6:20 am, March 29, 2025
Some dealers think Elon Musk is ‘damaging the Tesla brand so badly’ they have stopped buying his cars altogether.
EV Experts, a specialist electric car dealer in Guildford, now refuses to buy Teslas as bosses say customers are so put off by Musk’s posts on X, antics in the Oval Office and that gesture that they have become nearly impossible to sell.
Speaking to Car Dealer as part of a special investigation video – which you can watch above – co-founder Martin Miller said he was ‘absolutely not’ buying Teslas at the moment as he fears values have ‘a long way to drop’.
‘A £5,000 car is a need to purchase, a £20,000 car is a want to purchase and every car you buy has an image associated with it,’ he told Car Dealer.
‘Whether it’s a Vauxhall or a Ferrari, you’re making a statement by buying that car and with a Tesla you are actively making a statement you’re happy with what Elon is saying.’
Since Elon Musk walked into the White House alongside President Donald Trump he has made a series of incendiary remarks online.
His cost cutting measures in the States have led to protests outside Tesla dealerships and his apparent support for far right activists, like Tommy Robinson, have led to some Tesla owners’ cars being vandalised.
Tesla shares have fallen and its new car sales across Europe dropped 44% in February. But what is happening in the used car market? Do buyers even care? Or is it all a storm in a teacup?
I’m still buying Teslas
‘I don’t really care about Elon Musk – I just like the fact you can get nearly 300 miles out of the Long Range Tesla,’ explained David Gott, owner of The Lovely Car Company.
His showroom in Chesterfield sells plenty of Teslas and he focuses on slight modifications to help them stand out online.
‘If you get a white Tesla there are absolutely thousands of them about,’ he said.
‘What we do is we put body kits on them. We’ll put big wheels on it. We’ll make them look a bit different. So for us, I’m not worried about it.
‘The only people saying stuff [about Elon] are other dealers, family members, friends, asking me why am I selling Teslas because Elon Musk is this, he’s that – but for me, I don’t really care about Elon Musk.’
Richard Symons runs RS EV, another dedicated electric car specialist based in the New Forest. He sells around 30 Teslas a month, has sold more than 1,000 used Teslas since he started, and has been driving a Model 3 since 2015.
He has built a loyal following of nearly 100,000 subscribers for his business on YouTube where he produces videos about the brand and other electric cars.
‘We’ve been flat out,’ he said.
In a polar opposite to his EV Experts rivals just 70 miles down the road, Symons is still actively buying Teslas. In fact, when we spoke, he was bidding on several in a number of trade auctions.
‘I put a video out about six, seven weeks ago voicing some concern about how Elon’s opinions could affect sales with Tesla – I hear that new car sales are down – but actually, in the used market, we’ve been very busy,’ he added.
‘You may be left, you may be right, and [Elon] might be whatever, but I think some people actually appreciate a lot of what he is doing, or agree with his opinion.
‘We tend to not really speak about politics when we’re with a customer, because that’s not what you do.’
Elon’s a ‘problem’
While car dealers may have a vested interest in playing down any problems, consumer journalists who focus on the electric vehicle market have less of that to worry about.
Tom Barnard, editor of Electrifying.com, the specialist electric car website, said the abuse he and his team had suffered for just writing, or producing videos, about Tesla was very real.
He said: ‘Whenever we mention Tesla now in a review, whether it’s on YouTube or on the website, we get a lot of abuse.
‘There are people who are saying, just for supporting the car supposedly, or saying that they’re good, that we’re Nazis, or that if you buy one then you’re a Nazi, that we shouldn’t be supporting Elon Musk and his regime, and that anyone buying a Tesla is funding fascism.
‘It puts us in a very difficult position, because we’re not politicians. We’re editorial people who want to let people buy the best car. We can’t not mention the fact that you might get abuse if you have a Tesla.’
Barnard said he thinks it is ‘inevitable’ that car buyers will be turned off the brand because of the abuse and the potential for vandalism. He was concerned it was ‘only a matter of time’ before that impacted insurance prices for Teslas.
Steve Fowler – the former editor of Auto Express, Autocar and What Car? – is now an electric car correspondent for The Independent.
He’s been a huge fan of Tesla since it arrived on the scene and placed an order for a Cybertruck – knowing it highly unlikely it would ever come to the UK. Even he’s concerned at Musk’s outbursts.
‘Clearly, there are people out there who fundamentally disagree with his allegiances,’ he explained.
‘There’s been a lot of press recently about sales sliding, and there’s a degree of context to that, but undoubtedly it has proven there are some people who don’t want to buy Teslas because of the man at the top.’
Tesla searches static
But is all this really having an impact? Auto Trader, the UK’s largest used car advertising marketplace, said it had seen no drop off in searches. In fact, it said used Tesla models were among the fastest selling cars on its site.
Marc Palmer, who focuses on data for the firm, said used Tesla prices were ‘broadly stable’ and were ‘moving really quickly’.
He added: ‘In January, we saw for the very first time, the market’s first £10,0000 Tesla and it’s sort of opening up the brand to the mass market now. From a consumer perspective, the demand for Tesla is there and the cars are moving quickly.’
Sally Foote, who runs trade auctions on the Carwow platform, echoed Auto Trader’s comments.
Her firm advertises around 1,000 used cars from consumers to dealers every day in auctions and she hasn’t seen any change in the number of Teslas being advertised.
She said Carwow has certainly ‘not seen’ a surge in consumers trying to sell their Teslas since Musk’s comments and, in fact, Teslas still command a higher number of bids from dealers on its platform than the average EV.
Foote did add, though, that the platform had seen a slight softening in the number of new Tesla enquiries on its site.
She added: ‘On used Tesla there’s no shift and change of share, but we are seeing it on new – it’s very slight, but it’s there.
‘New Tesla configurations are slightly down, about 1%, and that is in the last few months. You can connect those two things [Musk comments] together.’
Latest used Tesla prices
Across the used car trade auctions, Cap HPI – a data provider of used prices – has seen a fall in Tesla prices, but it attributes this more to an increase of supply of used Teslas, not anything to do with what Musk has been saying.
‘The values have been under pressure for Tesla for the last four to five months,’ explained senior editor Chris Plumb.
‘But that is attributed to more supply coming into the used car market. In the last three months, Tesla Model 3 prices have dropped by about 7% and Model Y around 2.5% – the average EV movement over that same time has been 1%.’
Globally, Tesla sales have been falling. Part of this can be attributed to more rivals entering the market and the fact a new Model Y is being introduced, leading to a slowdown in sales of the old model – but is Musk really having an impact?
‘There’s no doubt that Elon Musk’s views and activities online are having an effect, not just here in the UK, but across the rest of the world,’ said JATO’s Paul Hilton.
‘They’re 76% down in Germany in February, year on year, which is a really interesting metric, especially for Germany, because their EV registrations are up in February, 30% year on year.
‘France saw a significant decline in Tesla registrations year on year, and in China, they’ve really been hit quite hard. I think it’s a 49% year on year drop in Tesla registrations.
‘So Musk is having an effect, quite clearly, and not just here in the UK, but in the wider market too.’
Musk has roped in President Donald Trump to help boost sales with a press call at the White House and he dismissed comments his gesture was far right as ‘tired’.
‘Frankly, they need better dirty tricks,’ he posted on X after being accused of making a Nazi salute. ‘The “everyone is Hitler” attack is sooo tired.’
Whatever you think of Musk, his cars are becoming ubiquitous on UK roads. While the industry studies the data to see if the firm’s boss is really having an impact on sales, it’s unlikely Musk will be curbing his comments any time soon.
