Tesla CEO Musk's partisan politics cost automaker over 1 million EV sales, report shows

[groundloop]

Too late to post this in Latest Breaking News and I feel like this needs to be seen. This is the guy who's threatening to pitch a hissy fit and leave Tesla if he doesn't get a $TRILLION DOLLAR payday.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-ceo-musks-partisan-politics-cost-automaker-over-1-million-ev-sales-report-2025-10-28/

Elon Musk's polarizing political actions since acquiring Twitter, later rebranded X, in 2022 dramatically hurt the automaker's U.S. sales, underscoring how deeply its fortunes are intertwined with the billionaire's persona.

The findings quantify for the first time how the political actions of the world's wealthiest person - including his role in U.S. President Donald Trump's administration - may have cost Tesla billions in lost vehicle sales while benefiting rival electric carmakers.

Tesla's U.S. sales would have been between 67% and 83% higher, or about 1 million to 1.26 million additional vehicles, from October 2022 to April 2025, had it not been for what researchers call the "Musk partisan effect", according to a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research by Yale University economists.

As Democratic-leaning buyers shifted away from Tesla, that effect also boosted the sales of competitors' electric and hybrid vehicles by roughly 17% to 22%, the study found.