Elon Musk’s Trump support pushes a corporate customer away from Tesla

Elon Musk’s Trump support pushes a corporate customer away from Tesla

Model Y cars are pictured during the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. 

Patrick Pleul | Pool | Via Reuters

European drugstore giant Rossmann announced Tuesday it will no longer buy Tesla’s electric vehicles for its fleet, effective immediately, citing CEO Elon Musk’s pro-Trump political support.

Rossmann, based in Germany, said in a statement that its decision was “based on the incompatibility between the statements of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the values ​​that Tesla represents with its products.”

“Elon Musk makes no secret of his support for Donald Trump,” Raoul Rossmann, a spokesperson for the company, said in a statement. “Trump has repeatedly described climate change as a hoax – this attitude is in stark contrast to Tesla’s mission to contribute to environmental protection through the production of electric cars.”

While Rossmann only purchases about 180 electric vehicles a year — and only had 38 Teslas in its fleet according to Bloomberg — the company’s decision to cut all Tesla EV purchases shows that Musk’s political decisions have begun to impact the automaker well beyond the U.S.

Musk formally endorsed Trump last month, and said he was contributing funds to a pro-Trump group he helped create called America PAC. Musk is also slated to interview the former president, Trump announced on Tuesday.

During a debate with President Biden in June, former President Trump dodged questions about what he would do, if anything, to combat climate change. And Trump has called climate change a “hoax.” He has also promised to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate agreement, as he did during his presidency, if he is re-elected in November.

According to ongoing research by Morning Consult, Republicans in the U.S. began to view Musk more favorably following his leveraged buyout of Twitter (now known as X) in late 2022. However, this has not driven an increase in Republican’s “purchasing consideration” of electric vehicles here. According to Pew Research, Musk’s reputation with left-leaning voters has declined even though they are far more likely to purchase an EV.

Rossman’s decision follows a recent survey that found a deterioration in Tesla’s brand, attributed partly to Musk’s “antics” and “political rants.” While Tesla’s revenue increased 2% during the second quarter, automotive revenue dropped 7% to $19.9 billion from $21.27 billion in the same quarter a year ago.

Tesla opened a factory in 2022 in Brandenburg, Germany (outside of Berlin) and employs thousands in the country. At the end of 2023, the drugstore chain Rossmann reported that it had more than 4,700 stores and more than 60,000 employees with about half in Germany.

Tesla has faced protests by environmental activists in Germany who took issue with the company’s plans to cut down part of a forest and to use water for manufacturing in Brandenburg. Musk lashed out at protesters there, saying on X in March they’re “either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they’re puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals.”

Tesla, Musk and representatives for Rossmann did not respond to requests for further details on Thursday morning.

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