Electric automaker Tesla suffered a 50-spot drop in a survey that seeks to measure the reputation of America’s 100 most famous brands.
Axios Harris Poll results showed that Tesla dropped from the 11th spot in 2022 to the 62nd in 2023, the biggest reputational hit the Musk-led automaker recorded in this particular survey to date.
Survey methodology
News platform Axios and pollster Harris’ research team surveyed American customers to determine which two companies “stand out as having the best reputation today and which two have the worst” from March 13 to 28.
The team compiled the accumulated answers into a list of 100 brands, ranked from 1 to 100 per perception.
Furthermore, the team also asked the 16,310 respondents to rate their brand choices in nine categories using the following metrics: excellent, very good, good, fair, poor, or very poor.
Tesla scores
Per the score guide, Tesla’s standing in the 62nd spot this year put it in the “good” category.
Nonetheless, the Musk-led automaker got a “very good” score in the growth category. The automaker also obtained “excellent” scores in the following categories: trajectory, vision, and products and services.
Furthermore, Tesla gained “fair” scores in character, trust, and citizenship categories.
“Tesla saw one of the biggest reputation drops of the past year, from 11th in 2022 to 62nd place this year, with a 74.3 RQ (79.5 in 2022).”
Axios
For reference, Tesla usually earns between “excellent” and “very good” scores since 2016, per the survey results.
What could have caused Tesla’s reputational hit?
It is worth noting that Tesla’s products and services have remained industry-leading this year.
However, considering that Tesla only received “fair” scores in character, trust, and citizenship, the drop may have been caused by the recent price cuts, which disappointed some old customers.
Apart from that, Tesla investors’ trust in the automaker also declined since CEO Elon Musk bought the social media platform Twitter for a whopping $44 billion last October. It even reached a point where 17 Tesla investors wrote an open letter to chairwoman Robyn Denholm and director Ira Ehrenpreis to raise their concern with CEO Musk’s “distractions.”
“The Board allowed the CEO to be overcommitted at a time when the company faces critical challenges. Corporate boards can and should intervene if a chief executive appears to be distracted or overly focused on other ventures.”
Tesla investors
Researcher Sara Fischer also expressed the same insights on the Axios Today podcast.
“I definitely think it has to do with its founder Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.”
Researcher Sara Fischer
See Also:
- Brand Finance names Tesla the world’s most valuable automobiles brand
- California’s top-selling auto brands in 2022, Tesla comes second
- Tesla ends Ford’s 12-year reign in US Brand Loyalty
- Tesla to replace Toyota as highest selling car brand in California
- Tesla is good at winning customers and retaining their brand loyalty
Tesla’s closest American rival Ford leaped nine spots to 32nd despite recording the highest number of EV recalls last year compared to other automakers.
Meanwhile, Japanese legacy automaker Toyota was the car brand with the highest reputation in the rankings, sitting comfortably in the 6th spot.
Below are the car brands in the top 100:
6. Toyota
13. Honda
16. Subaru
24. BMW
32. Ford
34. General Motors
56. Volkswagen
62. Tesla
67. Chrysler (Stellantis)
Source: Axios Harris Poll
