high, according to CNBC, a $677 billion loss in stock market value.
That still leaves the company with $842 billion in market cap – 8.6 times Tesla’s 2024 revenue of $97.7 billion, according to Tesla’s 2024 10K.
Does this drop in the stock price make the company’s shares a buy? After suffering its first decline in automotive sales in 2024, a 7.6% decline, the stock will surely rise if Tesla shipments grow faster than investors expect.
However, the stock’s headwinds are numerous – including the company’s relatively old models, vehicle quality problems, plunging resale values, and rivals offering improved technology, better battery range, and lower prices, according to the Wall Street Journal.
To be sure, Tesla has promised new models and robots, as I wrote in a January 2025 Forbes post. Since then, CEO Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration has added more to the company’s woes.
How so? Once-proud Tesla owners are struggling to ditch their vehicles to escape the social opprobrium associated with Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency, according to the New York Times.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment from the Journal and the Times. I have contacted Tesla and will update this post if I receive a response.
Vehicle Sales Drop As Tesla’s Brand Erodes
While Tesla once enjoyed explosive growth, recently “monthly U.S. sales have seesawed between 50,000 and 60,000,” reported the Times.
The value of used Tesla’s has deteriorated considerably. Tesla accounted for four of the 20 used-car models with the largest drop in value for the year ending in January 2025, iSeeCars.com executive analyst Karl Brauer told the Times. At the top of the list was the Tesla Model 3 (with a 27.1% drop in value) and Model Y (down 21.9%), noted the Times.
Tesla’s popularity has plunged since 2022. That was before Musk’s foray into presidential politics, when 22% of car shoppers said they would “definitely consider” a Tesla for their next vehicle purchase, according to a Strategic Vision report featured by the Journal.
By the summer of 2024, that figure had dropped to 7%. “At this point, we don’t see any signs of recovery,” the firm’s president Alexander Edwards told the Journal. Tesla’s “historic appeal to environmentally minded buyers” is at odds with Musk’s politics, he added.
Musk’s DOGE Role Makes Some Tesla Owners Hurry To Sell
Some Tesla owners are moving quickly to replace their vehicles to avoid the shame of being associated with Musk’s “values and politics,” noted the Times. Here are four examples:
Tesla Model Y owner Jennifer Trebb
Trebb was proud to drive her Model Y home in 2023 – referring to “kind of like a ‘Back to the Future’ moment,” the Times reported, “It was definitely a little bit of a cool moment to have something that was innovative and different,” she said.
Trebb, a family therapist and a Democrat, exchanged her $55,880 Tesla with 10,000 miles on it for a mere $32,000. “Two weeks ago, I was called a Nazi,” she told the Times. She was “in the parking lot at Kroger,” adding an expletive. “I came home and told my husband, ‘That’s it. I’m done,’ ” she added.
Gold Cybertruck Owner Dr. Kumait Jaroje
Jaroje, a Republican from my hometown of Worcester, Mass., used his $113,000 gold Cybertruck to advertise his cosmetic medical practice by placing a decal on its side. He has since tried – with no luck – to trade it in, the Times reported. “It got really, really bad after the inauguration,” Dr. Jaroje said.
Since then, an obscene bumper sticker with the word “Nazi” showed up on the vehicle, he received threatening phone messages at his practice and “an influx of negative reviews online,” he told the Times. He now plans to sell the gold Cybertruck.
Model X Owner Garth Ancier
Over a year ago, Ancier, a Los Angeles TV executive, discussed with fellow owners his discomfort with his Tesla Model X. “They said, ‘You know, I’m getting uncomfortable driving this car around because it’s like driving a big red MAGA hat,’ ” Ancier told the Journal. Ancier blames Musk’s conduct for his desire to sell the 4-year-old vehicle. “If not for his behavior, I’d probably stick with a Tesla,” he added.
Cybertruck Order Canceller Larry Broughton
After a January news report about Musk’s plans for DOGE, Bruoughton, a retired mortgage banker from Houston, decided to cancel his order for the two cybertrucks he ordered.
“As soon as he started doing all this stuff that Trump wanted him to do, I didn’t want to be a part of it,” Broughton told the Journal. “I actually own some Tesla stock, and I’m thinking of selling that as well,” he concluded.
Tesla’s Global Sales Decline
Tesla’s drop in worldwide deliveries last year were at odds with explosive growth in the rest of the industry – which enjoyed a 25% sales increase, the Journal noted. In the U.S., Tesla sales fell 7% in 2024, and by 2% in the first two months of 2025, Wards Intelligence estimates.
Decline in Tesla demand abounds in Germany, France, and China. New-vehicle registrations for Tesla were down 76.3% in Germany, 26% in France, and 49% in China last month, according to government and industry association data featured by the Journal.
It takes years to build a reputation and far less time to destroy it. With help from Tesla employees and the EV community, Tesla became a popular EV brand. “A deep social media addiction, purchasing of Twitter, a move into politics, a few salutes, and now most of that incredible work is gone,” concluded Electrek.
