Is Musk's sales policy costing Tesla?

Recently, there's bad news about Tesla, but it's unclear whether the chief executive's policy, Elon Musk, writes CNN.

What is known is that Tesla had its first decline in global sales last year, as sales dropped by 1% by 2023. This would not be a major decline for many other companies, but it is evident in a company that had registered 38% and 40% sales growth in the previous two years and with the massive increase in its share price over the past decade.

On a smaller scale, Tesla reported a sharp 16% decline in US sales between December and January, but this is typical of the company, which seems to make a major push for last year's sales to achieve the target of full year financial results, followed by a fall in January. Sales in January 2024, for example, were 24% less from December 2023 sales.

There are some additional anecdotic evidence suggesting some buyers may have been excluded from Musk's political activism.

Valdez Straatey tells of a survey of potential car buyers this month by Morning Consult, showing that nearly 32% of American buyers “would not consider the purchase of a Tesla. This is from 27% in a Morning Control survey a year ago, and only 17% when it asked the question in February 2021.