Disapproval Of Elon Musk Top Reason Why Tesla Model 3 Owners Jump Ship: Survey

Concerns about quality or service are the second reason why Model 3 owners sell their cars and buy from another brand.

Elon Musk at Tesla's Shareholders Meeting at Texas Gigafactory

Photo by: Tesla

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Jul 28, 2023 at 5:08am ET

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The top reason why Tesla Model 3 owners sold their cars and replaced them with a model from another brand is the disapproval of the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, a survey of 5,000 verified owners conducted by Bloomberg has revealed.

Among those questioned, 21.5 percent said that the outspoken head honcho led them to jump ship and choose another marque for their next vehicle, while concerns about the quality of the cars or the service are the second reason why Model 3 owners sold their EVs, with 18.7 percent. The third reason why people sold their Model 3s and went a different way is that they were unhappy with the company’s brand perception (17.8 percent).

“I love the vehicles but do not want to support someone who has such vitriol and low opinion of the very people who have made Tesla a success,” one customer said.

At the same time, however, it’s worth noting that the same Bloomberg survey shows most Tesla Model 3 owners are very happy with their purchase, with 75 percent of those questioned about their plans for buying a new car in the next two years saying that they’re considering another Tesla. The upcoming Cybertruck is the most popular choice, with the Model Y in second place, and the Model 3 in third place.

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The survey shows that there’s a clear relationship between Tesla owners’ opinion of its CEO and whether they’d stick with the brand in the future or not, with 96 percent of owners with positive views of Musk saying they’d buy a Tesla again, while 91 percent of owners who said they wouldn’t buy another Tesla vehicle had unfavorable opinions about the CEO.

As per Bloomberg, after answering a dozen questions about the chief operating officer, Tesla owners were given a chance to submit comments about him.

“I'd prefer he not be so tied to the image of Tesla,” said one owner who disapproves of Musk. “I don't want my car to be an Elon Musk conversation starter.”

At the same time, one person who doesn’t see the CEO as a deal-breaker had this to say:

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“He is a brilliant and very well-intentioned person. Maybe not the most astute or clever in politics or the best diplomatic speaker. His words sometimes do get misrepresented or possibly he does not think about how they can be twisted around. But his intentions are all good.”

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