Always On: How Tesla's Global Reputation Is Plummeting

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Favorability for Tesla has been dropping in certain countries for years as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has waded deeper into American politics. My colleague Sonnet Frisbie explored this trend earlier this year in February, and we’ve seen key brand metrics for Tesla only fall further since then. Take a look below.

Elon Musk’s pioneering electric vehicle company has seen its reputation plummet in Canada, France, Germany and the UK. While the impact on Tesla’s brand is particularly dramatic, other American brands have seen their purchasing consideration and favorability fall in tandem with views of the United States. My colleagues explored this in a memo last month and we plan to publish fresh data on this again soon.

Morning Consult Intelligence tracks perceptions of thousands of brands globally each day, providing real-time insight into consumer favorability, purchasing consideration, trust and more. Tesla’s brand reputation is tracked in the four aforementioned countries along with in the U.S. and China, which together make up six of the seven largest markets for the company (the other is Australia, where Morning Consult is not currently tracking Tesla).

Clients can explore how their brands’ favorability is changing in different countries by asking Morning Consult AI. The query I used to get this data: Can I see Tesla's net favorability over time in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany and Canada?

Not a client but want access? Let’s talk.

How the News Cycle Is Impacting Tesla’s Favorability

We’ve added a new feature to Morning Consult Intelligence: AI News Summaries. Available in our News Data tool, this tool surfaces the top news topics tied to a brand. Each topic is summarized using AI, which helps you quickly understand the dominant narratives — without needing to sort through hundreds of headlines. Check it out below for Tesla:

Here, we can see the topics dominating the news cycle for Tesla are:

• Declining sales and stock performance
• Competition in the electric vehicle market
• Insights around electric car trends and innovations
• Production challenges for the Tesla Cybertruck

Plus: You can overlay News Data with one of the key brand metrics we track. Here, we see as the count of articles mentioning the brand rises, so does negative net news buzz. Take a spin with your brand here.

Extra Credit

We’re still closely following tariffs and trade policy, and what the shifting landscape means for brands. My colleague Claire Tassin has a new memo published just Monday looking at consumers’ awareness of a rule that’s currently allowing brands to import low-cost goods directly to customers without import dues — a policy that’s going away soon.

Called the de minimis exemption, the policy has been a boon for companies like Temu, Shein and Quince that built their reputations on offering low-cost goods. But starting next month, goods valued under $800 shipped will be subject to import duties. The bad news for brands: U.S. consumers haven’t seen much information about eliminating the de minimis exemption, which means brands can’t rely on consumers’ understanding to justify price hikes.

Explore more here.