Elon's Swizzle: Germany's Fleet Chiefs Swap Tesla for a Swirl
- Tesla vehicles face evaluation by parking lot overseers
By the way, Elon's shenanigans ain't all sunshine for Tesla.
A whopping 35% of bigwigs running German company fleets are second-guessing their Tesla purchases, thanks to something called the "Elon Effect." In a dealio with market spear carrier Deutsche Automobil Treuhand (DAT), these cats admitted that they weren't feeling the Tesla love. Interestingly, 8 percent were die-hard fans who wanted to bail on their Teslas altogether. But hey, Mr. Musk's actions were never the be-all, end-all for 58% of the decisions made.
In recent times, it's not so friendly between Tesla and some big-name companies. This split was primarily due to the political hustle and bustle stirred up by Tesla's big kahuna, Elon Musk. The DAT survey, yukked up with chats with 117 fleet commanders, looks like it's putting this trend on a bigger scale.
Shifting gears in the market
Martin Weiss, the smarty-pants in charge of DAT vehicle valuation, said the fleet cats were thinking hard about Tesla's inclusion in their fleets. The social media flare-ups by Elon Musk have whipped the Tesla brand into a whole new kettle of fish in the public eye. And, well, other players have caught up on the tech front. Tesla was once the undisputed pioneer, but them days are done.
However, Martin points out that plunging Tesla registrations—they took a nose dive by 71% in Germany in the opening two months of the year—may have had nothing to do with Tesla's brand reputation. The spruced-up Model Y—now available—could very well be the reason behind it.
A hot take from industry whiz Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer reveals that Tesla's pricing game is still so-so. He didn't spot any significant action to tackle the dropping sales. In his latest price study, he pens: "The Tesla frenzy's over."
Price sparring on the battleground
Some industry gurus are saying that the price comparison with other brands leaves Tesla in the cold. New models from brands like VW, Skoda, or BMW are seriously making a dent in Tesla's market share in terms of price competitiveness for entry-level vehicles. It ain't looking good for Tesla, as they haul a load of pressure from the old models, challenging pricing strategies, and Elon's high-profile discourses scoring low with many consumers.
The situation on the used market isn't yet a hurricane either. The drop in residual values of Tesla vehicles recently isn't attributed to Elon's antics but other factors, like market trends and pricing strategies. However, it's not far-fetched that the man himself and the public chatter swirling around him will have a more substantial negative impact on the residual values down the line.
No Tesla torrent on the used car market
There's no flood of ex-Teslas on vehicle exchange Mobile.de just yet. They claim they've seen no significant difference in the Tesla sales on the private market since November 2024. Even though the offers have grown by 2.2%, the vehicles are moving a cool 12.9% quicker. The used car market for electric vehicles is still smaller than a hornet's nest, primarily because only a minor portion of German vehicles are EVs. While electric vehicles accounted for 13.5% of new registrations last year, they merely made up 2.7% of used car sales.
- Elon Musk
- used car market
- electric vehicles
- Tesla's pricing strategy
- Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer
- German Automobile Trust
- Despite Elon Musk's influence, known as the "Elon Effect," 35% of bigwigs running German company fleets are reconsidering their Tesla purchases.
- On the used car market, there's no significant difference in Tesla sales on the private market since November 2024, according to German Automobile Trust.
- Industry guru Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer notes that Tesla's pricing strategy still leaves room for improvement, as the Tesla frenzy appears to be over.
