value Tesla's The brand fell 26% in 2024, its second straight year of declines, as factors including an aging vehicle lineup, and CEO Elon Musk's "confrontation," according to research and advisory firm Brand Finance.

Tesla's brand value is now estimated at $43 billion, down from $58.3 billion in early 2024 and $66.2 billion in early 2023, the company said in its annual rankings. toyota Researchers found that Ford Motor Co. is the most valuable car brand, worth $64.7 billion, followed by Mercedes at $53 billion.

London-based Brand Finance conducts comprehensive consumer surveys and analyzes the financials of thousands of companies, looking at revenue, licensing agreements, profit margins and more to estimate a brand's monetary value. The assessment includes corporate brands and sub-brands associated with individual product lines.

As part of this year's ranking of the company, Brand Finance analyzed answers from about 175,000 survey respondents around the world, including about 16,000 people who shared their views on Tesla.

The results show that consumers’ perceptions Tesla Very different from Wall Street's assessment.

After Donald Trump won the election in December, investors rushed to buy Tesla shares, which soared 63% to a record high last year. Musk donated $277 million to help propel Trump and other Republican candidates to victory and is poised to wield influence in government to benefit his companies.

When it comes to the wider public, Brand Finance CEO David Haigh said Musk's political rhetoric and public image have their shortcomings.

“Some people think he’s great, but there’s a lot of people who don’t,” Hager said. "If you were buying an electric car, his personality would probably influence your opinion of whether you wanted to buy one of his company's cars, but it's just one of many factors."

Brand Finance found that on key metrics such as "consideration," "reputation" and "recommendation," Tesla's scores fell across the board in the main markets where it operates factories and sells cars - the United States, Europe and Asia.

Consideration scores show whether people would consider purchasing a product from a brand. Reputation score shows how highly respondents rate a brand on average (on a scale of 1 to 10). Recommendation scores indicate whether people are likely to have a favorable opinion of a brand.

Tesla's score in Europe has dropped significantly, with its average consideration score falling from 21% to 16% from 2024 to 2025.

Rivals Mercedes and BYD beat Tesla, especially in consideration and recommendation scores outside the U.S.

However, Tesla maintains a high loyalty score of 90% in the United States. This means that customers who already own a Tesla vehicle will likely continue to drive the vehicle over the next 12 months. However, Tesla's recommendation score in the United States dropped from 8.2 points (out of 10 points) to 4.3 points.

Hager said the decline in Tesla's score and brand value indicated the company's "waning appeal." The risk, he said, is that "Tesla won't be able to sell as much product and sell it at as high a price as it did before."

There are already troubling signs. Despite increased global demand for pure electric vehicles, Tesla's deliveries in 2024 fell by about 1% to 1.79 million vehicles. Tesla's U.S. electric vehicle market share fell to 49% from 55% a year ago, according to data from Cox Automotive.

Tesla's Brand Strength Index score also dropped from just over 80 points to just under 65 points, according to Brand Finance. The score indicates how the brand performs on intangible metrics compared to its competitors.

"Unless Tesla can launch a slew of new products that really get consumers excited, and unless they can mitigate some of the confrontation their leader has created, they will be seen as past their prime and starting to decline," Hager said. "explain.

Measuring musk

Musk does not limit his political activities to the United States. He is reportedly in regular contact with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has praised and spoken with Italian President Giorgio Meloni, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Argentinian President Javier Mire Cooperation and public appearances with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He has recently supported Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and pressured British officials to release anti-immigration Tommy Robinson, a convicted fraudster with a violent criminal record.

In public remarks after Trump's inauguration on Monday, Musk repeatedly used what historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat described as a "Nazi salute, and it was very bellicose." ” gesture, her research focuses on fascism. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

When it comes to consumer attitudes, "There's a small group of people who say, I really don't care what they do. I just want their product," Haigh said. "There are other levels of people who care about this issue, and some even say, I won't touch that product in principle."

What's unique about Tesla is the strong connection between the company's brand and its leader.

For Tesla, "it's very clear who the CEO is, that person is responsible, and their actions will impact the reputation of the company," Hager said.

Brand Finance has also evaluated other brands led by Musk, including X, aerospace and defense contractor SpaceX, and for the first time, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet business.

The company estimates that X's overall brand value fell 26% from $673 million to $498 million. Since 2022 (when the company was still called Twitter), simple awareness of Brand X has dropped from 94% to today's international level of 78%. Before Musk took over and changed the name, Twitter's brand value in 2022 was $5.7 billion.

Brand Finance said the name change partly contributed to the overall decline, but the loss of users, advertisers and ad revenue also played a role.

“Twitter is very famous, popular and attracts a lot of advertising,” Haigh said. "According to our data, overnight when he changed it to X, the value decreased by about 75%. It fell immediately and continued to fall."

Brand Finance began valuing SpaceX in early 2024, and the company's brand value increased 11% to $3.8 billion. About 45% of U.S. respondents surveyed were familiar with SpaceX, which ranks highly for an aerospace and defense company.

The company found that the Starlink brand, calculated separately from SpaceX, is valued at $2.4 billion. That number is expected to grow as the company continues to add new users and shows continued growth in revenue from monthly subscribers.

Brand Finance will release its "Global 500 2025" research report on the world's most valuable brands in Davos on Tuesday.

watch: Why Bank of America downgraded Tesla