The Tesla badge no longer carries the cachet it once did. Across the country, owners are trying to unload their electric vehicles only to face a market where buyers have vanished, and values are in free fall.
Searches for pre-owned Teslas dropped 16% in just the past month, even as interest in other electric brands climbed 28% over the year. This dramatic shift coincides with CEO Elon Musk’s growing political profile and increasing reports of Tesla owners facing public backlash.
“I would sell it in a heartbeat if somebody offered me a decent price, but the chances of that happening probably not the case,” said Pam Perkins, a frustrated Tesla owner from Northern California.
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The numbers tell a stark story. Used Tesla prices are sinking at more than double the rate of typical pre-owned vehicles, according to car marketplace CarGurus. The angular Cybertruck fares worst, with resale values plummeting to 58% below sticker price.
Jennifer Trebb from Ohio didn’t wait for the market to recover. She recently traded in her Tesla Model Y after just two years, absorbing an $18,000 to $20,000 loss despite having logged only 10,000 miles.
“It did lose a vast amount of value in the short two years that I had it,” Trebb explained. She cited Musk’s government role as her breaking point: “It doesn’t fall in line with my morals, my beliefs, and every time I looked at the car, that’s what I thought of.”
The exodus appears to follow political lines. In states that consistently vote Democratic, Tesla owner loyalty fell from 72% to 65% over the past year. Red states saw a tiny uptick in repeat buyers, from 47.6% to 48.2%, according to S&P Global Index data, as CNN reports.
President Trump has stepped in with public support, staging what amounted to a Tesla showcase on the White House South Lawn and announcing plans to purchase one himself. As CNN reports, his administration has rallied around the brand.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt framed the issue in partisan terms: “Democrats were big supporters of Tesla and of electric vehicles until Elon Musk decided to vote for Donald Trump.”
The brand appears caught in a political tug-of-war, potentially gaining new supporters on the right while losing customers on the left. This shift comes at a challenging time for the company in the marketplace.
Tesla must now compete with numerous rivals in the very marketplace they helped create, with many offering newer technology and fresh designs.
Additional market pressures include Tesla’s own price cuts on new models, a wave of off-lease vehicles hitting the market simultaneously, and the tendency of electric vehicles to depreciate 11% faster than their gas-powered counterparts.
With so many factors converging at once, pinpointing a single cause for Tesla’s market troubles remains difficult.
