- Surveys conducted by Caliber and T-Online show a sharp decline For Tesla among the Germans. Revenues in the first two months of this year plunged a combined 71% in the middle of a discussion on Muska's hugs AfD and scheduled shutdown of production.
In a rich residential district of Berlin, four Tesla The vehicles burned to a sharp morning on Friday after the unknown vandals set fire to them.
This latest ARSONA act on Engulf CEO Elon Musk's Cars is now investigated by a special commission for its likely political motive,according toto the city police department.
Symbolically, it is another wound of the complicated love affair between Muskem and Earth, which is home to his only production plant in Europe, which is located less than an hour from the scenes of crime.
While four burned cars are perhaps the liveliest manifestation of Germans who turn their backs, surveys suggest that consumers in the largest European economy desert a brand over Musk's embrace of President Donald Trump and populistics.
“Correlation with Musk's behavior cannot be overlooked,” Shahar Silbershatz, head of the Danish Research Caliber, Caliber,saidDaily leading business in a countryHandelsblatt.
His team chooses the Germans about their opinion on the Tesla Moon. In August, shortly after Musk approved Trump, 31% considered Tesla's purchase as his next car.
It dropped to only 16% in the middle of the inauguration of Trump and the scandal around Muskovo stiff armed gesture This caused a comparison with the Nazi greeting. However, according to the contribution, however, on Monday, February showed a slight reflection at 20%.
After the catastrophic January and February, March should see improvements
This is still much more positive than an informal survey of T-Online last week This asked the Germans if they would buy Tesla. More than 94% responded “no”, while only 3% claimed it would still be.
Although it was not done with the usual strictness of a professional election company, such as caliber and was therefore not statistically representative, it was remarkable for the fact that a record number was attended, with about 100,000 votes on the web.
This indicates that the brand loses the land in Germany, which is associated with large as the largest European market EV with about 380,000 vehicles sold last year.
The latest sales information supports this. In January of registration of new Teslas dipped 60%descent has accelerated to 76% in February.
Part of this is causedcrossing from the original model yFar away from the best -selling brand, to a slightly newer version that debuted this month. In this process, the Tesla factory outside Berlin stopped for a time to prepare the assembly line.
Some customers also postponed the purchase to wait for the restoration, so the results in March most likely to see a sharp improvement compared to a steep decline, which has witnessed the first two months.
Muska's controversial greetings can fall into the German laws
The direction of recent public opinion polls suggests that Tesla will try to retract the lost market share due to the growing number of competing models. His unsuccessful attempt to make the Germans is enraged Install the far -right right on power in the elections last month.
It is a remarkable fall from the grace for entrepreneurs Muska, who took a large gambling in the selection of high wages Germany for the place of his third factory for the vehicle.
When domestic domestic manufacturers preferred to establish new production plants in countries such as Hungary to earn lower work in Eastern Europe, Musk invested billions to build his website on the land on the edge of Berlin.
Germany is often a high level bureaucracy—Ave including a complete print from tens of thousands of pages of permits to keep records –did not discourage him. The opposition of some groups does not even protest against the impact of the plant on local water supply.
The Tesla factory, which significantly contributed to the otherwise weak economy of the region, has become a symbol of Muska, not just society. Last month, he served as a background of protest with the image of a stiff greeting greeting to the CEO projected into the building next to the words “Heil, Tesla”.
The greeting is strictly forbidden in Germany. Even the image itself as a political statement against Musk could potentially Fall Fall of Local Laws.
This story was originally listed on Fortune.com
