New Tesla cars are displayed at a Tesla dealership on December 20, 2024 in Corte Madera, California.
Justin Sullivan | fake images
the value of tesla The brand fell 26% in 2024, a second consecutive annual decline, with factors including an aging vehicle lineup, and CEO Elon Musk’s “antagonism,” according to research and consulting firm Model Finance.
The value of the Tesla brand is now estimated at $43 billion, up from $58.3 billion at the beginning of 2024 and $66.2 billion at the beginning of 2023, the company said in its annual rating. toyota is the most valuable brand in automobiles at $64.7 billion, followed closely by Mercedes at $53 billion, the researchers found.
London-based Model Finance conducts extensive consumer surveys and analyzes the financials of thousands of companies, analyzing revenues, licensing deals, margins and more, to estimate the monetary value of brands. Evaluations include corporate brands and sub-brands associated with individual product lines.
As part of this year’s company rankings, Model Finance analyzed responses from around 175,000 respondents around the world, including around 16,000 people who shared their views on Tesla.
The results show that the way consumers view tesla is very different from the Wall Road assessment.
Tesla’s share price soared 63% last year, hitting a record high in December, after investors bought the stock following Donald Trump’s election victory the previous month. Musk contributed $277 million to help propel Trump and other Republican candidates to victory, and is prepared to influence the administration to benefit his companies.
When it comes to the general public, Model Finance CEO David Haigh says Musk’s political rhetoric and public persona have their downsides.
“There are people who think it’s wonderful, but many who don’t,” Haigh said. “If you’re shopping for electric vehicles, their personality is likely to affect your opinion of whether or not you want to buy one of their company’s cars, but that’s just one of many factors.”
On key measures such as “regard,” “reputation,” and “recommendation,” Tesla’s scores declined across the board in the major markets where it operates factories and sells its cars: the United States, Europe, and Asia, Model Finance found.
Elon Musk walks through the Capitol on the day of a meeting with elected Senate Republican leader John Thune (R-SD) in Washington, U.S., on December 5, 2024.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters
A consideration score shows whether people would consider purchasing a brand. A reputation score shows how highly respondents rate 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 or not.
Tesla saw significant drops in its scores in Europe, where its consideration score fell from 21% to 16% on average between 2024 and 2025.
Competitors Mercedes and BYD beat Tesla especially in consideration and recommendation scores outside the US.
However, Tesla maintained a high loyalty score of 90% in the United States. That means customers who already owned a Tesla vehicle are likely to continue driving it for the next 12 months. But Tesla’s recommendation score in the US fell from 8.2 out of 10 to 4.3.
Haigh said Tesla’s declining ratings and brand value are a sign that the company’s “pull power is weakening.” There is a risk, he said, that “Tesla won’t be able to sell as many products and won’t be able to sell at as high prices as before.”
There were already worrying signs. Tesla’s 2024 deliveries fell about 1% to 1.79 million, even as demand for battery electric vehicles increased around the world. In the United States, Tesla’s market share in electric vehicles fell to 49% from 55% a year earlier, according to data from Cox Automotive.
Tesla’s Brand Strength Index score, according to Model Finance, has also fallen from just over 80 to just under 65. The score indicates how well a brand is doing compared to its competitors on intangible measures.
“Unless Tesla can introduce a whole range of new products that really excite consumers, and unless they can mitigate some of the antagonism caused by their leader, they will be considered to have passed their peak and will begin to decline,” Haigh said. saying.
Musk measurement
Musk has not limited his political activity to the United States. It has reportedly been in regular contact with with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has praised and worked with Giorgia Meloni of Italy, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Javier Milei of Argentina and has made public appearances with Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
He recently backed Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and pressured British officials to release anti-immigrant activists. Tommy Robinsona convicted fraudster with a violent criminal record, from prison.
On Monday, during his public comments after Trump’s inauguration, Musk repeatedly used a gesture. which historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, whose work focuses on fascism, described as “a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one.” Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
When it comes to consumer attitudes, “there will be a small number who will say: I really don’t care what they do. I just want their product,” Haigh said. “There are other degrees of people who care, even those who say: “On principle I’m not going to touch that product.”
Tesla is unique in the close association between the company’s brand and its leader.
With Tesla, “it’s very clear who the CEO is, that this person is in charge and their behavior will affect the reputation of the company,” Haigh said.
Model Finance also evaluated other brands led by Musk, including X, aerospace and defense contractor SpaceX and, for the first time, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite web business.
Brand X’s normal value fell 26% to $498 million from $673 million, the company estimated. Easy awareness of brand Before Musk took over and changed the name, Twitter had a brand value of $5.7 billion in 2022.
The name change drove some of the normal decline, according to Model Finance, but also the loss of users, advertisers and advertising revenue.
“Twitter was well-known, well-liked and attracted a lot of publicity,” Haigh said. “Overnight, when you changed it to X, according to our data, that reduced the value by about 75%. It went down and has continued to go down.”
For SpaceX, which Model Finance began evaluating in early 2024, the company’s brand value has increased 11% to $3.8 billion. About 45% of people in the US who responded to the survey were familiar with SpaceX, a high ranking for an aerospace and defense company.
The Starlink brand, calculated separately from SpaceX, is valued at $2.4 billion, the company found. That number is expected to increase as the company continues to add new users and shows consistently higher revenue from monthly subscribers.
Model Finance will publish its Global 500 2025 study on the world’s most valuable brands on Tuesday in Davos.
LOOK: Why Bank of America downgraded Tesla
