Elon Musk buries Tesla’s progressive image to be “the official Trumpism car”

One of the great unknowns of the alliance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump was Tesla. The first large -scale electric car manufacturer in the world was clear friction with the energy policies of the Republican, based on oil subsidies and that Americans pour a gallon after another of gasoline in their deposits without looking at the supplier. The doubt has been resolved with one of the most radical transformations in the brand image of a company in history, a copernican turn in which Tesla’s electric are now promoted by the president who has taken the US from the agreement for the climate.

“I’m going to buy one,” Trump said Tuesday in front of the White House, where several Tesla models had parked. “It is a great product. As good as it could be, ”he continued before getting on one:” Wow, this is wonderful! This panel is different from what I have … everything is like a computer, it is wonderful. ”

The scene was shocking because it was possible to verify that Trump was not familiar with the Tesla. On the one hand, he carried a note with the names of the different cars in front of him. On the other, because of the fact that it was amazed at something that has characterized the Musk company from its first models, such as its high technological component.

“When Donald Trump taught the car, he implied that he had never seen a tesla,” explains Enrique Llanes, author of Tesla. DNA of disruption (Editorial LID). “Until he got into politics to support Trump, Elon Musk had a more associated image to the left, for values ​​such as ecology and decarbonization,” he recalls. An image that now Musk detests, since it connects directly with Your Dispossed “Woke Virus”.

The Tesla catharsis: from ecological car to car “patriot”

Trump’s promotion comes at a time of great difficulty for Tesla, which navigates in the contradiction of its founder. “The company does not have an official position on Trump, but it is that Tesla is Elon Musk. When you have an owner with such a strong brand in politics … who knows what is the name of General Motors, or Toyota’s president? However, everyone knows who Elon Musk is, ”says Fernando de Córdoba, a brand strategy specialist.

“Tesla was seen, even Elon Musk himself, as a relatively progressive brand. For years, many Musk personal brand analysis were done and what stood out most was that he was a person who wants to decarbonize mobility, who wants to move towards the mobility of the future. That is, more related to a democratic profile than conservative. I do not know if it has now changed ideology or has simply stopped hiding, but this polarization is affecting its image and that of Tesla, ”says Córdoba.

The data leaves no doubt. The manufacturer’s sales have struck and his last quarter was one of the worst in his company’s history. The hard coup of January was repeated again in February (with decreases from 76% in Germany, 49% in China, 45% in France or 35% in California). The new truck and great bet of Musk, the Cybertruck model, has not worked in sales. Raised to the histrionism of its owner, the value of Tesla in the stock market fluctuates almost as much as that of some cryptocurrencies.

Experts such as Enrique Llanes remember that competition is now harder than ever in the electricity market. Also that Tesla is manufacturing the new version of its best -selling model, the Y, which could be causing potential buyers to be postponing their acquisition until the new range is available.

However, the act in front of the White House seemed a call to its political supporters not drop. “This man has put all his energy and life to complete this work and it is not fair to be penalized for it,” Trump said about Musk. “I think it has been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people. And I just want people to know that he cannot be penalized for being a patriot, ”he told reporters, ensuring that the businessman had not asked him to do so.

It was a staging that there is no going back. “In the end, what tells us this is that Tesla is becoming the official Trumpist government car for better and worse. More official than making a presentation at the White House, with the president with a chop as if he were a seller in a concessionaire … I can’t think of anything, or in the best dream of any seller, than to have the president of the Government making you advertising, ”says Fernando de Córdoba.

“But of course, it is not any government president, but an absolutely polarized one and that it is not that it has supporters and detractors, it has fans and enemies,” recalls the specialist. “It will be quite interesting to see if this is going to assume that Republicans, as a side effect, begin to support the electrification of mobility and the electric car ceases to be a partisan theme to be a more transversal theme,” he says.

Enrique Llanes affects the same direction. “Among the voters of the Republican party there are many people like Trump, who had never seen a Tesla. They had never seen such a car and had never bought one until yesterday, ”he says:“ The surveys that have been done in the US show that although it is true that it has lost possible clients of their brand in people who say they vote Democrat, that negative part is very compensated with all the Republicans who would never have thought of buying an electric car and now they think about it. ”

Protests against Tesla

While this alleged change arrives among buyers who feel disappointed by Musk’s ultra turn and Republicans who can now be attracted to “patriotism” with which Trump honors him, the truth is that the brand is suffering protests of an activist nature.

These have adopted various forms, from peaceful manifestations against concessionaires to acts of vandalism and even violent incidents. This Tuesday in Seattle, four cybertrucks burned, which are being investigated as fires. In Oregon, shooting against a dealership and in Colorado have been made a woman was arrested for allegedly launching Molotov cocktails against Tesla vehicles and painting graffiti with Nazi symbology in a concessionaire in reference to Musk.

Trump threatened in the act in front of the White House with pursuing these acts as “terrorist actions”, but these have also occurred outside the US, especially in Europe. In France, an anarchist group has claimed an attack against another Tesla concessionaire that ended four carbonized cars.

The movement also extends to the networks, with publications that relate to Musk to the Nazi ideology for their greeting during the celebration of Trump’s victory or simply ironize with the bad image that he now projects both him and Tesla. Some groups have taken these viral actions to the streets with ads in Marquesinas or in the London Metro.

Musk has not ruled on these attacks or on the abrupt fall of sales of Tesla. However, during an interview with the Fox this week, he has recognized that he is having a “Great difficulty” To direct all its companies while coordinating the Doge, the agency with which the spending of the US administration is drastically cutting. In addition to the Tesla CEO, Musk is currently the technology director of X, the Executive Director of Spacex and the head of XAI, his artificial intelligence company.

During the interview, the businessman doubted whether to abound in his explanations about the problems that this situation generates before the interviewer’s pause, but finally chose not to do it and continue talking about his work with Trump. “I am only here trying to make the government more efficient. Eliminate waste and fraud and … so far we are making good progress. So our savings at this time exceed 4,000 million dollars a day. It is quite significant. ”