Government efficiency or brand destruction?

Dear reader,

Since Elon Musk has been rampaging around as Donald Trump's chief advisor or personal cost-cutter (official title: "Special Government Employee"), he has not only cut government spending and sowed maximum uncertainty, but also massively destroyed brand value at Tesla (and certainly again at X).

According to BrandTicker, Tesla's monetary brand value has fallen by 28% since January 2025, the recommendation rate has been in decline since then, as has the brand contribution. The brand is therefore suffering.

Sure, the international sales markets for e-vehicles have collapsed and the Chinese competition has strengthened. But if you take a look at the negative image profile of the Tesla brand, attributes such as "clumsy", "awful", "sad" and "exaggerated" dominate - these are really not product-related. And that's not all: more and more fleet customers are calling for Tesla to be delisted because of Elon Musk's behavior and his interference in national election campaigns.

Of course, this raises the question of whether a corporate brand should be so closely associated with the company brand. There are enough positive and negative answers to this question. However, Tesla shareholders will certainly want a stable management team for the operational business with a visionary but extroverted and volatile representative like Elon Musk. However, they probably don't need to worry, as Tesla is by far the most valuable automotive brand in the world. Whether because of Musk or despite Musk - what do you think?

Here is the link: https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/auto/e-auto-so-hart-treffen-elon-musks-kontroversen-teslas-aktienkurs-und-absatzzahlen/30228552.html