The expert breaks down Tesla brand luggage: NPR

Demonstrations against Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk took place across the country during the weekend and spread on a global scale. The Tesla Takedown movement urges people to sell their Tesla cars and their stock.

Many are angry with musk for its unleashed but powerful role in the Trump administration. He heads the government’s ministry of efficiency – Doge, which has made aggressive cuts across the government. President Trump and Musk say that the cuts are important to combat bureaucracy and fraud.

Tesla experienced a drop in world sales, especially in Europe and China. Since the Musk’s political turn, investors have become worried. But market analysts are also wondering how the drop in sales and Tesla actions can be allocated to Musk’s actions alone.

Morning edition spoke with the Allen Adamson brand expert of Tesla’s difficulties, which he attributes to several factors: the lack of concentration of musk on the company and innovation, the perception of the changing public of the brand and the growing role of politics in consumer decisions.

Adamson is co-founder and partner director of Metaorce, a marketing consulting firm, and the author of See how: transform what people do, not buy, to get an advantage on the market, which concerns consumer behavior, behavioral psychology and marketing analysis.

The interview was slightly modified for length and clarity.

In Martínez: So, Allen, why are Tesla sales in particular in particular? Is this Elon Musk’s work at Doge or maybe something else?

Each time a business fails, it is never one thing. Or a brand is trouble. These are usually many things. So brand problems are now: its DOGE problem, its Cybertruck reminder… Lots of things. It is a cumulative effect and it has reached the tilting point.

Martínez: Was there other examples that you could indicate in the past where something that CEO said or did affected sales of his businesses?

Not in the automotive industry, that’s for sure. There are smaller examples, but nothing on this scale.

Martínez: Allen, what do cars make it a market so different from other products? Is this one of those things where, when you buy a car, that said something about you, without saying anything at all, necessarily?

Most people think: “I bought the car because it has a good acceleration. I like the way he heads. But when you look at the car performance, there is no difference between cars. They all get about the same mileage, either electric or gas. You look inside, they all connect to your smartphone. In fact, when you get many cars, and if you don’t look at the brand, you have no idea the car in which you are. And so cars are what we call badge brands. These are identity signals. They say, “I drive a BMW, I drive a Ford van” because that said something about you. It’s no longer like a brand of beer and a fashion brand. You park it in an alley to say, “Look at me. I am a green person. I drive a Tesla, or look at myself, I am a real macho person, I drive this large van. And so cars always concern brand image and once the brand image is not something you mean to your neighbors, you have a lot of problems in a brand focused on the brand.

Martínez: But would it be easy if, for example, for any reason, it is deposited in Tesla, sells each piece of stock and property that he has in Tesla, and then suddenly, has nothing to do with the brand?

It would probably be the best thing for the brand. This is the only easy solution, that is to say: “I sell it, I will focus on other things that interest me”. And the new property team will keep an eye on the ball. Because I think the problem is development. If you build a car that has your life at stake when you drive it, you don’t want the brand’s perception that a business people move quickly and break things. You want someone to trust to say, “When I get into this car, the wheels will not fall or I will not be killed. Thus, having this kind of erratic personality is probably a more harmful brand attribute than helping the government to try to save money on federal employees.

Martínez: So I think the lesson here for any current CEO or aspiring CEO may never speak publicly about politics.

It has always been a lesson, and now the country the more polarized, the more it is true. And it will be a good lesson for the other CEOs to say: “Look, as much as my employees want me to speak or I want to speak, the less.”