New Tesla cars are displayed at a Tesla dealership in Corte Madera, California on December 20, 2024.
Justin Sullivan | getty images
The value of Tesla’s The brand declined 26% in 2024, its second consecutive annual decline, driven by a number of factors including an aging lineup of vehicles. And ceo Elon Musk’s According to research and consulting firm Brand Finance, “rivalry”.
Tesla’s brand value is now estimated at $43 billion, down from $58.3 billion in early 2024 and $66.2 billion in early 2023, the firm said in its annual ranking. toyota The researchers found it was the most valuable brand among autos with $64.7 billion, while Mercedes trailed behind with $53 billion.
London-based Brand Finance conducts extensive consumer surveys and analyzes the financial position of thousands of companies, looking at revenues, licensing agreements, margins and more to estimate the monetary value of brands. The evaluation includes corporate brands and sub-brands associated with individual product lines.
As part of the firm’s rankings this year, Brand Finance analyzed the answers of nearly 175,000 survey respondents around the world, including nearly 16,000 who shared their thoughts on Tesla.
The results reveal how consumers view Tesla Very different from Wall Street’s assessment.
Tesla’s share price rose 63% last year, reaching a record in December, after which investors bought shares. Donald Trump’s Election victory last month. Musk contributed $277 million to help Trump and other Republican candidates win, and is willing to exert influence in the administration for the benefit of his companies.
When it comes to the broader public, Brand Finance CEO David Haigh says Musk’s political rhetoric and public persona have their downsides.
“There are people who think he’s amazing, but a lot of people don’t think so,” Haigh said. “If you’re buying an electric vehicle, his personality is highly likely to influence your consideration of whether or not you want to buy one of his company’s cars, but that’s only one of many factors.”
Brand Finance found that on key measures such as “consideration,” “reputation” and “recommendation,” Tesla has declined across the board in the key markets where it operates factories and sells its cars – the US, Europe and Asia. .
Elon Musk walks on Capitol Hill on the day of a meeting with Senate Republican leader-elect John Thune (R-SD) on December 5, 2024 in Washington, US.
Benoit Tessier | reuters
Consideration score shows whether people will consider purchasing from a brand. A reputation score shows how much respondents value a brand, on average, on a scale of 1 to 10. And a recommendation score indicates whether people are likely to speak favorably about a brand.
Tesla saw a significant decline in its score in Europe, where its consideration score fell from an average of 21% to 16% from 2024 to 2025.
Competitors Mercedes and BYD beat Tesla on consideration and recommendation scores, especially outside the US
However, Tesla maintains a high loyalty score of 90% in the US. This means that customers who already own a Tesla vehicle are likely to keep driving it for the next 12 months. But Tesla’s recommendation score in the US dropped from 8.2 out of 10 to 4.3.
Hai said Tesla’s declining scores and brand value are a sign that the company’s “pulling power is weakening.” There is a risk, he said, that “Tesla won’t be able to sell as many products, and it won’t be able to sell at such high prices as it used to.”
The troubling signs were already there. Tesla deliveries for 2024 Worldwide demand for battery electric vehicles declined nearly 1% to 1.79 million, despite growth. Tesla’s market share of EVs in the US dropped to 49% from 55% a year ago, according to data from Cox Automotive.
According to Brand Finance, Tesla’s Brand Strength Index score has also dropped from 80 to less than 65. The score tells how well a brand is performing compared to competitors on intangible measures.
“Unless Tesla can come up with a whole range of new products that will really excite consumers, and unless they can reduce some of the hostility they are causing their leader, they will be seen at their peak And it’s going to start going down,” Haigh said.
measuring oysters
Musk has reportedly not limited his political activities to America. are in regular contact with He praised and worked with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and Argentina’s Javier Meili, and made public appearances with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.
He recently supported Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, and pressured British authorities to release the anti-immigrant tommy robinsonA convicted fraudster with a violent criminal record, out of prison.
On Monday, during his public remarks following Trump’s inauguration, Musk used a gesture repeatedly Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, whose work focuses on fascism, described it as having “Nazi salutes and very belligerent”. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
When it comes to consumer attitudes, “There’s going to be a very small number that say, I don’t really care what they do. I just want their product,” High said. “There are other people who care, even those who say, I’m not touching that product on principle.”
Tesla is unique in the close connection between the company’s brand and its leader.
With Tesla, “It’s very clear who the CEO is, this person is in charge and their behavior will affect the reputation of the company,” Haigh said.
Brand Finance also evaluated other Musk-led brands, including X, aerospace and defense contractor SpaceX and, for the first time, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet business.
The firm estimates that X’s total brand value fell 26% to $498 million from $673 million. Since 2022, when the company was still known as Twitter, awareness of the X brand internationally has fallen from 94% to 78% today. Before Musk took over and changed its name, Twitter’s brand value in 2022 was $5.7 billion.
According to Brand Finance, the name change led to an overall decline, but also a loss of users, advertisers and advertising revenue.
“Twitter was very popular, very liked and attracted a lot of advertising,” Haigh said. “According to our data, overnight, when he changed it to
For SpaceX, which Brand Finance began valuing as early as 2024, the company’s brand value has increased 11% to $3.8 billion. About 45% of people responding to the survey in the US were familiar with SpaceX, a high ranking for an aerospace and defense company.
The firm found that the Starlink brand is valued at $2.4 billion, calculated separately from SpaceX. This number is expected to increase as the company continues to add new users and continues to show high revenue from monthly subscribers.
Brand Finance will publish this global 500 2025 A study of the world’s most valuable brands took place in Davos on Tuesday.
Watch: Why did Bank of America downgrade Tesla?